Robert Shaw portrays Stanley as a hideous wreck of a man who is gradually transformed into something credible. Throughout he is bitter, defensive, and contrary to everything in the world he has adopted as his own. There is nothing he likes, nothing he takes pleasure in. He's just a nasty sort of person who seems destined to do something ill-conceived to get his head caned in. Then two men, McCann and Goldberg, appear and take a room for a couple of nights. They clearly know Stanley and proceed to rough him up a bit when they get him alone. Stanley acts as if he has been expecting these two for quite some time. His resignation to maltreatment at their hands is quite disturbing, but not entirely unsurprising.

Patrick Magee, who played the Marquis de Sade in the film adaptation of "Marat Sade" is truly threatening as McCann. His sheer presence on screen is demonic. His eyes steel into you and you feel fixed in your place by his animal stare. There aren't many actors who do this bit as well as he. As Goldberg, Sydney Tafler is actually far more dangerous than McCann. His diabolism is shrouded in a hyper-friendly, articulate, obsessively well groomed mensch. He insists that Stanley celebrate his birthday with all his friends. The arrival of the dippy, highly impressionable Lulu (Helen Fraser) does nothing at first to calm Stanley's nerves. Eventually, however, she wakes him up into his Self, after a fashion. It is quite a shock seeing Lulu all tarted up amidst the sexless crowd at the party. More than anything else, she is the one who terrifies Stanley the most. Her lack of self-consciousness about her body further puts the spike in his neck.

This is simply a great film for observing how daily routines can come to get at some people. Also, how being removed from your safety zone can sometimes shock you into behaving like an entirely different person provided the elements are all in place. It really is a horror film of the highest order. It demonstrates the sinister aspects of the every day quite wonderfully.