I truly love those typical 'rural' British thrillers from the late 60's and early 70's! They practically always revolve on hugely controversial topics and feature heavy macabre undertones, and yet they remain very stylish, sophisticated and classy. A couple of notorious examples include "Unman, Wittering and Zigo", "Deadly Strangers", "Crescendo", "Girly", "Twisted Nerve" and some of Hammer's lesser promoted thrillers like "Never Take Candy from Strangers" and "Paranoia". David Greene's "I Start Counting" is also an excellent addition to this list. The principal coming-of-age story is basically already an anathema, but then this plot is simultaneously interwoven with a grim tale of a serial killer on the loose in a small picturesque British village. I was already a great fan of the lovely Jenny Agutter thanks to "An American Werewolf in London" and "Logan's Run", but after seeing this film she's truly immortal to me. Agutter gives away a stellar tour-de-force performance as the cherubic and curious 14 year old Wynne. The romantically inexperienced pubescent girl has a tremendous crush on her 32 year old foster brother and openly talks about her feelings with her school friend Corinne, who claims to have had sex with several boys already. During all her secretly observing and spying, Wynne begins to suspect, however, that her beloved brother George might be the maniac responsible for several gruesome yet unsolved murders. Where do the nail scratches on his back come from? Why are there bloodstains on the white sweater that Wynne made for him? Strangely enough, the more convinced Wynne gets regarding her brother's guilt, the more her feelings grow intense and obsessive. The young girl even convinces herself that she must rescue George, as the rest of the world won't understand him. "I Start Counting" is a slowly unfolding, captivating and often uncomfortable film that is made even more excellent thanks to the wondrous use of music like the title song (although some fans of the genre might not like this), beautiful images of the South-East British countryside and great work from the ensemble cast. The thriller elements surprisingly go well with the coming-of-age theme. The serial killer plot is occasionally very creepy, whereas Wynne's extreme devotion for her brother is also quite disturbing but in a completely different way. "I Start Counting" absolutely is a unique film; what they call a real gem of a great but sadly forgotten cinematic era. It pleases me to see that the film nevertheless has a few devoted fans here on this site.
Add a Review
-
HumanoidOfFlesh20 January 2010A 14-year old Catholic girl Wynne(Jenny Agutter)falls in love with her older adoptive brother.Her crush is growing stronger as she believes that he is the local sex killer of young girls."I Start Counting" is a subtle exploitation film which touches several taboo subject matters including incest,drugs,rape and teenage sexuality.The story is fascinating and often confusing and the film is full of symbolism.The purity and innocence of Wynne slowly becomes corrupted.The girl believes she sees the statue of Jesus in church weeping blood.The climax of "I Start Counting" is very powerful and memorable.Along with "Night After Night After Night" a forgotten genre essential from late 60's.8 out of 10.
-
IanIndependent22 May 2020This is another very well made British Thriller from the late 60s / early 70s. Like other reviews I had seen 'I Start Counting' once before, on late night television, one (I think) Sunday evening in the early 1980s.
It is a film that stayed with me but could never remember its title or even who was in it (I didn't even remember Jenny Agutter as the lead!) until I accidently came across it on a IMDB list. I did recall that it was don't miss a minute suspenseful.
I have now just watched it again and it still stands the test of time. It's a horror / thriller that doesn't rely on blood, gruesome murders or cheap shocks. It keeps the viewer thinking but that is because it is a film with many levels of which the underlining narrative about a serial killer stalking young girls in a village is one of the least compelling - at least to me watching again 50 years after the film was made and around 40 since I last sat entranced.
Agutter and Bryan Marshall are superb in this. She of course has since given many more excellent performances in a lot of very good films but I have never seen Marshall in anything as good or give a portrayal as naturally convincing as this. To be honest I have not seen him in another role so integral to the story.
I would definitely be interested to know why this film is so rarely seen. It is certainly one for fans of the period and also for people who like their suspense to come without gratuitous violence.
A film well worth discovering.
