Great Britain

A troubled 13-year-old boy tries to come to terms with his widowed mother's love affair with a handsome American seaman. But when he falls under the influence of a gang of sadistic schoolboys they convince him that the man should be made the victim of ritual murder - murder with knives, ropes and surgical instruments. The beautiful English coastal locations, explicit love scenes and the boys' hideous act of cruelty combine to make a film that is both an uneasy romance and a frightening exercise in terror. Sarah Miles features as the repressed widow; Kris Kristofferson as her sailor lover.