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THE FIEND

Kenny, an average, thirty-something security guard, lives at home with his mother. The only man in their lives is The Minister, a fire and brimstone preacher who has set up shop in their home. The Minister leads a small congregation of fervent believers, referred to as The Brethren, in weekly masses, constantly driving home the point that they are all miserable sinners who must suffer and grovel before the lord. Kenny's mother, Birdy, is a passionate believer, long abandoned by her husband, Kenny's father, who ran off with another woman. She suffers from diabetes but does not dare tell The Minister. It would result in her expulsion from the Brethren, her life saving insulin being forbidden under his rules. The day nurse that administers her insulin shots notices something strange about her behavior, in particular in her treatment of her son. She tells her roommate, a reporter named Paddy, all about it and the two begin to think it's high time for a tell-all expose of the Brethren. Little do they know, Kenny is the one who has been leaving a trail of bodies around the city. All of the victims have been attractive women. All of them have been killed for arousing Kenny's, um, interests.

Released in 1971, the same year as THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES, DEMONS OF THE MIND, STRAW DOGS, VAMPIRE CIRCUS, WHAT BECAME OF JACK AND JILL?, A CLOCKWORK ORANGE and DIE SCREAMING, MARIANNE, this little film from Robert Hartford-Davis has become a cult classic of sorts. It's a fairly middling film, bookended by two incredibly strong scenes but unfortunately padded with much forgettable fluff. The opening scene is one of my favorite of all time. A child's baptism is taking place in the Brethren chapel. A woman in the congregation is singing a rather ghoulish song of praise. All of this is cross-cut with footage of a woman being chased by a killer. As the child has his head dipped into the baptismal pool, the killer shoves the young woman's head underwater. The scene ends with the child in prayer and the young woman, completely naked, floating dead in the water. It's a polarizing opening, the mixture between physical violence and the disgusting imagery invoked by the worship song - "wash me in his blood" is sang over and over - is potent stuff, to be sure, and this marriage of corrupting religion and corrupting sexuality is carried through the entire film.

It's questionable who the real villain of THE FIEND is. Kenny is a psychopath, that much is obvious, but he is merely a product of his upbringing, of the psychological damage caused by his overbearing mother. Birdy, Kenny's neurotic, emotionally unbalanced mother, is clearly insane, or close to it. Her distrust of women and utter lack of self-confidence has tied her fast and steady to a religion that preaches that she is a rotten sinner who can only find salvation through Christ. For me, the real villain of the film is The Minister - and I'm not just saying that because I'm an atheist. This is a man who firmly believes in punishment and total obedience. He forbids the women of his congregation to venture outside for anything other than work and recruitment. He has that sinister Mother Teresa attitude that suffering is a good thing, a worthy thing, a small price to pay in light of the sacrifice Jesus made for mankind - although whether or not that was a sacrifice at all depends largely on your personal religious beliefs. When he "sentences" Birdy to a week-long fasting for her "sins", Kenny freaks out. She is too sick, she will die from it. The Minister doesn't care. It is "god's will", after all.

THE FIEND reminds me a bit of Michael Powell's PEEPING TOM. PEEPING TOM has its psycho killer watching films of his victims in their death throes - his weapon of choice was a camera tripod outfitted with a blade, a small mirror attached to the camera provided the victims with an opportunity to watch their own death as it happened - while THE FIEND has its psycho killer listening to recordings of his crimes. As Kenny stands before his table of reel-to-reel machines, he mixes the sounds of screams and struggles with the sounds of The Minister's hellfire sermons, all the while surrounded by the underwear of his victims. Kenny, played by Tony Beckley of WHEN A STRANGER CALLS fame, is like your typical giallo psycho, tormented by past trauma, clinging to his sanity, unable to vent his frustrations in any other way than murder. I felt a bit for him as the film progressed. This is a man who was, in every way, ruined by his mother and by poisonous, destructive religion, his empathy and healthy sexuality perverted by years of imposed slavery to family and church.

The end game of the film is largely disappointing. Paddy's involvement - she has joined the Brethren to gain access to The Minister and his congregation - uncovers Kenny's violent pastime and she finds herself locked in the basement, wrapped in a fishing net. Everything is set for a big, thrilling finale. Instead, the whole thing just peters out in a gloriously depressing way. It ends with a righteous act of retribution and a few lost lives but nothing really exciting happens in the last ten minutes or so. That's a shame as THE FIEND really deserved better. It is hard not to walk away a bit disappointed. As good as the end scenes are - and they are good - they don't end the film in a way that stays with you. I would say that the ending is a perfect ending. Just not for this movie.

Recommended.