British horror directed by Peter Sykes. The film follows Zorn (Robert Hardy), a widowed 19th-century Austrian baron who keeps his teenaged son Emil (Shane Briant) and daughter Elizabeth (Gillian Hills) virtual prisoners, fearing they may be affected by the same evil curse he believes drove his wife to take her own life. Aided by his sister Hilda (Yvonne Mitchell), who treats their house like a prison, Zorn keeps Emil and Elizabeth drugged, doing all he can to thwart any potential escape attempts. Meanwhile, as Zorn employs a controversial doctor to cure his children, a number of local villagers are mysteriously murdered in the nearby woods...