Tormented (1960 film)
Tormented is a 1960 American horror film directed and produced by Bert I. Gordon for Allied Artists Pictures Corporation, and starring Richard Carlson. The film was featured in the fourth season of the television series Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K).
| Tormented | |
|---|---|
 Promotional release poster | |
| Directed by | Bert I. Gordon |
| Produced by | Bert I. Gordon Joe Steinberg |
| Written by | Bert I. Gordon George Worthing Yates |
| Starring | Richard Carlson Susan Gordon Lugene Sanders |
| Music by | Albert Glasser Calvin Jackson |
| Cinematography | Ernest Laszlo |
| Edited by | John Bushelman |
| Distributed by | Allied Artists Pictures Corporation |
Release date |
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Running time | 75 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Plot
Jazz pianist Tom Stewart (Carlson), who lives in a Cape Cod island community, is preparing to marry his fiancée Meg Hubbard (Lugene Sanders). Shortly before the wedding, Tom's old girlfriend Vi Mason (Juli Reding) visits and informs him that she will end his relationship with Meg, using blackmail if necessary. While she is arguing with him atop a lighthouse, the railing she is leaning on gives way. She manages to hang on briefly, but Tom refuses to help and watches her fall to her death.
The next day, Tom sees Vi's body floating in the water. After he retrieves her, the body turns into seaweed. He tries to forget what he has seen, but over the next few days, Vi's watch washes up on the beach, strange footprints appear in the sand, Vi's ghost appears and tells Tom that she will haunt him for the rest of his life, and when Meg's little sister Sandy (Susan Gordon) asks to see the wedding ring Tom will give Meg, a disembodied hand makes off with it.
Soon afterward, during a party for Tom and Meg, Vi's disembodied head appears in a photo a guest takes of the couple. Later, when Tom's alone, Vi taunts him that she will now use her voice to tell the world how Tom Stewart killed her.
To add to Tom's dilemma, a ferry-driving beatnik comes looking for Tom, intent on collecting the $5.00 Vi owes him for her trip to the island. Tom's haste to pay the fellow off causes the shifty man to stick around, and his attempts to blackmail Tom lead to his death. Unbeknownst to Tom, Sandy has inadvertently witnessed the murder.
Sandy keeps quiet about what she has seen. At the wedding she almost speaks up at the point in the ceremony where the minister asks if anyone objects to the marriage, but before she can speak, the church's front doors burst open and causes the flowers all to wilt as the candles to die out, bringing the ceremony to an abrupt, unpleasant halt.
Later that night, Tom goes to the lighthouse and tells Vi that he is leaving the island. When he finds Sandy listening in, he realizes that he is trapped: Sandy knows too much and could possibly tell Meg and the others. Desperately Tom leads Sandy up to the broken lighthouse railing with the intent to push her over, but Vi's ghost swoops down on him, causing him to go over the edge as Sandy watches.
When the islanders search for Tom's body, the first one they find is Vi's. Shortly afterward, Tom's body is found and placed next to Vi's body, which somehow manages to turn and lay its arm across his body. On Vi's dead hand is the wedding ring that was supposed to be Meg's, signaling that Tom is now stuck forever with Vi.
Cast
- Richard Carlson as Tom Stewart
- Susan Gordon as Sandy Hubbard
- Lugene Sanders as Meg Hubbard
- Juli Reding as Vi Mason
- Joe Turkel as Nick
- Lillian Adams as Mrs. Ellis
- Gene Roth as Mr. Nelson
- Vera Marshe as Mrs. Hubbard (as Vera Marsh)
- Harry Fleer as Frank Hubbard
- Merritt Stone as Clergyman
Production notes
According to an interview with Bert I. Gordon, an alternate version of the film was made for foreign release that featured some nudity on the part of actress Juli Reding.
The "ferry-driving beatnik" mentioned above was played by Joe Turkel, who appeared in two other productions from Bert I. Gordon: The Boy and the Pirates and Village of the Giants, and who would go on to play "Lloyd the bartender" in Stanley Kubrick's 1980 version of The Shining; and "Eldon Tyrell" in Ridley Scott's 1982 film, Blade Runner.
While the role of Frank Hubbard was portrayed on screen by actor Harry Fleer, his voice was overdubbed by voiceover legend Paul Frees.[1] This was a common occurrence in Frees' career, as he was often called in to dub actors' voices during the post-production phases of films, always in an uncredited capacity.[2]
DVD releases
- The film has been released by multiple studios as a "bargain box" disc.
- The MST3K version of the film has been released by Rhino Home Video as part of the Collection, Volume 11 box set.
- The film is featured in the Monsters Crash the Pajama Party DVD from Something Weird Video.
- The film is featured in the “Elvira Movie Maccabre” coffin collection DVD