Experiment in Terror (1962)

Blake Edwards' sole venture into the thriller genre is well-meshed entertainment, featuring a strong performance by Ross Martin as a truly creepy psychopath. Although Edwards' genre exercise may lack the complexity of a Hitchcockian thriller, he added some novel textures by shooting much of the film during daylight hours in nondescript neighborhoods of suburban San Francisco, and using Candlestick Park for the memorable finale. Martin had the role of his career as the asthmatic killer who abducts a teenaged girl (Stefanie Powers) intending to hold her for ransom until he receives 100,000 dollars, and he capitalized on the opportunity, creating a monster to rival Robert Mitchum's sociopathic ex-con in Cape Fear (1962). Ford, Remick, and Powers are fine in less flashy parts, but aside from Martin, the cast here may be less important here than Henry Mancini's edgy, jazz-tinged score, a perfect complement to the film's brooding ambience. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide