Straight on Till Morning 2002 Horror Movie Review

The gothic horror of Hammer Films gets a mod update in this interesting curio, directed by the erratic Peter Collinson (The Italian Job). Rita Tushingham is a Liverpool girl, slightly soft in the head, who travels to London determined to get pregnant. Unfortunately (or perhaps not), she meets a blond psycho (Shane Briant), who installs her in his mod ‘60s pad—he calls himself “Peter” and her “Wendy,” sustaining the Peter Pan theme of the title. The ideas here seem borrowed from those key British thrillers Peeping Tom and The Collector, and the editing style is clearly influenced by the disorientation of Performance. And yet there’s something out of control about this picture, something authentically weird. In one scene Tushingham pretties herself up in what may be the ugliest make-over in screen history. Jazz singer Annie Ross, who also contributes a wispy song, appears in a small role. —Robert Horton