OK, I've just watched this, and I couldn't make up my mind about the ending. Has she decided to stay with him or is she dead? A shot of the outside of the house is all we have. Or did I miss something? I know he has a tape recording of her but it doesn't sound like a death...
Any suggestions welcome.
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SPOILERS: I think she was murdered. As the film is closing we see Peter alone. We also see shots of empty rooms. Brenda isn't anywhere to be seen in his home.
Peter had two rules. Violate his rules and murder will happen. Brenda violated both of them. It seems Peter got over her attempt to become more attractive. He had a protesting fit, which led her to take off the wig and make-up. However, her second violation wasn't so easy to undo. She attempted to leave (escape) him.
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The fasscination of a thing like this is that it doesn't give you any answers. Our mind fills in the empty spaces.
I think he *probably* let her go - as "Peter Pan" is a theme underlining all the events, one might remember that Peter let Wendy go in Barrie's story.
Peter Collinson also directed 'The Italian Job' and that had the greatest 'cliff hanger' ending ever and he left you to decide what happened next and I believe he did the same thing here.
So Shane Briant's character could have killed her, but the only recording he has is of her telling a story and not her death throe screams like all the other woman and his dog Tinker.
Or she could be running for the nearest Police Station and he's awaiting his fate.
But going by the shear bleakness of that ending and his utter cruelty, I'd probably go with the former idea on this.
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I believe he did kill Brenda and what's more, if he hadn't done so, he would have eventually killed their child, as children tend to be quite beautiful and Peter has an intolerance for beauty. It may be that as Brenda grew increasingly pregnant, he would have also killed her, as she started to glow and change and become more appealing to him.
I found some of the left out information bothered me afterwards, such as WHAT he did with the bodies (where he hid them) and why there was so much emphasis on Brenda's mother looking for her and the search with the police if there was never to be any resolution.
It was a good film (unexpectedly better than I had thought it would be) but it had ALOT of potential.
What a great film! Rita Tushingham is brilliant in her role as is Shane Briant.
Hammer certainly turned out some excellent psychological thrillers in their time - 'The Nanny' 'Taste Of Fear' and 'Paranoiac' come to mind.
I also couldn't quite make up my mind about the end but decided that I liked the ambiguity of it.