An average movie

Even though I have seen all the major masterpieces directed by Francis Ford Coppola, I still try to catch his other less known features when I get the opportunity. In this case, Coppola directed this flick back then when he was working with Roger Corman. Indeed, while on location shooting a totally different movie, Corman actually proposed Coppola to shot his own flick in 9 days for $40,000. Even though the whole thing is pretty shabby (above all the opening scene), there was still some quality about it. Indeed, after the very weak introduction, you get involved in some kind of horror-thriller with many Hitchcockian elements and I thought it was not bad at all. Back then, Coppola already displayed some nice directing skills here and it’s a pity he never tried something similar later on during his career. Of course, since it is a Corman production, you had some obligatory sleaze with one of the female characters getting undressed and going for a swim in her undies. All in all, even though I’m not a real fan of this genre, I thought it was a decent exploitation flick and it was just really neat to see where Coppola was coming from. To conclude, even though it is nothing remotely amazing, it is not bad at all and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

6/10