Frightmare (1974 film)

Frightmare (released under the alternative titles Cover Up and Once Upon a Frightmare) is a 1974 British slasher film. Pete Walker directed and produced it, with a screenplay by David McGillivray. The cast includes Rupert Davies and Sheila Keith. The plot centers on Dorothy and Edmund Yates, a pair who have just left a mental institution. It ranks among Walker's most famous works.

The Yateses live in a remote Surrey farmhouse. They were committed in 1957 after Dorothy's cannibalism came to light—she had killed and partially eaten at least six people. Edmund's daughter from a prior marriage, Jackie, lives in London. She secretly visits her father and stepmother at night, bringing parcels of animal brains. This ruse is meant to satisfy Dorothy's murderous cravings without actual killings. Jackie also tries to control her fifteen-year-old half-sister Debbie, Dorothy's biological daughter from a previous relationship. Debbie has recently been released from a reform school and now stays with Jackie, riding with her boyfriend Alec Marini, who leads a violent biker gang. In a London nightclub, Debbie provokes Alec into fighting a barman who refused to serve her alcohol because of her age. After being thrown out, the gang ambushes and beats the barman with a chain, but they flee when spotted. Debbie stays behind, hiding the body in a car boot before police arrive. When Jackie scolds Debbie for coming home late, a fierce argument erupts, and Debbie demands to know where Jackie goes at night.

Though Dorothy appears cured, she has apparently relapsed. Without Edmund's initial knowledge, she lures lonely young women to her home, offering tea and tarot readings, only to murder and feast on them. It later emerges that Dorothy's cannibalism stems from a childhood trauma: she discovered she had eaten parts of her pet rabbit, which her parents had cooked and served as dinner. Edmund was convicted, but it is revealed he only feigned dementia to stay with his wife. He is a devoted husband who never participated in the murders, only helped cover them up.

Jackie finds Debbie's bloodied jacket and learns Debbie was involved in the barman's murder. With her boyfriend Graham Heller, an investigative psychiatrist who has uncovered Jackie's family history, Jackie leads police to the body in the boot.