I have no -
lazarillo15 December 2005For me this movie was quite a find. It appeared late at night on what was normally waste-of-time English-language cable station in Turkey. The syrupy opening theme song nearly made me turn it off, but it caught my attention because it featured underrated British actress Jenny Agutter, most famous for appearing in the superb Australian art-house film "Walkabout" and playing the female love interest in a smattering of more mainstream fare like "Logan's Run" and "American Werewolf in London". Because her international debut "Walkabout" was much more famous for it's incredible cinematography of the Australian outback than it's very understated acting and almost non-existent dialogue, Agutter would become much more renown for her incredible five-minute nude swimming scene than any thespian talent she might have displayed. Her subsequent international roles were thus somewhat limited (for example, even in the PG-rated "Logan's Run" she somehow managed to have a completely gratuitous full-frontal nude scene). Only older British viewers who remember her work as a child actress on obscure BBC television programs would have too much idea of her acting talent.
This movie would rectify that immensely if it ever finds a larger audience. Agutter (a couple years younger than she was in "Walkabout")plays a troubled pubescent girl in love with her older foster brother. When she begins to suspect that he is a serial killer terrorizing the local neighborhood she chillingly begins to cover up for him, but the truth turns out to be something quite different.
The movie manages to be both a tense thriller and a sensitive coming-of-age flick while deftly avoiding the excesses of either genre. It obviously takes place at a time when London was in full swing (which can be seen in the panty-flashing mini-skirts worn by the characters' slightly more experienced best friend), but the movie also remains somewhat provincial and very British, kind of an early version of a Mike Leigh film. This would make a good double-bill with "Deep End", another superb but sadly forgotten film of 60's era British youth. My only complaint is the music, which aside from a smattering of Jimi Hendrix, is absolutely wretched, especially compare to the music that was coming out of Britain at that time. Nevertheless, I would definitely recommend this one. -
Jenny Agutter (Wynne) is 14 going on 15 and has a crush on her elder brother Bryan Marshall (George). He's 20 years older than her and isn't her real brother so it's not as twisted as it sounds. They live in the same family house along with another brother Gregory Phillips (Len), mother Madge Ryan and granddad Billy Russell. Agutter has a flirtatious friend Clare Sutcliffe (Corinne) and together they hang out and talk about boys and love. Agutter shares her fantasy about her brother with her friend and we see how she really cares for him. Alongside her troubled teenage time, there is a serial killer on the prowl and girls and young women are not safe in the area.
I liked it. Another British hit for creepiness. Who is the killer? You'll probably change your mind a few times on this one as you try to figure it out. It's filmed on location with a sinister undertone and keeps you watching with various plot twists. We also get Jenny Agutter on a journey to discover what her role in life isn't destined to be and the heartaches she encounters. Who knows, maybe she gets her way once the film finishes? -
BandSAboutMovies27 October 2021Sure, this is a pre-slasher, slasher adjacent, pseudo-slasher, whatever. But it has killing, it has suspense and it has style. It also has a 16-year-old Jenny Agutter playing a sexually obsessed 14-year-old so it was pretty rough for conservative people in 1970 and probably still is 51 years later.
Director David Greene also made The People Next Door, Roots, The Shuttered Room and Madame Sin among others. Here he's leading Agutter through the trials of her teenage years, which include her crush on a twice her age stepbrother who just may be the serial killer at large in her community. Nonetheless, she remains devoted to him, literally throwing herself at him throughout the film, even starting to explain away why he feels the need to kill.
But is he the killer? And will she even see whoever is the murderer coming her way if it happens? Seldom discussed, I really dug this one. Growing up is difficult. Here's hoping Agutter's Wynne gets the chance.
The soundtrack - especially the Basil Kirchin and Lindsey Moore title track - is incredible, too. -
rmax30482329 September 2015The opening scenes define the movie as one in which a girl will figure as the central character and the date is the late 60s. The camera takes us on a early morning, voyeuristic tour of a young girl's bedroom -- hair brush, stuffed bunny rabbit, books indicating an interest both in arts and sciences, a crucifix, a school uniform draped very carefully over a chair, alarm clock with flowers on its face. This is a bright, sensible young lady with a playful side. The date is given by the accompanying song, a trite and somewhat wistful but pretty melody called "I Start Counting," sung in an untrained but charming soprano by somebody that sounds like a child. The tune and arrangement are redolent of incense and weed.
Then the fourteen-year-old Jenny Agguter leaps out of bed and begins grooming herself for another day at school. She's young, barely recognizable as the more mature older sister in "Walkabout," plumper and execrably cute. I immediately disliked the images as she pulled on her tight gym shorts and slipped into her tiny pleated skirt because there was no way this side of the laws of physics that I would be able to squeeze and bite her supple figure. The bedroom was bad enough.
