Alfred Hitchcock's first British film since 'Stage Fright' (1950) stars Barry Foster as market trader Robert Rusk, a psychopathic killer who strangles women with ties. Suspicion falls, however, on the innocent Richard Blaney (Jon Finch), after Rusk kills Blaney's ex-wife Brenda (Barbara Leigh-Hunt) and his current girlfriend (Anna Massey). Set-pieces include Rusk's desperate attempt to prise an incriminating tie-pin out of one of his victim's hands (now rigid with rigor mortis) and a leisurely tracking shot up a flight of stairs to alight upon a grisly murder in progress.