Enjoyable and suspenseful chiller/thriller. The opening scene - a stranger whose identity is suppressed from the waist up, with only a pair of stylish cowboy boots and a pair of well fitting jeans; worn by a young nicely built male figure to tittilate the viewer's curiosity; leaving the cinema and wandering the evening streets.

The viewer is given an insight to this figure's obvious tastes for the darker/seedier side of life by his viewing and reading material. Hinting at the mind within, perhaps giving us some clues that his interests may go further than the drives of a red blooded male.

A young blind woman "Sarah" is staying with her relatives in beautiful manner house. Her Aunt and Uncle obviously very well heeled "refined" and certainly a class above the "riff raff" or "gypsies" in surrounding areas, were accommodating and concerned for Sara's condition (being thrown tragically from a horse earlier causing the blindness).

The only real initial hint to the horrifying events that later transpire is with Sarah's relatives, early in the movie, who happened to drive past this "stranger" on his evening walk in their stylish wealthy car hitting a puddle and splashing his "stylish" boots as a consequence(which obviously were his pride and joy) ....but was this really the trigger? Either way, it certainly seemed to seal the unfortunate wealthy occupant's fate and perhaps gave this apparent drifter the extra motivation he may have been searching for to find a target to focus on and "hit out". Or were they already selected?

The booted stranger's obvious contempt of the wealthy is evident his in scratching of this same car's paintwork on another occasion. This petty revenge for his boot splash from their expensive merchandise would have surely satisfied him? But apparently not....His revenge/hatred is later to be unleashed in full shocking and cold blooded fury in one foul sweep within their own beautiful home. Leaving only Sarah unscathed to live within the same house blissfully unaware of being amidst a literal slaughter house....until her shocking discovery!

In blind terror (literally) she needs to escape, but this is hard when the killer returns to locate his identity bracelet that fell off his wrist during his rampage! One victim, barely alive, in his last moments manages to direct a hysterical Sarah to the bracelet not a minute too soon before "Mr Boots" arrives on the scene. And here is where the movie REALLY gets going. A cat and blind mouse hunt which keeps the viewer transfixed from then on!

MOVITATION:

The movie seems to leave you wondering what the real movitation of the apparent "stranger/murderer" in the stylish cowboy boots REALLY is.... Is "he" an unemployed drifter? A lone psychopath without any reason other than cold blooded urges? Or is there much more to it? A background we don't know about fueling an already inwardly enraged or even "Deranged" mind? Someone who may have been fully employed and giving no outward indication of what murderous feelings lay within and simply seethed and obsessed for years before finally acting out...

Inner hatred and contempt of the wealthier classes? Feelings of bitterness/revenge against his superiors? particularly those who spoke down to their workers?

Sexual frustration/class frustration and perhaps been a victim of Sandy's light flirations, further fueling his anger?

Could the horse incident have been part of it? Sarah blinded by falling from the horse and the horse being shot because of her becoming handicapped? rather than the apparent "broken leg". Being a stable-hand and probably a love for horses, could that too have influenced this murderer's hatred towards these people?

Or did he so value his boots to such a pathological extent that the idea of those of a "higher class" driving past and causing them to become wet and dirty, further influenced his already growing anger at people he felt were out of his league/class?

Or a combination, mixing in with an already sick mind?

One can only wonder!

DISAPPOINTMENTS:

The ending mainly! A surprisingly exposed and blunt ending, after such a well done suspenseful build up, one would have hoped for the climax to be just as effective...yet somehow it left one somewhat flat. At least it did for me to a point. And perhpas few too many "coincidences" one might say, particularly for the more cynical viewer, but so well done throughout most of the movie that it could still keep you pretty spellbound. Mia's performance was, I think, outstanding. All in all, the movie has repeat value! You can certainly watch it more than once.

REAL SPOILER, DON'T READ IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO KNOW THE MURDERER'S IDENTITY:

If you watch the movie carefully, take note of the stable-hand in the early scenes. One of the workers in Steve's stables. A young, rather attractive young guy with longish light/medium brown hair. You'd almost miss him if you didn't focus and have good face recall! Notice the name Steve calls him as he's coming out to meet Sarah...you just catch it, but he says no more as he's side tracked towards Sarah as she gets out of the car.

Then make the comparison with name on the bracelet that is later found in Manner House and then the face identity revelation at the end ;-)

AKA "Blind Terror", which I think is the better title. Mia Farrow plays Sarah, a young woman who has lost her sight. She is staying with relatives at their mansion in the English countryside but things go terribly wrong when an unknown maniac enters the house. A tense game of cat and mouse ensues when she is left alone with the killer after he has killed the other occupants. This is a bit of a slow burn but is worth the watch. Sarah really does suffer and Farrow delivers a fine performance, she is the best thing about this film. There are plenty of effective moments of terror on offer. Sarah is unaware that her family members have been murdered, unable to see the corpses scattered around the house but we can see them and it really is quite horrific. Great camera work, good cast - some very familiar faces to British audiences in particular - and plenty of groovy 70's fashions and tunes. The identity of the killer is not revealed until the end, with a red herring thrown in. My only criticisms are that the film is a bit slow at times and I could see no explanation as to why the events took place, but overall a good, tense chiller.

Mention Mia Farrow's name to horror fans and most of them will instantly (and understandably) think of Polanski's classic, Rosemary's Baby; my immediate thought, however, would be of Blind Terror, a lesser known thriller in which Ms. Farrow plays Sarah, a blind girl whose relatives become the target of a psycho killer after her uncle accidentally splashes the loony's precious cowboy boots. I first saw this film at a rather tender age and its macabre concept, senseless killing and shocking images have haunted me ever since.

Directed by Richard Fleischer, Blind Terror opens with our nutter leaving a cinema (having caught the amazing sounding double-bill of 'The Convent Murders' and 'Rapist Cult'). He then passes a newspaper stand displaying horrific headlines, a store with a display of toy guns, and a TV shop showing a bloodthirsty film; violence, it seems, is all around us, although often we choose not to see it. Poor blind Sarah, on the other hand, doesn't have much of a choice: after the soggy-footed psycho pays a visit to her Uncle's farmhouse (whilst she is out with her boyfriend), she returns home, and prepares for bed, all the while blissfully unaware that the bloody corpses of her nearest and dearest lay all around her.

Only when Sarah eventually tries to get into her bath does she realise that something is terribly wrong—because that's where her uncle's lifeless body has been dumped! Meanwhile, the killer discovers that he has left behind a vital clue that could reveal his identity, and returns to the farmhouse to find it...

Fleischer's deliberately paced and carefully considered direction (which makes brilliant use of imaginative camera angles and cleverly framed shots), combined with excellent cinematography from Gerry Fisher and a completely convincing central performance from Farrow, ensure that this film is a success despite a few rather contrived moments in an otherwise well-crafted script by Brian Clemens (a case of mistaken identity at the end of the film is rather far-fetched, and the fact that Sandy, Sarah's pretty cousin, would date a 'diddycoy' is also difficult to swallow).

Atmospheric, suspenseful, and packed with nerve-shredding moments, Blind Terror is an under-rated slice of 70s British cinema that, although not perfect, is still well worth seeking out.

7.5 out of 10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb.