What do you get when you take a serial killer thriller, mix in a May-December romance between an older woman and younger man, and add a masochistic relationship between a mother and her adopted daughter? This surprising melodrama about a secretive drifter who ignites passions in two lonely women was adapted by popular children's novelist Roald Dahl (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Where the Wild Things Are) from a novel by Joy Crowley. Patricia Neal stars as Maura, the repressed middle-aged adopted daughter of blind, tyrannical Pamela Brown. Both women are drawn to Nicholas Clay, a seriously disturbed young handyman whom they shield from the authorities. When Maura offers herself to Clay, she learns to her horror why Clay spends so much time outdoors at night. An eerie Bernard Herrmann score enhances the stomach-churning tension.