We meet the comfortable working-class family that has adopted her, and the somewhat creepy older brother she adores. (She rolls him a joint as he's driving her to school.) I should mention that Jenny Agguter does as much acting even in this introductory sequence as she seemed to do in the entirety of her remaining career. Never less than magnetic, she was almost always without expression. A decomposing zombie might have generated the same reaction from her as a slice of angel food cake. But this is her first film, and she's nicely animated.
The direction by David Greene is perceptive. There is no stylistic razzle dazzle, which must have been a temptation in 1968. But Greene reins himself in. During a school lecture on "sex" there's a hilarious moment when the camera lingers on the elderly priest's frozen smile after one of the girls pipes up with, "What's the Pope got against the pill?" But we soon learn that this is going to be a murder mystery in which Agguter begins to suspect her brother of being a serial killer. He lies often and there's some to do about his trying to ditch a bloodied sweater.
But no one should think of this as a drama about discovering a murderer in the family. There's scarcely a police officer in the film, nothing about any evidence they have. It's the story of a naive young girl in the liminal period of adolescence who is given to childish fibs and fantasies, intrigues, jealousies, and shared secrets, a kind of Nancy Drew or maybe Shirley Jackson during a lucid period. She eave drops and hides behind doors and in the backs of vans. She plays pranks on her family, pretending to have been kidnapped. She dreams of handsome men loving her and touching their lips to hers. She asks why a serial killer shouldn't give himself up as long as he can't help himself and there are people who love him.
The real climax of the film is not when the murderer is caught -- his identity was obvious early on -- but when Agguter's post-pubescent fantasy life bumps into adult reality and her adored brother turns out not to be a killer but worse, a much-loved older man having a very physical affair with a grown woman, not Agguter herself. It's a touching and somewhat demanding scene and she handles it well.
The chronological climax is something of a deescalation. She steps at night into the killer's lair and he rambles on about being laughed at, as if just escaped from the booby hatch. And no matter how fast or how far she runs, the killer's ectoplasm appears to have been transmogrified and she runs (or backs) into him.
It's far from being a "hidden gem" but it's professionally managed, it has a fey charm, Jenny Agguter is most fetching, and it's a genuine pleasure to listen to British speech, in which "Where do you think you're going?" If you enjoyed this, you might try "The World of Henry Orient." registers as "Wah d'you think yaw gaying?" -
ronbus18 April 2006I saw this film when it was on General release, and was somewhat taken-a-back by the acting ability of its very young leading Lady. Jenny Agutter was superb in the role of Wynne, a teenager who thought her step brother to be involved in some killings, and left nothing about her character's thoughts to the imagination. "I start Counting" was, of course, very different from M/s. Agutter's later work; and, to my mind, the character had more punch than many of her later portrayals. Perhaps, only her portrayal of the eldest daughter in "The Railway Children" carried the same amount of convincing charm as her portrayal of Wynne in "I start Counting". For me, Jenny Agutter "shines" in this movie: the storyline is right for her, and she was the right person to play Wynne. I could gladly watch this movie over and over again.
-
CinemaSerf3 June 2023Unlike a great many movies that deal with youthful infatuation and unrequited love, both Jenny Agutter ("Wynne") and Bryan Marshall ("George") are approximately the ages they are meant to be in this coming-of-age drama with a twist, and that helps the plot work rather well. She is the 15 year old girl living with her mother, two stepbrothers, and her grand father. She has the mother of all crushes on the 32 year old "George", and even though he doesn't remotely reciprocate, she will do what she can to keep him sweet. When she discovers a jumper she gave him covered in blood, just as news is breaking of a serial killer who is preying on young girls, she decides it must be him and to protect him at all costs... Agutter was never the most versatile of actors but here she plays a character that has an innocence, a naivety, a vulnerability about her that vacillates from the absurd to the creepy very effectively. We know who the killer is (or, initially whom it certainly isn't, anyway) so the thriller element is dealt with really quite quickly. What's left isn't just a daft romance though, it has menace and a sharpness to it with a well written, gritty and occasionally quite ripe dialogue from her other stepbrother "Len" (Gregory Phillips) and quite an intimidating performance from bus conductor Simon Ward. David Greene has used a fair degree of cinematic licence with this adaptation, and to be honest elements of the production look very dated after 50 years, but it is still very tautly presented and is well worth a watch.
