Serious mental instability problems in a young man convicted right from the name, so as not to hide his guilt in our eyes: John David Finn (Cotton) has a seemingly hopeful face, but when the girl he was with disappears and her father appears in the police are certain something has happened to her, Chief Detective Ronnie McAdams (Dent) can only immediately go to him for advice. Finn lives with his mother (Norrie), who is in charge of liaison with the police and is the most grumpy person imaginable, ready to threaten.
Finn gets along well with women: he was attracted to freckled redheads, he was already the boyfriend of two others who were found and then died, so anyone can quickly reason. The previous man in charge of the investigation, Italian Mark Petrocelli (McBeath), also came to him, but was forced to leave due to lack of evidence. He makes up for it now and joins Ronnie in explaining how the missing young woman will soon be found dead.
In short, no secrets about the identity of the perpetrator and in fact the focus is on the thriller and the action thanks to the right script that gives the actors a chance to show their worth. Among all – besides the only correct Dent, who approaches the role professionally and with a mature approach, without adding much – the good Tom McBeath stands out: his Petrocelli, constantly in conflict with John’s mother, is better than the portrayed character, in his original form, except for the usual appearance, the only one who knows how to give the necessary flavor to the dialogues; after all, even the insane “evil” has nothing original, despite the almost romantic relationship with his victims, to whom he promises love and marriage in a few days.
The film tells how two detectives try to put pressure on him and his mother, and how the latter (and his uncle) respond in kind, flaunting odious self-confidence. If the story is broadly the same as many thrillers that mix elements of the genre without much imagination, the directorial skills of Neil Fearnley, who organizes the available material well and maintains a certain rigor, should be appreciated nonetheless. taking the stage and directing the actors, but having to deal with uninteresting milestones regarding the protagonist’s sixteen-year-old daughter (Moss), rebellious and arrogant, who joins many of the obnoxious and annoying figures in the film. The last part is longer than expected and shows us how arrest does not always correspond to the immediate end of everything…