Dr. Peter Ross, a psychiatrist, introduces a radical new therapy and tests it on five of his patients to cure them of their various fears (heights, crowded places, enclosed spaces, men and snakes). However, his patients start being murdered by an unknown assailant using methods relating to their respective fears.
The screenplay was re-written during production by an uncredited Dan O'Bannon and Gladys Hill (John Huston's longtime assistant).[4] In his book Dan O'Bannon's Guide to Screenplay Structure, O'Bannon claimed the script was altered without his input by a producer. He disliked the changes and offered to Huston his earlier draft, but Huston declined as a matter of convenience.[4]
Matt Brunson of Film Frenzy wrote "There’s so little sense of style in this film that Huston’s involvement must have solely consisted of yelling 'Action!' and 'Cut!' from inside his trailer."[6] In a review for Blu-Ray.com, Neil Lumbard called it "the worst directing of John Huston's career."[3]
Conversely, Diego Galán of El País gave the film more positive marks, writing "It's not a masterpiece, but it is an admirable work of craftsmanship."[7]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