-
williamhepburn5 September 2003It is a good few years since I last saw this movie but the memory lingers on. I first saw it as a teenager a couple of times but haven't been able to catch it since. Boy it sure was creepy. The whole cast are excellent throughout. Has British television forgotten about this fantastically creepy movie. With the proliferation of movie channels now available surely one of them can secure the rights to show it. It would be even better if it was released on DVD.
-
Leofwine_draca16 March 2023I START COUNTING (1970) is a very obscure British drama that comes across as a mix of coming-of-age adolescent tale and psycho-thriller. It's similar to other films of the era such as TWISTED NERVE and BABY LOVE, and although not quite as successful as either of those movies, is of interest to genre fans. Jenny Agutter plays a schoolgirl who's infatuated with her own stepbrother, who's in his 30s, but also comes to believe he's the serial murderer who's been preying on young women in the area...
Agutter has been a favourite for many of us genre fans and she gives a typically fine performance here, even at 16. Her character is nuanced and believable, and she acts the requisite worry perfectly. The scene where she gets drunk is a case in point. Marshall is equally good as the suspicious stepbrother, and there are nice turns from supporting cast members including Simon Ward. The film may be slow for some tastes and it's certainly not gory nor suspense-packed, but I enjoyed it all the same as a more lyrical exploration of genre themes. -
jon-349 June 2001I saw this film for the one and only time on English television back in 1980.At the time I thought it was the best thriller film I had ever seen.Since then to my knowledge it has never been shown again over here (I stand to be corrected on this one !) and appears to have sank without trace.Agutter is excellent as the schoolgirl who thinks her foster brother(Bryan Marshall) may be the local sex murderer and the creepy atmosphere builds up carefully helped by the location work on the wide windy stretches of an English New Town which I believe is Bracknell,Berkshire where Sean Connery's equally disturbing film "The Offence" was shot a couple of years later.Photography ,editing and supporting cast all first class.This film deserves to be better known in the history of British film and indeed the horror/thriller genre and its continued omission in most of the weighty film guides on the market remains ,to me, the biggest mystery and injustice of them all.
-
moonspinner553 October 2009Interesting and attractive ambiance in place of a plot. Adaptation of Audrey Erskine-Lindop's novel concerning a Catholic schoolgirl in working-class Berskhire who is drawn to the now-abandoned first house she lived in with her adoptive family; she also harbors a secret crush on her foster-brother, whom she believes may be a sex-slayer wanted by police, and proceeds to cover up his suspicious tracks while dreaming of a more intimate relationship. In the lead, open-faced, yearning Jenny Agutter has wonderfully wide, girlish eyes and shy smiles; from the opening montage of her daily early-morning routine, Agutter connects with the audience immediately, and she's a joy to follow throughout this character study-cum-psychological drama. Producer-director David Greene is alternately subtle and heavy-handed, telegraphing a few story-points well ahead of schedule, but his lazily-flowing narrative is enticing in an ethereal way. The film has nimble editing and a sing-song theme, yet the screenplay is a real obstacle. While packing so much text and subtext into the first hour, the second-half of the picture comes up short on steam. Nevertheless, quite unusual, with haunting, lovely moments and a solid cast. ** from ****
-
taffy_turner2 September 2006I first saw this movie when I was 14 back in the summer of 1982 and after recently tracking down a copy from a collector, I still found much to enjoy today too. In fact i've been keeping my eye open for a reshowing of this film ever since as we didn't get our first video recorder until late 1982 and so I was unable to record it off air, but sadly so far it hasn't been reshown!
Anyway for a start this movie was made in 1969 and is very contemporary too so there's lots of images from that time making this a neat little snap-shot of how Britain used to be, with old houses being cleared to make way for shiny modernist high-rise flats on large estates with shopping precincts and groovy record shops playing Jimi Hendrix tracks (which I love along with all the music played). Then the main star of the show is a teenage Jenny Agutter, clearly showing how talented she is even at such a young age playing the part of the main character Wynne. I now have a daughter myself whose around that age and watching Jenny act and behave is like a mirror image of my own daughter.
Others who have left reviews here have made mistakes and it was definitely her older step brother who Wynne thought was the killer and the creepy bus conductor was played by Simon Ward.
