‘Haunting intrigue… a shock to your system!!!’
The House on Straw Hill is a 1975 British psycho-thriller film about a paranoid writer who is unable to get started on his second novel. He hires a secretary and then his troubles really begin.
Written and directed by James Kenelm-Clarke, the movie stars Udo Kier (Mark of the Devil; Blood for Dracula; Flesh for Frankenstein), Linda Hayden (The Blood on Satan’s Claw; Madhouse) and Fiona Richmond. The latter’s involvement was the result of financial backing from her then-boyfriend, Paul Richmond.
It was released domestically in March 1976 by Target International Pictures (who also later handled Dawn of the Dead) as Exposé, to give it a more lurid appeal to a repressed British public. In the US, Entertainment International Pictures released the pic as Trauma.
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Reviews:
“Clarke directs this derivative screenplay (a diluted solution of Psycho and Straw Dogs) with more economy than one expects from the genre. But Richmond demonstrates little of her renowned sexual athleticism, and the decorous, carefully placed sexual encounters are as predictable and passionless as ever.” Time Out London
Cast and characters:
Udo Kier … Paul Martin
Linda Hayden … Linda
Fiona Richmond … Suzanne
Patsy Smart … Mrs Aston
Karl Howman … Small Youth
Vic Armstrong … Big Youth
Sydney Knight … Smedley (uncredited)
Brian Smedley-Aston … Simon Hindstatt (uncredited)
Filming locations:
Hatfield Peverel and Little Baddow, Essex, England
