Michael's Suspense-O-Rama: Assault (1971, J. Arthur Rank Film Distributors)

Source: IMDB.com

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US residents such as myself, assuming they are old enough, may know this early 70's production as "In the Devil's Garden", but in the UK it was called "Assault", which is a refreshingly honest title since that's precisely what it's about. Tessa Hurst (Lesley-Anne Down) is attacked and raped while taking a shortcut through the woods bordering the girls' school which she attends. Her attacker strangles her to the point of unconsciousness, then leaves her laying in the foliage. Tessa survives, although the savagery of the crime leaves her mentally shattered. Today we'd call it PTSD, but regardless of the terminology, the effects are the same: she's unable to tell the police anything about her attacker.

Two months later, it happens again: another young woman from the school is raped and murdered. Only this time, there's a witness. Art teacher Julie West (Suzy Kendall) caught a glimpse of the perpetrator standing over the body through the distorted rear window of her car. But her description doesn't make sense to the cops: she describes an incarnation of the devil, complete with reddish skin and glowing eyes, who vanished before she could get a better look at him. Police comb the area in search of clues, and bring in Dr. Greg Lomax (James Laurenson), the man currently treating Tessa, to see if he can help sort things out.

Unfortunately for Det. Chief Superintendent Velyan (Frank Finlay), there are too many possibilities: the woods abut numerous residential properties, and he doesn't have enough men to secure the area. What's more, this being the 1970's, DNA testing hasn't been adopted by the local forensics department yet. With a nosy reporter (Freddie Jones) stalking the crime scenes, angling for interviews, and running photos which only stir up trouble, Julie approaches Velyan with a dangerous plan: she'll say that she herself got a good look at the rapist-killer, and is even now working on a drawing which will be published in the paper in a few days' time. This could lure the killer out into the open, but can Julie survive long enough for the authorities to apprehend him before he takes care of both her and Tessa permanently?

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Assault was based on a novel called "The Ravine* written in 1962 by Canadian author Phyllis Brett Young (under the pen name Kendal Young), but adapted for the screen and to a UK setting by John Kruse, who is best-known for his work on The Saint -- the original British television series, not the 1997 Val Kilmer film.

This movie wants so badly to be a giallo. It's impossible to avoid the similarities: a world where virtually every male cast member, including Dr. Lomax, is a suspect; a lone witness who caught a glimpse of the killer but cannot describe him; POV shots of the rapist stalking his victims before strangling them with his bare hands. But unlike a good giallo, where it's possible to deduce the identity of the killer before the final reveal, Assault doesn't play fair in this regard. Instead, it falls all over itself to ensure you think pretty much everybody with a Y-chromosome could have done it. Only in the 70's could you have a man working at an all-girls school tell the police that every day he rapes the young women under his charge with his eyes, and have the cops not lift a finger to ensure that's his last day on the job. Cringe much?

IMDB says this film was censored for its US release in order to avoid an X rating, but I'm honestly not sure what they would have chopped out. There's no nudity (save for a couple of black and white photos that are on screen for just a couple of seconds), no foul language, and only superficial bits of blood, mainly seen on one character's shirt sleeve after he's suffered a dog bite. The killer strangles his victims, so there's no stabbing, slashing, or other sorts of assault. There is an explosion towards the end of the picture which destroys a pharmacy, and at one point someone gets electrocuted enough to set their (obviously fake) body on fire, but otherwise this is a hell of a lot tamer than what you'd see on the average episode of Law & Order: SVU. Censoring any of it seems rather pointless.

It also wraps up in a hurry, which is odd considering how much time it takes to set up the initial two assaults on the school girls. These are very well staged, with the camera standing in for the attacker, and the girls running through the woods trying to escape, only to be out-maneuvered by a killer who obviously knows the forest far better than they do. The ending, by contrast, dispenses with the bad guy in about a minute, then immediately tosses "The End" up on the screen as though director Sidney Hayers (who shot episodes of everything from The Avengers and Galactica 1980 to The A-Team and Knight Rider during his decades-long career) ran out of film at that point.

All told, Assault isn't a terrible film, but it isn't particularly grand either. It gets good performances out of its leads, and anyone familiar with British television from the 70's and 80's is apt to have a number of "Hey, it's that guy!" moments from the secondary characters. My personal favorite? Anthony Ainley, who played The Master in a number of Tom Baker and Peter Davison-era Doctor Who episodes, showing up as the head of the hospital where Greg works. But do you really need to spent 90 minutes of your life watching this, when there are so many other, better examples of the suspense thriller genre out there?

Nah.