Tuesday, July 20, 2021

The Night Visitor (1971)

A wonderfully dark psychological horror. Salem (Max von Sydow) is in a Scandinavian lunatic asylum, a forbidding castle in the Northern wastes. However, he is accused of the murder of two women, Doctor Jenks (Per Oscarrson) even claims to have seen Salem. The Inspector (Trevor Howard) doesn't know what to think, he certainly finds Salem suspicious but how could he have escaped the asylum and get back in to his cell? In fact why would he go back? It seems to be impossible.

However, Salem has made it very possible with his ingenious escape methods using various hand-made tools and some impressive physicality. We know it is Salem in fact who has committed the crimes as we saw it at the start, but how does the Inspector sort it all out? In the end it all comes down to a witness in a most unfamiliar form...

A superbly dark film (except for the actual night scenes which are obviously filmed in daylight!) A twisted tale of betrayal and revenge. Although the plot might stretch credibility at times, the menacing air, bleakness of the settings and darkness of the soul that pervades makes this one of the better psychological horrors you will ever see.