Symptoms (1974)

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Am I Missing Something?

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

I remember loving this upon its original theatrical release and subsequently being appalled that all I could get to re-watch it was a third generation video copy. Now at last thanks to the BFI a pristine, full colour print is available and it looks wonderful. I have to confess that now I am not struggling to see this through some washed out fuzz I am able to detect that the tale is not as originally told as it might be. Nevertheless it does look great with its lakeside setting and woodland scenes and Angela Pleasance gives a fantastic performance. She acts like some curious and wounded animal with jerky off camera stares that are most disconcerting but we are not really surprised when the killing begins. Well done though and if this lacks some of the more vivid sex and violence of other films from the director it probably does remain his most professional effort. Seems like I'm damning with feint praise but I feel that Larraz probably achieved everything he wanted to with this but somehow lost that crazy delirium present in some of his less perfect outings.

This was the third Larraz title I've watched after VAMPYRES (1974) and THE COMING OF SIN (1978) – and will be promptly followed by another, THE HOUSE THAT VANISHED aka SCREAM…AND DIE! (1973); it's his second best-regarded effort after VAMPYRES itself and, in retrospect, a reputation that's fully deserved.Even so, the film is hardly the heady brew of erotica and visceral thrills that was the latter (though it contains similar lesbian undertones and the occasional outburst of shocking violence) but rather a deliberately-paced mood-piece – in fact, it might best be described as REPULSION (1965) in the countryside (with all the inherent eeriness that such a remote setting entails)! In any case, relying as it does on fleeting frissons (the subtle appearance of a 'mysterious' woman roaming the mansion), admirably-sustained tension (the connotations involving Peter Vaughn's character and, of course, the various murder sequences) and a carefully-deployed central puzzle (which keeps us guessing down to the very penultimate shot!), the film is surely a testament to Larraz's versatility within a genre which had all but turned stale by this time (even more so vis-a'-vis the then-crumbling British movie industry).Interestingly, the lead role is played by Angela Pleasence – daughter of horror icon Donald; just because she's his spitting image, the actress' odd looks are perfect for her mentally unbalanced character (though I doubt Larraz intended it to be a serious case history, there is the singular fact of SYMPTOMS being one of the competing entries at that year's Cannes Film Festival to consider!). Equally thoughtful was the selection of the other principal cast members: the aforementioned Peter Vaughan's burly and stern handyman could, at first glimpse, have been played by just any heavy-set person – but there's no denying that the part benefits immensely from his experienced presence; and pretty Lorna Heilbron (from THE CREEPING FLESH [1973]) as Pleasence's housemate, with short-cropped hair suggesting the then-fashionable androgyny. Affable character actor Raymond Huntley, a veteran of many a British comedy, plays the owner of the village drugstore in what proved to be his last film.Incidentally, this was yet another picture – bafflingly M.I.A. on DVD as we speak – which I recently acquired on DVD-R i.e. I've had to make do with a full-frame edition culled from TV with forced Spanish subtitles to boot…but which is appropriate in this case, since the director actually hails from that country!

Being a devoted horror buff, I've seen a great many strange and wonderful horror movies in my time, but I tell you none of them even begins to compare to SYMPTOMS! This rarely seen gem centers on Helen(Angela Pleasance), a rather odd young woman who invites her friend, Ann(Lorna Heilbron) to come stay with her at her decaying old house in the English countryside. Terror unfolds as Helen's sinister handyman(Peter Vaughan) discovers the corpse of her previous house guest, sending the disturbed woman into a violent and uncontrollable rage that culminates in the deaths of several innocent people. Though the plot is relatively simple, Spanish horror director Jose Larraz handles the material in a complex manner and like his British counterpart, Alfred Hitchcock, is able to find terror and menace in the most simple and mundane activity. Larraz also milks the strikingly eerie English landscape for all it is worth. The strongest aspect of SYMPTOMS however is the marvellous performaces by Angela Pleasance and Lorna Heilbron. Pleasance, the daughter of famed British character actor Donald Pleasance, is a supremely gifted actress who seldom ever got a role as good or as intriguing as this. Heilbron, a striking British beauty with genuine talent to match her sultry good looks, is a sadly underused actress who is intense and believable every moment as Pleasance's unsuspecting friend. Unfortunately, this is a frustratingly difficult film to find. It's never been released to video in the US, and the only reason I have seen it is because I had the good fortune of catching it on late night television some years back. They really need to release this one to video and DVD. I'm sure it will get the wide audience it deserves if it is given a reasonable amount of build-up and exposure!

"Symptoms" or "The Blood virgin" is the favourite movie shot by Joseph Larraz, the catalanian director of such horror movies -Whirpool, Deviation, Scream and die or masterpieces as this "Symptoms" or "Vampyres"- that nobody did with their particular sight and their personal style. "Symptoms" is a very traditional horror tale with vampiric reminiscences and a very special study of a crazy lesbian woman obsessed with their dead mistress. The phantom of Cora, their lover is in the middle of this sensitive story and the reason of their crimes around the movie. The atmosphere and climatic shots are superb and the music score by John Scott are wonderfully executed with gothic images and dark places. "Symptoms" appeared in 1976 in british theaters and received cool opinions, specially in "Monthly Film Bulletin" and other prestigious movie magazines in United Kingdom. Twenty five years after "Symptoms" is a disturbing masterpiece of the horror movies and one of the most romantic studies of crazy love that other prestigious directors in the seventies, for example Truffaut, De Palma, Rivette, Richardson or Losey, did in this past prodigious '70 decade. Joseph Larraz, 70 years old now has a clear head yet and a great sense of humor. He is one of this rare spanish directors that made movies in United Kingdom or Demmark. He has their particular obsessions about sex, horror and movies and he showed us their talent in fashion magazines, in spanish comics or erotic pictures of beautiful women as Marianne Morris, Anulka, Lorna Heilborn, Teresa Gimpera, Helga Line, etc. "Symptoms" is a rarely piece for collectors and fans of darkness dreams and inmoral tales. The film has their soul and force in the face of Angela Pleasence as Helen Ramsey, the predator woman that kills everyone around her and use the people to take to their mortal manor where occurs all the drama. The movie is great in the beginning and in the end and offers to the audiences a clever entertainment that intelligent people will love with passion.