This one of a number of movies that were popular in the 60's and 70's (i.e. "Cape Fear", "Kitten with a Whip", "Lady in a Cage", "Wait Until Dark", "Straw Dogs", "Death Game")where complacent middle-class people find their comfortable lifestyles (and often their very lives) threatened by lower-class cretins, who rather being after just the usual things (money, sex), almost seem to have been sent as divine messengers to punish them for their sins. In this particularly nasty example a married, middle-age business man is in his isolated luxury penthouse with his young mistress when the two are attacked by a trio of crazed and seemingly motiveless characters calling themselves "Tom", "Dick", and "Harry" (the latter is a woman brilliantly played by ex-Bond girl Martine Beswick). The criminals soon expose both the immoral lifestyle of the couple and the cracks in their shallow relationship of convenience.The movie is every bit as sleazy as the more notorious "Straw Dogs" (and it shows what you can get away with in Britain and America if you only adopt the proper moralistic tone). The two men take turns raping Kendall, but a la "Straw Dogs" her rape is portrayed more as a humiliation of her boyfriend than of her as she gets drunk and develops the most rapid case of Stockholm Syndrome in history and thus may be an at least somewhat willing participant.The movie was no doubt based on a stage play--it has a very limited set and excessive amount of dialogue--and the stageiness gets a little annoying at times. Still it is one of the more interesting films of director Pete Collinson ("Straight on Until Morning", "Fright") who was the three Pete's of British genre cinema (the other two being Pete Walker and Pete Sasdy). Oh yeah, and it has some very uncharacteristic (if pretty tame)nude scenes from Suzie Kendall. Not a bad to kill way an hour and a half overall.

I marveled at this film because it pulls off a quite complete double reverse in the traditional methodology of a Greek drama. There are some great soliloquies and the main characters carry on a bit like folks in a No Exit play by Sartre. Human nature is exposed with the ruthlessness of an artist that likes to see his characters bare to the bone with skin peeled back for added color. Metaphorically of course, not like the Passion of Christ where the main character ends up looking like hamburger. The Penthouse is psychological destruction in the form of Virgina Wolf. Complete and devastating but not in a cheap trash psycho thriller way. I totally related to this modern day "Greek Drama".

If Peter Collinson's intention when writing and directing this film was to present the most bizarre characters imaginable, then he has succeeded admirably. If, however, he was trying to make a serious thriller with genuine excitement, realistic situations and a meaningful underlying moral subtext, then he has failed utterly. The story has married estate agent Bruce Victor (Terence Morgan) and his secret lover Barbara Willason (Suzy Kendall) shacking up in a penthouse suite in an unfinished tower block. A pair of knife-wielding hoodlums turn up, posing as meter readers, and proceed to hold the adulterous lovers at knifepoint. Bruce is tied up and forced to look on as the lecherous intruders get Barbara well-and-truly drunk and then degrade her for their entertainment. The film is based on a stage play, and it comes across - unsurprisingly - as a very stagy, talky affair. This is not necessarily a weakness (films like Sleuth, made five years after this, proved that stagy and talky films can actually be very good). However, The Penthouse is not only stagy and talky - it is very unpleasant too. The characters are awfully hard to like and their predicaments are extremely difficult to care about. Director Collinson frequently demonstrated a fascination with violence and aggression during his career, and this is a perfect vehicle for his favourite two themes. Collinson also had a fondness for stylistic flourishes in his movies, but here his outlandish camera angles and visual/aural tricks seem merely self-indulgent and meaningless. For the first twenty minutes, the film's surreal style is oddly enjoyable, but it pretty soon becomes wearisome. On the whole, The Penthouse is a failure and the fact that it is rarely-seen ought to be viewed as a blessing in disguise!

This is a superb and prescient little thriller by Peter Collinson that predates such films as FUNNY GAMES and other "extreme cinema" projects, and is much better, and much more restrained, in every way. I'm amazed that the film hasn't gotten better distribution, and that it seems to have slipped between the cracks of cinema history. A great film; see it if you can.