'Nightwatch' is, I think, the only horror film Elizabeth Taylor ever made*. Well, it's as much a thriller / whodunnit as a horror, but there's quite a few bloody murders, a gothic setting and some great looking nightmare sequences so it's okay with me.
Taylor plays a neurotic drama queen (as ever) who thinks she has seen a murder. She can't prove it, of course, and, since she has a traumatic history (her first husband was knocking off Linda Hayden and they died together in a car crash) and a track record of making stuff up and taking too many prescription pills, no-one rushes to look too deeply into it, not even Harry Cross from 'Brookside' (playing a copper) or her shifty looking new husband, played by cadaverous smoothie Laurence Harvey (in his last role). Is she going insane, or are those around her trying to make her think she's going insane?
Well, the answer is neither as, in an interesting twist, it turns out that she is already a psychotic nutter and serial killer and, in a wonderfully over the top finale, she exacts her revenge on the supporting cast with a huge knife and a look of uncontrollable malice in those famous violet eyes.
Well made, well set up and well executed, 'Night Watch' is one of those films which you expect very little from but are pleasantly surprised with how it twists and turns away from the path you thought it would take. Special props to Ms Taylor - I think she was a much better actress when she was 'just' a film star (i.e she got delusions of grandeur when she hooked up with Burton and started giving consciously 'great' performances), but she does brilliantly here - and when she kicks off, she really kicks off.
* I haven't bothered to check this fact. I just feel it may be true.
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