[1] The story focuses around Dorothy and Edmund Yates, who have recently been released from a mental asylum, and is one of Pete Walker's most notable films.

Debbie incites Alec to start a fight with a barman in one of London's hip nightclubs because he denied her liquor due to her being underage.

Unbeknownst to Edmund at first, she secretly lures lonely young women to her home, promising tea and a tarot card reading, only with the sessions ending with a violent murder and "feast".

It is later revealed that Dorothy's cannibalism can be understood as an attempt to cope with a childhood trauma when she found out that she had eaten parts of her pet rabbit that her parents had cooked and served as dinner.

He is a truly devoted husband who loves his wife dearly and did not take part in the actual acts of murder in 1957 nor subsequently, but only helped to cover them up.

As Jackie cries for his help, the film closes with a freeze frame of Edmund restraining his urges to come to her aid and looking in dismay at his daughter's imminent demise with a voice-over of what the judge had said to him and Dorothy when they were sentenced to the mental institution in court.

The problem is that there is absolutely no exposition or analysis, no flexibility about the theme; still contained within a basic formula, it tends to leave a highly unpleasant aftertaste";[5] while Allmovie wrote "Frightmare is a potent little chiller that is worth a look to horror fans in search of suitably grim fare from the 1970's and a worthy testament to Pete Walker's distinctive genre skills";[6] and DVD Talk wrote, "one of Peter Walker's best known and best remembered films, Frightmare gave the director the chance to really capitalize on his working relationship with oddball actress Sheila Keith and give her a starring role that fit her unusual looks and acting style perfectly.