Snakes alive! Hysteria hits a 19th-century Cornish village when murder victims turn up with fang marks on their necks in this splendidly spooky vintage Hammer horror. Could sultry Jacqueline Pearce be the victim of a Malayan curse doomed to writhe the night away? There's an endearingly 1950s-style monster, remarkably atmospheric art direction (the set at Hammer's Bray Studios was re-used for The Plague of the Zombies) and taut, stylish direction by John Gilling. This is one of the best examples of the economical approach Hammer took to horror while never sacrificing originality.

Harry and Valerie Spalding arrive in the remote Cornish village to an unwelcoming and suspicious population. Harry's brother dies suddenly, bitten by a lethal reptilian bite. They befriend a young woman Anna whose tyrannical father controls her life and, as they discover that others in the village have suffered a similar fate, their investigations lead to Anna. What they uncover is a victim of the most terrifying legacy... a destiny of mutilation and murder.