Die Ausgekochten (1963)

Die Ausgekochten: Directed by Michael Carreras. With Kerwin Mathews, Nadia Gray, Donald Houston, Liliane Brousse. An American painter has an affair with a bar owner in a French village, and agrees to help murder her husband, who has escaped from a prison for the criminally insane.

“A Hammer production, filmed at M.G.M., and released through Columbia. Sound confusing? Well, so is the plot to this attempt at out-psycho-ing u0026quot;Psychou0026quot;.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eKerwin Matthews is actually pretty good, in this tale of an American artist visiting France, who gets mixed up with both a young woman, and the womanu0026#39;s stepmother (notice sheu0026#39;s a u0026quot;stepmotheru0026quot;; hint, hint, wink, wink). For some reason I had an easier time believing Matthewu0026#39;s interest in the young woman, but not so much in her stepmother (whose high painted eyebrows, and puffy bouffant hair reminded me of Divine). Along the way Matthews learns of the older womanu0026#39;s husband, and how he committed a crime trying to protect his daughter years before. They try to help the husband escape from an asylum (so they can be together), and then the confusion starts.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThough the location footage, and stark black and white photography help this film create a good atmosphere, the direction is somewhat muddled, as is the dialogue, which at times I found difficult to follow. The French accents, in addition to some questionable dubbing make it hard to understand what they are saying. When I could understand the dialogue, it seemed forced and elementary; characters having to explain things that just happened, to further the story (and make sure that we get it).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOverall a slow start and a bunch of interesting twists in the latter half, but only a couple mildly startling moments. I found myself rather unsatisfied at the end. Perhaps this would have benefited by being directed by Freddie Francis…his collaboration with Jimmy Sangster that same year, for u0026quot;Paranoiacu0026quot;, produced a much better film then this is.”