4. Straight On Till Morning (1972)
Brenda is a rather plain and boring woman who announces to her mother that she is going to London to find a father for her unborn baby. In London she manages to work her way into being an assistant in an upscale boutique and she rents a room from Caroline - who throws lots of parties that may yield Brenda a baby father. Brenda finds Caroline in bed with a young man she likes and runs out of the apartment crying. A young gentleman called Peter appears to live with an older, alcoholic woman. He invites her into a room and she screams. Brenda finds Peter's scruffy dog and cleans it up. This is not an act of charity, it is a devious deed to worm her way into Peter's affections. But it works! Brenda moves in with Peter who kills the dog because 'it is too pretty' after Brenda cleaned it up. He buys Brenda baby stuff. Meanwhile, Brenda's mother is concerned because she has not heard from Brenda in ages. She phones Caroline who finds Peter's address. Caroline goes to Peter's. They have sex and then he kills her on the basis that she, like the dog, is too beautiful. Brenda comes home with a makeover which displeases Peter who vocalises his discontent quite insistently. Then they go to bed. Peter finds out from the paper that there are missing reports on both Brenda and Caroline. He forbids Brenda to go out and takes her upstairs instead showing her footage of how he killed Caroline and the dog. Brenda goes hysterical. Her subsequent death is strongly implied. Directed by the great Peter Collinson, Straight On Till Morning is not your average Hammer Horror fare. There is no Dracula or bosomy vampires, no Frankenstein or period settings. Straight On Till Morning is a weird serial killer/kitchen sink drama. Filmed in the style of social realism with the queen of social realism herself - Rita Tushingham - in the central role of Brenda, Straight On Till Morning couldn't really be called an enjoyable viewing experience, it is too morose and downbeat. Plus all of the characters are not sympathetic - even Brenda is unlikeable as she is naive and gullible and also very stupid. The whole affair leaves the viewer disoriented and puzzled. But for some people, its 1970s aesthetics and grim viewing material may endear Straight On Till Morning to them.