Customer Reviews

Deadly Trap [VHS]

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Rene Clement's "The Deadly Trap" (AKA "Death Scream") is a pretty good film, definitely not his best and has been a disappointment as his 1971 follow-up to one of his masterpieces, 1970's "Rider on the Rain." At the time, I had highly anticipated Clement's next film and was excited about the release of "The Deadly Trap" with Faye Dunaway, Frank Langella and Barbara Parkins. Based on the book "The Children Are Gone" by Arthur Cavanaugh, the screenplay is by producer Sydney Buchman (also produced by Roger H. Lewis) and Eleanor Perry. Once again Clement hired a good composer, Gilbert Becaud. This script makes for a complex mystery and this time the result is a bit more confused than other thrillers by Rene Clement. Sometimes Jill (Faye Dunaway) is made annoying in her victimization at the beginning, which is surprising since Perry is one of the great feminist scriptwriters. The film has never been presented on home video satisfyingly, and this Australian edition from Control Productions uses an abysmal print with dirt and corrosion apparent. The colors are so faded that the film is sometimes mistaken to have switched from color to black-and-white at the cost of your own sanity. It distracts you from enjoying the movie. As with a lot of foreign product, some distributors more than others tend to release with poor quality. This is the worst I have yet to come across. The film and Clement deserve better.