Living a secret life on the lower East Side, a group of devil worshipers seem to be an analogy for fifth columnists playing the spying game in New York in this combination of psychological horror and film noir. Broadway actress Kim Hunter made her film debut as the sweet younger sister of a missing woman. She drops out of college to head to New York to find her missing sister and stumbles upon something far more sinister than she could ever imagine.
The dark shadows of the New York streets take front and center in this intriguing thriller that makes the night a villain and its characters simply players in a game of chess where both the winner and loser's grand prize is the same: death, where the fate is certainly worse. These streets are filled with odd noises, scary images and even today, when you venture down certain avenues in Manhattan, you may feel the same chills that the heroines here certainly felt, 70 years ago.
The odd hairstyle of the missing sister (Phyllis Brooks) is pure Val Lewton with its severity even though the character is not meant to be evil, just mysterious. She appears almost death-like, a combination of "Dracula's Daughter" and "She Who Must Be Obeyed" as she first appears to put her finger up to her lips to "shhh" her sister in their first scene together as her presence is definitely meant as a metaphor. Death definitely does not take a holiday here, and the most evil that the devil worshipers get is to prod their intended victims onto suicide, making their meeting place feel like a room of "Rebecca's" Mrs. Danvers.
The direction is appropriately grim and slow moving, giving it almost a feeling of floatation, with a scene in a shower that obviously influenced Hitchcock decades later. As imperfect as this film is, it is one that won't leave your mind, and one you will re-visit to try and find the many hidden metaphors and themes which its creators intended.
The dark shadows of the New York streets take front and center in this intriguing thriller that makes the night a villain and its characters simply players in a game of chess where both the winner and loser's grand prize is the same: death, where the fate is certainly worse. These streets are filled with odd noises, scary images and even today, when you venture down certain avenues in Manhattan, you may feel the same chills that the heroines here certainly felt, 70 years ago.
The odd hairstyle of the missing sister (Phyllis Brooks) is pure Val Lewton with its severity even though the character is not meant to be evil, just mysterious. She appears almost death-like, a combination of "Dracula's Daughter" and "She Who Must Be Obeyed" as she first appears to put her finger up to her lips to "shhh" her sister in their first scene together as her presence is definitely meant as a metaphor. Death definitely does not take a holiday here, and the most evil that the devil worshipers get is to prod their intended victims onto suicide, making their meeting place feel like a room of "Rebecca's" Mrs. Danvers.
The direction is appropriately grim and slow moving, giving it almost a feeling of floatation, with a scene in a shower that obviously influenced Hitchcock decades later. As imperfect as this film is, it is one that won't leave your mind, and one you will re-visit to try and find the many hidden metaphors and themes which its creators intended.