"Oh, and remember the wind
"
Those eyes! I can never get over those Meg Foster eyes! Well, since I got that off my chest, onto the story. Foster stars as a novelist who travels to this centuries-old Greek island("When I first saw this place, I almost had an orgasm" proclaims her landlord, Elias Appleby, renting his "piece of the island" to her) to write her next book, not expecting to be hounded all night by a wacko (Wings Hauser). Those creaky, fluttering shutters! How ominous they sound! There's this subtle scene (I wonder if it was intended, if it wasn't then this little moment sure creeped me out and won me over with amazement) where Elias Appleby(Morley) asks Foster if she believed in ghosts and while he's talking about this, a wooden shutter on a window of her home flutters open by the wind, then starts to waft back and forth before finally slamming up against the wall—it really is quite an attention grabber, particularly how the director frames the shot from a distance as Morley and Foster are chatting. Robert Morley (the "puppies" victim in THEATER OF BLOOD) is wonderful as Foster's chatterbox landlord, full of experiences to share. I love how the wind is a character unto itself, the way it makes its presence know, not to mention, we see it and hear it—the wind is just as much a character as Foster and Hauser. And, the isolation theme always works for me. There's a danger not just from nature, but Hauser has Foster all alone, quite a scary thought if he were homicidal.
As the handyman, Hauser (we see a brief, and eerie, glimpse of him from afar, leaning up against a wall, as Foster eyeballs him from her window, and a few moments later he's gone) has the village all to himself if he were so inclined to torment an innocent woman just wanting to write her novel in peace (for some reason, I thought about Camille Keaton in DAY OF THE WOMAN for a moment). Indeed, a second glimpse of Hauser, accompanied by a demented chuckle, Foster catches as he disappears into an alley as a curling dust-wind follows him. Scenes like this just rock my world, I credit the director, Nico Mastorakis (Island of Death) for how he shoots Hauser.. we know he is around in the village somewhere, understanding that Foster is all alone. Then, he just stumbles into her home, chewing his gum, rather brash, accepting his role as a "loser, degenerate, washout", casual conversation by him involving lots of gestures and poses.
Hauser, as always, just dominates the screen, his charisma, even as an obvious creep, alone can probably carry a film. He just seems to be an incompetent jerk, someone who has gambled away his lot in life and has wound up in the employ of an old man who has become fed up with his goofing off. A verbal quarrel, leading to a head contusion from the use of a fireplace poker, showing how truly unstable Hauser is, provides the viewer with possible foreshadowing of things to come as Foster taps away at her typewriter unaware of the threat perhaps awaiting her. Then there's the classic *woman sees killer digging the grave to cover up his crime* scene which sets the stage for the rest of the film. Hauser looks up from the grave and sees that Foster has light in her home and might've seen him. Foster, as can be the case in thrillers like this, has to investigate, her inquisitive mind cannot help itself.
This film was a wonderful surprise to me, mainly because there's not just one menace, but two. It has the standard *woman in peril* plot line, but because of the unique setting, absent the residents who are elsewhere due to the time of year, and atmosphere because of the wind and how it contributes to the overall theme, director Mastorakis is able to put a fresh spin on it. He employs a very European style to the film, the way the camera moves, the odd touches like exploding lightbulbs, the way light reflects the wind at night(..and shines through different areas of the village, particularly entrances to walkways and alleys), the Green village, cut from stone with all these narrow passages into alleys as we follow, often from a point-of-view perspective, Foster as she attempts to flee Hauser, injured from her handiwork—it's an impressive looking film, even if the movie feels familiar with Foster holed up in her home as Hauser goes into "complete psycho mode", spouting off nursery rhymes as a means to frighten the woman. Yep, Hauser calls her up, at one point even mimicking Bogie, just to tease and mock her, now just a lunatic with a sickle. But, if I'm to watch a movie featuring a psychopath hunting his female quarry, I would prefer it be as aesthetically pleasing/ visually stimulating as THE WIND. Steve Railsback has a small part as an American seaman who tries to help Foster and David McCallum is Meg's beau who attempts to contact the Greek authorities.
"Do me a favor. Don't die quietly, okay. Talk to me."
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