This movie needs to be commercially released soon as it's a British Classic, Jenny Agutter is awesome and I agree that the theme tune is fantastic too! -
timbriffa11 December 2005Though I can't remember it in detail, I do remember liking this film a lot and as a teenager going to bed scared, as well as having impure thoughts about Jenny Agutter, (again.) Very atmospheric, very English and very 60s, full of the kinds of faces you seemed to only get during that decade.
I don't know why it's hardly ever shown, but if someone were to air it occasionally, I'm sure it would gradually start to pick up a reputation as a bit of lost cult classic (a la the Wickerman.) I did find a fairly negative review in Time Out, but that probably says more about them than this film. -
whatleym10 November 2008I remember seeing this movie on UK TV many years ago but, to my knowledge, it has never been shown again since. So I was happy to obtain it on DVD recently and watching it again has reminded me of just what a little gem of a thriller this film is.
It stars of course the lovely Jenny Agutter. Her fans will be delighted to hear that this is the other film (apart from 'Walkabout') in which she can be seen in a schoolgirl's outfit! She plays the part of an adopted Catholic 15 year old girl who lives with her adoptive family with two blood brothers. She develops a crush on the elder 'brother' George (Bryan Marshall) who is about 20 years older than her. But then she becomes convinced that he is responsible for the murders of a number a young girls around the area where the family used to live. She regularly catches the bus back to their old house in the countryside to search for clues, despite being warned to stay away from that area. Her best friend at school is Corinne (Clare Sutcliffe) who herself also develops feelings for George.
The story builds from there, and no spoilers here! If you get a chance to see this movie, take it. The plot is fairly simple and starts off a little slowly but tension really develops once the movie gets into its stride. It also captures the essence of late 60s UK life beautifully, and features a number of classic vehicles such as Austin A35. -
TxMike26 June 2011I became acquainted with Jenny Agutter a few years ago when I saw her in "Walkabout", playing an Australian child that ran away into the brush with her younger brother after their depressed father tried to kill them. This movie actually predates that one by a couple of years, and is set in England.
Jenny Agutter is Wynne, a 15-yr-old school girl in a blended family. Her dad had died some years earlier and he mum remarried a man with a 32-yr-old son. The son is Bryan Marshall as George. The actors playing these two main characters were very near the correct ages.
Wynne as pubescent girls often do becomes infatuated with this "older" man, who still lives with them at home. She has the idea that when she gets old enough to marry they can be a couple. She muses that when she is 20 he will almost be 40. She even has daydreams about him kissing her, or walking in while she is in the bathtub.
But George is not at all interested in this young virgin girl, he really does seem to treat her as his own little sister. Then something happens, a young girl is found dead in the pond near their old home, Wynne notices a few suspicious things about George, some scratches on his back and some blood on a sweater, and she begins to suspect that he is the killer. But she has no desire to turn him in, she wants to take care of him, "protect" him from those who might want to harm him.
So most of the story has Wynne going around being a Nancy Drew of sorts, but out of infatuation for George, not so much to solve a crime.
Young Agutter is very good, and in spite of its 40+ years of age plays very well still. I enjoyed it, as a character study of Wynne and he coming of age..
SPOILERS: Eventually all the clues about George are explained, and he is pretty much what he seems to be, but also spends lots of time in secret with a suicidal woman to help get her better. George is not at all interested in Wynne or her friends as anything romantic. The bad guy turns out to be the young conductor on the bus they take home from school, he seems to have an obsession with "bad" girls, and Wynne's friend was a flirty girl that always wore very short skirts. -
louiseculmer2 June 2016A generally disappointing film of Audrey Erskine Lindop's gripping and atmospheric thriller. The book is so much richer and more interesting than this rather bland film. The book has well rounded characters, entertaining dialogue, and a clever plot with many twists and turns. The film oversimplifies the story and completely changes the ending for instance. And while it is easy to see why Len's twin sister has been eliminated (although a good character, she is not really vital to the plot), reducing Len's role to practically nothing completely alters the story, since in the book his interactions with Wynne are a vital part of the plot. And the narrative voice which plays such an important part in the novel, as Wynne describes what is happening and reflects on it, is of course missing, the major drawback of many films of the book. The film also fails completely to capture the character of George, or show convincingly why Wynne is so devoted to him. And the very dramatic climax of the story, with the poignant court scene at the end, is lost. The filmmakers have decided not to bother too much about plot or characters, and simply concentrate on lovingly filming the admittedly gorgeous Jenny Agutter, with all the subtlety of a Cadburys Milk Flake advert. A great disappointment.
