Indicator, out September 25

A young blind woman (Mia Farrow) is terrorised by a maniac while staying with her aunt and family in their country house. Who is the mysterious man in cowboy boots and will her lack of sight be a hindrance or save her?

Richard (Fantastic Voyage/ Soylent Green) Fleischer’s 1971 psychological thriller is no Wait Until Dark, though it shares the same premise as that Audrey Hepburn classic. Written by The Avengers’ Brian Clemens (originally titled Buff as in blind man’s buff) this is a very straight-forward 90-minutes that feels like a UK-set giallo.

Unfortunately, while the thrills are fairly effective, the killer is heavily signposted and the ‘it was acceptable in the 70s’ reliance on stereotyped gypsies ultimately makes this more of a period piece than it wants to be. Paul Nicholas is Romany Jacko and is joined by other faces familiar from British TV.

The score by A-list composer Elmer Bernstein feels like it was written for another film – a ridiculously melodramatic Mission: Impossible meets The Magnificent Seven as the villain merely walks out of a cinema and down the street. Another point of interest is that the movie was known as Blind Terror in the UK and other territories, the only differences being a couple of sequences being edited with slightly different material. There’s a featurette on the changes, showing each version side by side, and you can watch either cut on this disc.

Other special features include an alternative Italian title sequence, the original trailer, onset photography and a shirt interview with George and Mildred’s Norman Eshley.

The limited Dual Format Edition of 3,000 copies also includes a limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by Chris Fujiwara, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and historic articles on the film.

Verdict: For Brian Clemens completists and those after a time capsule view of UK suburbia and few creaky thrills. Mia Farrow is far too good for this generic genre drama, but she never acts down to the limited material. 6/10

Nick Joy