A dark film indeed, a remarkable piece of 1960s noir and sleaze. Difficult and dangerous, a deep exploration of the dark side of humanity.
Norah (Juliet Prowse) is a DJ at a swinging New York club, not very hip though judging by the awkward dancing (more drugs obviously required, the later 1960s would help there). She starts receiving strange phone calls. Then, she realises she is being stalked as the caller knows everything about her and what she has been doing. He even breaks into her apartment to leave a broken teddy bear! Her stalker (Sal Mineo) is a co-worker and is obsessed with her and obsessed with sex, however unable to sexually function because of what happened to him in the past as a boy...
Lt. Madden (Jan Murray), on the vice squad, is investigating. He fills his apartment with all sorts of porn and filth to help him understand the sex criminal mind, but is this corrupting him too? It certainly seems to be corrupting his young daughter (Diane Moore) who starts using words she shouldn't be at her age.
A very moody and sleazy piece of work. Artily filmed in black and white though at times flirts with falling into self-parody. The film has a number of superb performances, including Elaine Stritch as a lesbian who befriends Norah though doesn't get much of what she was hoping for but a lot of what she wasn't. Mineo steals the show though as the bodybuilding weirdo who calls up his dream girl wearing just his tight shorts and sweating profusely, and goes looking for porn while his mentally retarded sister (Margot Bennett) is locked in a cupboard. A film that stretched taboos and is a compelling and irresistible watch though rather exploitative. It's riveting for sure.
