A forgotten genre classic, Joseph Reuben's Hitchcockian take on the psycho thriller is a brilliantly created piece which really deserves a re-evaluation. Based on the true life story of murderer John List, Terry O'Quinn plays mild-mannered Jerry Blake, a real-estate agent with the perfect family. On scraping away at the veneer, however, it becomes obvious that Jerry, who has married into this nuclear family, is anything but the perfect father. He has aggressive mood swings, shouts at himself in the cellar and has a worrying preoccupation with fifties comedies. As the audience, from the opening scene, we already know that Jerry has murdered his previous family and moved on. It is in O'Quinn's brilliant performance though that we, bizarrely, begin to feel sympathy for this monster, similar to Frederick Clegg in The Collector. We want his dream of a perfect life to work out as his adopted daughter, Stephanie, goes off the rails. It is when Jerry makes the decision to begin planning his next family as 'Bill Hodgkins' that things take a murderous turn for the worst. O'Quinn is one of Hollywood's truly underrated actors and this film showcases a horror performance of such depth that it is a joy to watch. From his heart-warming BBQ speech to the neighbours and loving embraces with his wife to the vicious attack on Stephanie's psychiatrist and the perplexed realisation that he 'doesn't know who he is', the performance is a tour de force in what otherwise could have just been another throwaway slasher film.
