We’re delighted to welcome John Clinch, PhD Research student on British Cinema at Queen’s University Belfast, who will introduce this screening.

On the eve of IFI Horrorthon we present the gothic horror which gave Siobhan McKenna her first starring role.

Emmy Baudine (McKenna), an angelic young girl plays the church organ and works as the trusted housekeeper to the priest (Liam Redmond) in an Irish village. Despite these saintly credentials the women of the village find her unsettling while the men find her irresistible.

Following a savage encounter with a boxer from a visiting fairground who falls for her dangerous charms, Emmy is sent to live with a wealthy family in Yorkshire where her relations with the opposite sex become ever more violent. This intriguing sexual psychodrama from prolific British B-movie director Lance Comfort presents an early instance of that rare villain, the female serial killer.

Image courtesy of the BFI National Archive.