As we move into the second stage of the project, which focusses on the ways in which British horror has engaged with psychologised discourse, we have been looking into the filmmaker, Freddie Francis. Active in the film industry from the late 1930s to the early 2000s, Francis was both witness to and participant in the golden age of filmmaking. Across this long career, Francis worked on numerous films that explored the darker reaches of psychology.

He started out as a cinematographer on movies such as Joseph Losey’s Time Without Pity (1957) and Jack Clayton’s The Innocents (1961) before going on to collaborate with David Lynch and Martin Scorcese later in his career. Working with these directors, he was no stranger to themes of neurosis, psychopathy and trauma. However, it is in his directorial work, particularly the films he helmed for the production companies Hammer and Amicus, where his deep interest in psychological themes is most apparent.

In the string of films Francis directed for Hammer in the 60s, Paranoiac (1963), Nightmare (1964) and Hysteria (1965), mental illness is exploited to enable killers and thieves get away with their nefarious schemes. In these films the threat of madness haunts Francis’ protagonists, leading them to question their judgement, memory and even senses. Elsewhere, in The Brain (1962) and The Skull (1965), Francis touches on physiognomic approaches to psychology while in Tales That Witness Madness (1973), he uses supernatural elements to question the authority of psychological diagnoses. Though he often worked as a director for hire rather than an auteur with a personal vision, when viewed holistically his complete body of work reveals a prediliction and adroitness for conveying the horror and ambiguity of mental illness.