The Night Has Eyes - 2 bog perils

[stuckdamselfan]

After searching in vain on the web for this vintage British mystery thriller, I was finally forced to take the initiative.

A school teacher named Marian drags her friend Doris along for a walking tour of the Yorkshire Moors. Marian's real motive for the journey is to learn what became of Evelyn, a fellow teacher who disappeared on the Moors the previous year.

Marian and Doris lose their way during a nighttime downpour. It's Doris who takes a brief plunge...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3qmh9y6i5o

The ladies find refuge in an isolated house near Paddock Hag, a particularly treacherous expanse of bogs. The home is owned by Stephen Deremid (James Mason), a composer who has withdrawn from the world due to trauma he suffered during the Spanish Civil War. Tending to Stephen's needs are Mrs. Parker, a seemingly benevolent housekeeper, and an oddball handyman named Jim.

Doris has had her fill of the Moors and leaves. Marian, however, contrives to stay in Stephen's home, convinced that the missing Evelyn spent time there.

Marian's feelings toward Stephen become conflicted. She's attracted to him but fears his fragile mental health might have led him to murder Evelyn.

Almost too late, Marian learns that Mrs. Parker and Jim having been deliberately driving Stephen mad over the past five years in a sadistic ploy to get their hands on his money. They killed Evelyn and dumped her body in the bogs when she became a threat to their scheme.

Stephen, brandishing his service pistol, discovers the murderous pair's duplicity and saves Marian from suffering a fate similar to Evelyn's.

For the finale, the villains get their comeuppance. Or is their comedownance?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCAejVyyhA0

[Fred588]

Some of the confusion with this movie is probably due to the fact that in the USA it was apparently released under two alternative titles, "Terror House" and "Moonlight Madness." Or so says Wikipedia which, of course, is never wrong.

[quickman]

Horrible acting as the two are sinking