Based on the 1965 novel A Fragment of Fear by John Bingham, this concerns Tim Brett (David Hemings), a former drug addict who has turned his life around and written a book detailing his experiences. He visits his aunt, who has helped criminals go straight her entire life. Sadly, one of them strangles her later, which leaves Tim alone on an island.

While he finds love with Juliet Bristow (Gayle Hunnicutt), he starts to think that everyone is against him. A woman on a train warns him to stop asking questions about his aunt’s death. A cop calls him, and when he files a report, Tim learns that no such policeman works at the station. Soon, a secret group contacts him, telling him that the Stepping Stones, a charity started by his aunt to help criminals become good citizens, has begun blackmailing those who succeed.

Soon, he starts to worry that Juliet will be killed at his wedding, which pushes him into a spiral that he never recovers from.

I was wondering, “Is this a gialli?” 

That’s when Adolfo Celi appeared.

There are a lot of complaints about the ending, in which Tim finally loses his mind, and then the idea that everything that happened was either a fantasy or a drug trip. Yet how does Tim get along with Juliet, who found the body of his aunt, and how did they fall in love so fast? 

This was directed by Richard C. Sarafian and written by Paul Dehn, who wrote the Apes sequels. If you’d like to see Hemmings in a real giallo, well…Deep Red, right?