-
GOWBTW10 January 2019Most coming of age films are either funny or serious. Well, how about creepy? I Start Counting will have you on the edge of your seat. A 14 year old named Wynne(Jenny Agutter) has a serious crush going on. The object of her affection is her step-brother. She goes to the garbage can and finds a sweater that she made for him wrapped up in paper. Earlier, she found scratches on his back. When she opened it up, she's shocked to see blood on it. Worse, there is a killer on the loose. And he's targeting young women. She and her friend Corrine, stay together. Wynne, always spies on him. She would later find out that he is seeing a very suicidal woman. And her friend who is promiscuous, would do anything to make her friend jealous. To the very end. It's a very good film. Plenty of suspense and wonder. It's not your usual coming of age film. 4 out of 5 stars.
-
atomheartmother12 July 2006This movie is awesome. I don't know why it isn't more popular. the cinematography was fab and the lead actress who played Wynne had this real innocence about her, that was so believable. I thought the storyline was great, it was something unusual. the synopsis based it around Wynne's suspicious feelings towards her brother and the murders, but I found it was about something more than that, about the way different people perceive situations and how different peoples duties and commitments can be seen differently in others eyes.
The rest of the cast were great. I loved the few parts of humour in the film, that lifted from the somewhat dark and serious theme, and showed how unusual the film is. the theme song I Start Counting was awesome. It was an awesome name for the film
I'm totally raving about this film man. It freaking rules! I love it! -
naxos3315 October 2006I saw this film way back in 1980,BBC1 screened it in a late night slot,luckily I taped it.I don't think its ever been re-screened in the UK. I personally find this little gem of a thriller to be Jennys best work.......from her finest period. Just think,three superb films in a row,from 1969 to '70......I Start Counting......Walkabout......and The Railway Children......what a trio! Plus......I was forgetting another lost gem: The Snow Goose from 1971. I do wish that I Start Counting(and The Snow Goose)were available on DVD. I Start Counting touches on the loss of innocence in a rapidly changing world.....catch this film....if you can!
-
planktonrules23 March 2017The plot for "I Start Counting" sounds rather interesting when you read about it on IMDb: "A 14-year-old girl coming to terms with her sexuality, discovers that her adored older brother may be guilty of a series of bizarre sex crimes.". However this really isn't what the movie is all about and it also has a really creepy semi- incestuous and Electra Complex-like theme that put me off.
Jenny Agutter plays Wynne--a 14 year-old. She was actually about 18 when she made the film. Wynne is really, really obsessed about her older step-brother...to the point where she has lots of incestuous thoughts. These are not in an of themselves THAT creepy...but he's more than twice her age and this brings the notion of pedophilia if he were to reciprocate. Either way, it's awfully weird and disturbing. As far as the step-brother killing women...well that's all a misunderstanding that Wynne develops and the film really is about her awakening sexual desires (such as her masturbating) and her misguided affections. Creepy and yet oddly boring in spite of all this and I had to really struggle to pay attention to all this. All in all, a waste of my time, though I guess technically it's well made. -
james1-494-8268578 March 2020Very good but more of a drama Very good movie I've seen it two or three times now has it classified as a thriller it's far more drama there's not a lot of thrills going on here as it goes very slow and there are no killings that you see in action the bodies are already dead.
-
barbecuedbanana1 August 2006I am another person who can't remember this film in detail - having seen it decades ago. However I still retain the haunting atmosphere and the very believable acting of Jenny Agutter - who was a role model for me after her appearances in The Railway Children and Tom's Midnight Garden on BBC television.
I can't put a spoiler in because I can't remember what happened, but I do know I really enjoyed this film and I would love to see it again - perhaps some cable channels might put it on again? Or maybe it could be released on DVD?
I remember being very impressed with Simon Dee's creepy bus conductor character as well. A very chilling film. -
kevin-caprani16 January 2003focuses on the disturbing fear that an attacker can arouse in any decade you care to think of,the fear is heightened by the central child character {played by jenny agutter} troubled by the thought her own father may be the culprit, nasty creepy atmospheric scenes in the woods will have you squirming in anticipation of what might happen,sadly underrated and overlooked.