The Party's Over (1965)

The Party’s Over: Directed by Guy Hamilton. With Oliver Reed, Clifford David, Ann Lynn, Katherine Woodville. An American businessman visits London and is horrified to discover his nubile teenage daughter has become involved with a gang of thuggish “beatniks”. Her involvement leads to wild parties, sex, death and necrophilia.

“The party may have been over for the beatniks who form the centerpiece of this strange but compelling film, but for the rest of London it was just beginning. Unusually for a British production of this vintage (1963) it doesnu0026#39;t fit easily in any genre. An American girl who has been hanging around with the u0026#39;beatsu0026#39; goes missing amid lurid rumours of rape and even necrophilia. The atmosphere is one of existential angst laced and a fin de siecle fatalism, all conveyed by way of some studiously framed bu0026amp;w photography. Aside from some clunky dialogue and plumy accents this could easily be French, perhaps because the story is by Marc Behm an American expat based in France who wrote Eye of the Beholder, later transposed by Claude Miller into the excellent thriller Mortelle Radonnee starring Isabelle Adjani. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOliver Reed plays the leader of the u0026#39;beatsu0026#39; in such manner that you feel the void each time heu0026#39;s off-screen, he really is terrific and makes the rest of the cast look like the b-movie stalwarts they were. Particularly dreadful is Mike Pratt who plays Geronimo, an artist/drummer. The party scenes with all the beats lounging around or trying to twist to modern jazz are great,as is the jazz itself with John Barry and Annie Ross contributing.”