To me, this movie is perfection.

Let's be realistic.

As Good As It Gets

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The word 'exploitation' has been linked with Pete Walker films, but he has questioned its meaning. After all, as he reasons, just about every film made now is exploitation-al in that nudity, sex and violence – often far stronger than in Walker's films – feature as a matter of course and without much comment.Pete Walker retired from directing films after 1979's under-age sex drama 'Home Before Midnight', but was tempted back to direct his last, 'House of Long Shadows' in 1983. His films were frequently lambasted by critics; indeed, he sought to provoke controversy ('rubbing them up the wrong way,' as he called it) by deliberately featuring salacious themes throughout. And yet, as with many things, there is a new appreciation for his work now. He was independently releasing British horror films at a time when Hammer, Tigon and Amicus had long since given up on the genre and for that alone, deserves a great deal of merit.We join this film with Jenny Welsh (Susan Penhaligon) enduring severely testing times. Regularly jilted by her live-in boyfriend, she has no-one to talk to of her woes and enters into a confessional at her local Church. The vicar Father Xavier Meldrum (a tremendous Anthony Sharp, who made a career playing vicars and librarians for many years) turns out to be somewhat perverse, so she flees, only to find she left her keys in the confessional booth. Breaking into the shop where she works with her friend Robert, she leaves him alone momentarily to buy some cigarettes, and when she comes back, she finds he has been attacked by a 'mysterious' stranger.When it is revealed that Father Meldrum is a schizophrenic murderer caring for a disabled, housebound mother and intimidated by a bullying one-eyed housekeeper Mrs Brabazon (the incomparable Sheila Keith), it's no great surprise. We are in familiar Pete Walker 'Frightmare' territory, revisiting themes of respectable establishment figures berating the young for their lapse morals, whilst turning out to be perverts and psychopaths themselves.This is cited as Pete Walker's favourite directorial experience, with professional actresses like Penhaligon and Stephanie Beacham needing less time-consuming guidance than some of his female protégés. 'House of Mortal Sin' is a typically enjoyable experience, although in common with his other projects, it is highly unlikely that his villains would get away with their burgeoning crimes for such a long time. It tends to drag in places, another of my problems with his earlier projects. Cutting 10 to 15 minutes might well have improved matters.Calling for God's forgiveness before strangling Beacham with rosary beads, methodically reading the last rites to his senile old mother before poisoning her (whilst Mrs Brabazon looks on with a sneer) and ending the film with the lunatic vicar still very much at large – all this may well have been deliberate provocation on behalf of Pete Walker to attract controversy. Judging by his comments in interviews ever since, that controversy never really happened, much to his disappointment.

Following a break up with her boyfriend, Jenny Welch (Susan Penhaligon) goes to church to confess her sins. Bad move. She quickly becomes an object of obsession for Father Xavier (Anthony Sharp), who proceeds to stalk her and kill anyone he deems sinful. The plot synopsis isn't really a spoiler as director Pete Walker reveals the killer early on and is more focused on perversity rather than mystery. The first hour or so where Jenny tries to convince everyone that the priest is crazy is a little slow, but the slam-bang ending more than makes up for it. The only thing really hard to swallow here is a Catholic priest being interested in someone of legal age. I mean, a killer priest? I'm down with that. But one lusting after a legal age girl? C'mon I can only suspend my disbelief so far! Once again, Walker has cast an old person as the killer, confirming his mistrust of old folks also seen in FRIGHTMARE and THE FLESH AND BLOOD SHOW. In fact, here he has two old people are supremely messed up individuals. The flick also has a superb ending where the priest not only kills the male lead's girl, but he gets away with it and continues harassing his sexy parishioner. I love it!

A very fine Walker effort. Not really a horror film nor a giallo but very British. Must have upset as many as it pleased upon release with it's uncompromising attack upon the Church in general and the Catholic Church in particular. Excellent central performances and it is these performances that helps the film over the odd script shortcomings. Not for the easily offended but for everyone else quite a treat and who is to say accusations of wrong doings by priests and cover ups by other self righteous members of society is so far fetched? Begins well and although gets a bit lost halfway through, there is a full powered body strewn build up to a surprising ending.

Tense, horrible, and funny at the same time, made without frills, for both practical and aesthetic reasons, this is my favorite of Pete Walker's trilogy because it is the strongest-centered, in the characters of the priest and his main victim (the actors have a lot to do with this). It's a study in how to generate suspense with a minimum of resources. Rather than a would-be giallo, I'd identify it as an updating of 19th-century melodrama. The director plainly worked best on minuscule budgets, using them to maximum effect, but he couldn't entirely disguise their restrictions (e.g., where is everybody? don't these people ever go anywhere?).