Also known as: Night Of The Doomed
SPOILERS (It is hard to talk about this movie without some spoilers): Wealthy Muriel Steppenwolf (Barbara Steele) is cheating on her rotten husband Stephen (Paul Muller) with hired help David. Stephen catches them in the act, subdues, tortures, and kills them both.
Muriel’s money is left to her stepsister Jenny (also Barbara Steele, why do stepsisters look so much alike?) so Stephen marries her. Jenny has been in a psychological institute for awhile, and Stephen’s plan is to get her declared incompetent, take all her money and split it with his assistant/secret lover Solange (Helga Liné).
Jenny’s former psychiatrist Dereck Joyce is summoned by Stephen to evaluate Jenny and provide proof of her instability. Joyce gets pulled into both Stephen’s diabolical web of deceit and the supernatural surfacing of Muriel’s spirit, acting through Jenny’s body. It all wraps up in violent gothic horror fashion.
The focus of the movie is definitely on Steele, who plays two contrasting characters: the confident, seductive Muriel and the bewildered, timid Jenny. This movie is almost 105 minutes long, and it feel slow (especially by today’s rapid standards). There’s a subplot with Solange that I wish had been discarded in favor of more character time with Muriel, who kicks the bucket shortly into the film.
