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ACTOR
Grant WilliamsShirley KnightOnslow StevensWilliam Leslie
DIRECTOR
Owen Crump
SYNOPSICS
The Couch (1962) is a English movie. Owen Crump has directed this movie. Grant Williams,Shirley Knight,Onslow Stevens,William Leslie are the starring of this movie. It was released in 1962. The Couch (1962) is considered one of the best Drama,Horror movie in India and around the world.
While undergoing therapy for his problem, a serial killer continues his murderous sprees.
The Couch (1962) Reviews
Strange Early 60s Movie
This oddball movie has an interesting plot: a psychopath commits murders between appointments to see his psychiatrist, taunting police with phone calls before each murder. Williams (best known for his 1950s sci-fi roles) is quite good as the killer, and Knight does her usual good acting job as the psychiatrist's assistant and the love interest. This film captures the mood of the early 1960s quite well but is nearly defeated by the harshest, most shadowy use of set lighting I've ever seen. Interesting conclusion takes place in a hospital, with--naturally--bright blinking lights. With better cinematography, this movie could have been a minor classic. Still worth catching for Williams' performance and the football game sequence.
Low rent sleeper
Grant Williams is an extremely unstable young man who has just been released from prison. He was in on a two-year bit for the beating and rape of a woman. Part of his release deal has him seeing a psychiatrist twice weekly. Onslow Stevens is the psychiatrist who is assigned to keep tabs on him. Steven's knows Williams has more than a screw loose but can't quite place what his problem is. We know that Williams has a nasty habit of stabbing people to death. He does this just before his appointments with Stevens. These appointments supply Williams with the necessary alibi. He even uses the ice pick from Steven's whiskey cabinet, which he returns when done. Shirley Knight plays the psychiatrist's assistant whom Williams has the hots for. Despite his rather unsocial bent he is somewhat of a smooth-talker. He soon has her convinced he is simply a misunderstood fellow. After every murder Williams phones the Police and dares them to catch him. He even tells them the exact time of his next murder. Needless to say the Police are not amused. They call together a group of psychiatrists to see if they can get some clue as to what type of nut-bar they are looking for. One of the men the Police call on is Stevens. He tells them to be careful in their search for the killer. "A true psychopath" he tells them. Williams has taken a dislike to one of Miss Knight's friends, The friend, William Leslie, is a doctor who works in the same building as Stevens. Williams sees him talking to Knight and assumes he is a rival for her affections. Williams overhears Leslie tell Knight he is hitting a college football game later in the evening. He decides that would the perfect place to make Leslie his next victim. The murder does not come off the way Williams had planned. Stevens had also come along with Leslie to take in the game. Bumping into Stevens in the crowd, Williams figures Stevens must be on to him. So he gives Stevens the pointy end of the ice pick in the gut a couple of times. Williams then calmly walks out of the crowd and returns to the office to keep his date with Miss Knight. Just as Knight and Williams are leaving the office, the phone rings. It is Leslie calling to tell Knight about the attack. It seems Stevens has survived the attack and has been rushed to the nearest emergency ward. A now rattled Williams drives Knight to the hospital. He finds out that an unconscious Stevens had been brought in just barely clinging to life. He stands with Knight waiting to see if Stevens will live or die. Several hours later the surgeon tells Knight it was a close thing but Stevens will live. He tells the police they can speak to him in the morning about the attack. Williams slips away and grabs some hospital gear and a mask. He then wheels Stevens by the nurse on duty telling her the man is being moved to a different recovery room. Knight and the police quickly realize something is wrong with this picture and start a search of the hospital. They find Williams just before he is about to polish off Stevens with a scalpel. At the same time, Stevens wakes. Though groggy, he manages to talk Williams into giving himself up. Williams drops the blade and is tackled by John Law. The rest of the cast includes Hope Summers, Ann Helm, Mike Backus and Simon Scott. This rather unseen film is one of those low rent gems one stumbles over every once in a while. It features a screenplay by Robert Bloch based on a Blake Edwards story. Bloch of course wrote PSYCHO. The director was documentary writer and director Owen Crump. The d of p was Harold Stine. Stine worked mainly in television. His film work includes MASH and THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE.
one of the most powerful killers ever seen
In 1962, Blake Edwards directed the amazing Experiment In Terror, one of his rare violent thrillers. That same year, he also wrote with his uncle Owen Crump the subject of The Couch. And the script was written by Robert Bloch between Psycho and Strait-Jacket. Owen Crump was formerly a documentary director in the army, The Couch is his first movie for cinema. The script is really exciting, having Grant Williams killing in crowds and being more and more risky. And Grant Williams is nastily convincing. I do agree with another reviewer, The Couch deserves better cinematography, like Jo Biroc, and maybe The Couch would have been more nervous. But we have a scary story of a powerful killer with a very strong Grant Williams. The ending is frighteningly apocalyptic. And it is now available on DVD, so jump and catch. But I sadly think it will remain unknown.
Much more than a rip off of Psycho...
... and in fact, it really is not a rip off of that film at all. A man, Charles (Grant Williams), calls the police department each time he is planning to kill, and in fact, tells them what time he plans to do so. He then kills - not a woman - but some random older man on the street with a single puncture through the heart with an ice pick. After the murder the man then goes off to his regular 7PM therapy session. The guy is a good looking yet nondescript presence. And he has a thing for the therapist's receptionist (Shirley Knight) who happens to be the therapist's niece. There are a couple of scenes where he shows her how he feels with rather creepy approaches - at least that is how it would seem today. This film was made by Warner Brothers, and I thought that odd at first because the film does not get its 7 stars from me for its production values. The indoor shots are pure poverty row, but the acting and the unexpected plot turns are well done. What to look for? Look at the bustling night scenes on city streets when it was safe to just walk down the street alone - well, except for the main character - and there were tons of mom and pop department stores. One even advertises "Eyeglasses on a Payment Plan". One laugh out loud moment? When we are first introduced to the receptionist, she is wearing the oddest looking dress I have ever seen. The bodice of the dress comes up in the front to give the impression her breasts are hanging out, even though she is modestly clothed! Guaranteed to get you the attention of a maniac! Featuring Onslow Stevens' last film appearance as the therapist. Recommended because it is not only interesting, it is different!
Petit Guignol
The most interesting thing about this movie to me is the carefully orchestrated camerawork by Harold E. Stine, the way scenes are blocked and lit to produce a sense of restriction in this story of a serial killer played by Grant Williams. William is under court-ordered psychotherapy by William Leslie, who can't figure out what to make of him. Williams is also carrying on a Production-Code-compliant affair with Shirley Knight, Leslie's niece, when he's not going out to shove an ice pick through the back of a random stranger on a crowded Los Angeles street at precisely 7PM. Given that the script is by Robert Bloch, there's little doubt that the research was good. Times have changed, however, and we now unhappily know a lot more about the psychology of serial killers than the simplistic motive ascribed here. Within that context, the performances are good, and the can-they-catch-him story is good, but it's more a subdued example of Grand Guignol -- only without the blood, because of the Code.