Paranoiac is a 1963 suspense film from Hammer Films directed by Freddie Francis and starring Janette Scott, Oliver Reed, Sheila Burrell, and Alexander Davion. The screenplay was written by Jimmy Sangster, based loosely on the 1949 crime novel, Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey. Simon Ashby is trying to drive his sister, Eleanor insane, so that he can inherit the estate of their deceased parents. But when a mysterious man appears, claiming to be their long-lost brother Tony, Simon's plans are thwarted. Simon vows to get revenge on the man and eliminate his sister in the process. Eight years... earlier, when Tony was a youth, he had left a suicide note and had apparently jumped off a seacoast cliff, but his body had never been recovered. A grown man resembling Tony appears, claiming that he had simply run off. Eleanor wants to believe that the man is Tony. Harriet Ashby , their Aunt, is immediately hostile and calls the man an impostor. Simon pretends to be more open-minded about the situation. However, Simon knows the man is an impostor, because he had actually tricked Tony into writing the suicide note, and then murdered him.
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| Release date: | 1963 |
| Directed by: | Freddie Francis |
| Runtime: | 100 Minutes |
| Producer: | Anthony Hinds |
| Music by: | Elisabeth Lutyens |
| Cinematography: | Arthur Grant |
| Screenplay by: | Jimmy Sangster |
| Genre: | Thriller |