The defence The Big-Idea Head
“Its refusal to behave is the point.”
The strange choices create the kind of friction that follows you out of the theatre and into the argument.
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Paranoiac
Thriller · Horror · 1963
Eleven years ago, the wealthy Ashby family was shattered when Mr and Mrs Ashby died in an airplane crash and their grieving son Tony committed suicide. All who remains is cruel Simon, an alcoholic in desperate need of funds; his mentally fragile sister Eleanor; and his protective aunt Harriet. Simon is just weeks away from receiving his inheritance, but there's a hitch in his plans when the long-believed dead Tony suddenly arrives.
Movie details
Paranoiac
“Shocking! Horrifying! Macabre!”
1963 Thriller · Horror 1h 20m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
6.6 / 10
Community rating
Eleven years ago, the wealthy Ashby family was shattered when Mr and Mrs Ashby died in an airplane crash and their grieving son Tony committed suicide. All who remains is cruel Simon, an alcoholic in desperate need of funds; his mentally fragile sister Eleanor; and his protective aunt Harriet. Simon is just weeks away from receiving his inheritance, but there's a hitch in his plans when the long-believed dead Tony suddenly arrives.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over Paranoiac?
For the defence
The Big-Idea Head
“You watch with your brain, not your gut.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Sentimental Softie
“You came to feel something, and you will.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
The Possessed
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The Invitation
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Will and his new girlfriend Kira are invited to a dinner with old friends at the house of Will’s ex Eden and her new partner David. Although the evening appears to be relaxed, Will soon gets a creeping suspicion that their charming host David is up to something.
Burnt Offerings
Horror · 1976
A family moves into a large old mansion in the countryside which seems to have a mysterious and sinister power over its new residents.
Night Watch
Mystery · 1973
A woman recovering from a nervous breakdown tries to convince her husband and and the local London police that she has witnessed a murder in the abandoned house next door.
The Drowning Pool
Thriller · 1975
Harper is brought to Louisiana to investigate an attempted blackmail scheme. He soon finds out that it involves an old flame of his and her daughter. He eventually finds himself caught in a power struggle between the matriarch of the family and a greedy oil baron, who wants their property. Poor Harper! Things are not as straight-forward as they initially appeared.
The Mean Season
Mystery · 1985
A routine investigation of a shocking murder takes a bizarre twist when the killer contacts the reporter and appoints him his personal spokesman. As the killer's calls and clues increase, the reporter is lured into a deadly trap.
Kept Woman
Thriller · 2015
Jessica and her fiancé Evan have just moved from the city into their dream home on a quiet suburban street. Soon after, Jessica catches her seemingly friendly new neighbor, Simon, in a strange lie and can't let her suspicions rest. The danger escalates when Simon lures her inside his home and imprisons Jessica in his secret bunker, meticulously decorated in the idealized style of the 1950s.
The Hand
Horror · 1981
Jon Lansdale is a comic book artist who loses his right hand in a car accident. The hand was not found at the scene of the accident, but it soon returns by itself to follow Jon around, and murder those who anger him.
The Apology
Thriller · 2022
Twenty years after the disappearance of her daughter, a recovering alcoholic is preparing to host her family's Christmas celebration when her estranged ex-brother-in-law arrives unannounced, bearing nostalgic gifts and a heavy secret.
Fear in the Night
Mystery · 1972
It took Peggy Heller a long time to recover from the trauma of a brutal physical assault, suffered in her youth. When she married Robert, he provided her with the love and reassurance she craved for and the two settled down in a pretty house in the grounds of the public school where Robert was a master. But the headmaster of the school is not what he seems and Peggy is convinced he means to harm her - is her fear a figment of her tortured imagination or are there forces at work that intend to manipulate her anxieties with fatal consequences?
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Freddie Francis
Written by
Jimmy Sangster
Janette Scott
Eleanor Ashby
Oliver Reed
Simon Ashby
Sheila Burrell
Aunt Harriet
Maurice Denham
John Kossett
Alexander Davion
Tony Ashby
Liliane Brousse
Françoise
Harold Lang
RAF Type
Court is in session
Put Paranoiac on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Sentimental Softie
“Oddness is not depth.”
A film can break every rule and still leave nothing behind but the memory of how hard it tried to be singular.