Not the best example of 70s horror

I love 70s horror. The 70s are the decade I was first introduced to horror (courtesy of Hammer). But this film was really hard work. It's another proto-slasher and one that for some reason had passed me by. The plot is absolutely bananas. The motivation for the killer makes sense at first, but then you realise they kinda played a very big part in causing what they're seeking revenge for. The dialogue is sometimes... weird;

Diane: How old are you?
Jeffrey: You mean how many years have I lived?

If Jeffrey was a vampire, or some other supernatural being this exchange might make sense. But he's not. It's just one ordinary person asking another ordinary person their age.

The movie deserves credit for some if its performances (Patrick O'Neal, James Patterson - who sadly died of cancer just a few months before it was released), but others aren't so great (an appallingly wooden Mary Woronov, John Carradine looking like he'd been led there and left by his carer). It does manage a creepy atmosphere, there's a nicely done double-kill about half an hour in, and the score by Gershon Kingsley is good.

5/10