Exposé (film)

Exposé
Directed by	James Kenelm Clarke
Produced by	Brian Smedley-Aston
Written by	James Kenelm Clarke
Starring	Udo Kier Linda Hayden Fiona Richmond
Music by	Steve Gray
Cinematography	Dennis C. Lewiston
Edited by	Jim Connock
Distributed by	Target (UK)
Release dates	March 1976 (UK)
Running time	82 min (cut version)
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Exposé (also known as House on Straw Hill) is a 1976 video nasty starring Udo Kier, Linda Hayden and 1970s sex symbol Fiona Richmond. For its original 1976 theatrical release it received heavy cuts due to graphic scenes of sex and violence, and both the 1997 UK video and current DVD re-release contain around 50 seconds of cuts.

Plot

Paul Martin (Kier) is a paranoid novelist who rents out a secluded cottage in the British countryside in order to complete his new book, a pretentious sex romp. He has split with his girlfriend Suzanne (Richmond) and is having problems writing his book. To do the typing for him, he employs a secretary, Linda Hindstatt (Hayden), whom he meets at the railway station. A couple of youths at the railway station intimidate Linda, prompting Paul to give them a battering. Afterwards, Linda takes a walk in a field where she is raped by the youths. As a result, she shoots them both dead. Meanwhile, Paul keeps having nightmares and all his advances on Linda are rejected. He gets Suzanne to come back and she begins having sex with Linda. Paul then crashes into a river, while Suzanne is murdered in the shower and everything erupts into a pandemonium of violence.

Cast

• Udo Kier as Paul Martin
• Linda Hayden as Linda Hindstatt
• Fiona Richmond as Suzanne
• Patsy Smart as Mrs. Aston
• Karl Howman as Big Youth
• Vic Armstrong as Small Youth

Production

The house being used for the film was, at the time, being rented by the director, James Kenelm Clarke. The house is situated on Spring Elms Lane, Little Baddow and is a private residence. The rape scene and the final scene were filmed in the wheatfield adjoining the back garden. Other locations used around Little Baddow were Mowden Hall Lane and its junction with North Hill, the bridge on Church Road as it crosses the River Chelmer, and the ford in Hurrells Lane. The station scene's were filmed at Hatfied Peverel Railway Station

Edits

• Udo Kier was dubbed.

• The current 18-rated UK DVD version has around 51 secs of cuts, with edits to the rape scene, some of Suzanne's death, and the shot of her dead in the shower.
• In a documentary on the DVD of The Blood on Satan's Claw Hayden says that this is the only movie she regrets making and was not the film she had made originally.
• In 2013, Severin Films released a Blu-ray and DVD double-disc set of Exposé under the title, House on Straw Hill. In the preamble on the disc, Severin state that this version was created using the original negative and two prints of the film to give it its uncut form. The quoted running time is 84 minutes.

Remake

The film was re-made in 2010 as Stalker (aka Exposé), directed by Martin Kemp, starring Anna Brecon as writer Paula Martin and Jane March as Linda, and with original star Linda Hayden as "Mrs Brown".

External links

• Exposé at IMDb
• Severin Films