This movie was frightening, but it was hokey. So, I was confused; why was it so scary when everything seemed so obvious? Well, the film plays on a lot of childhood fears, in ways that are not entirely obvious. Furthermore, it seems like some of the scary bits are just patched on. So, you come away puzzled, but still disturbed.
The killer is a girl who was raised as a boy, because of the greed of adults she has no control over.
The old woman in the chair is powerless, terrified and not taken seriously by anyone. So, she's covered in shame and fear, as well as guilt for the horrible deed she's done to this girl. Anyone can identify with that and this character does it enough to make your bones ache.
The bit with the doll was confusing, until I realized the killer was just envious of the normal girls childhood. Oddly, she seems far less threatening playing the boy than she does playing a woman. Of course, she's always playing something; that's the tragedy. Still, as her own gender she is the most menacing; that's irony.
Constantly throughout the film your pounded with this feeling of helplessness as the characters do things that bring them so much danger and it all seems so avoidable. So, there's a sense of guilt, in not preventing their doom and shame in not being able to.
Finally, the ending seems timely for 1961, because many folks saw our society as too materialistic. The detective coldly sums it all up as a murder plot motivated by greed, when in reality, the character would have gladly paid for the "privilege" of murdering her victims, without any reward, other than revenge.
The killer is a girl who was raised as a boy, because of the greed of adults she has no control over.
The old woman in the chair is powerless, terrified and not taken seriously by anyone. So, she's covered in shame and fear, as well as guilt for the horrible deed she's done to this girl. Anyone can identify with that and this character does it enough to make your bones ache.
The bit with the doll was confusing, until I realized the killer was just envious of the normal girls childhood. Oddly, she seems far less threatening playing the boy than she does playing a woman. Of course, she's always playing something; that's the tragedy. Still, as her own gender she is the most menacing; that's irony.
Constantly throughout the film your pounded with this feeling of helplessness as the characters do things that bring them so much danger and it all seems so avoidable. So, there's a sense of guilt, in not preventing their doom and shame in not being able to.
Finally, the ending seems timely for 1961, because many folks saw our society as too materialistic. The detective coldly sums it all up as a murder plot motivated by greed, when in reality, the character would have gladly paid for the "privilege" of murdering her victims, without any reward, other than revenge.