I understand that Freddie Francis's "Paranoiac" is a loose adaptation of Josephine Tey's "Brat Farrar", of which I had never heard until now. It sounds as though Hammer tried to make a number of movies like "Psycho". This one isn't a bad attempt. It focuses on a man who arrives at an estate on the coast of Dorset, England, claiming to be a brother long thought dead, causing a bunch of family secrets to come out.
Oliver Reed's unctuous, irresponsible brother is the really intense character. He refuses to believe the newcomer and goes to great lengths to keep him out of the family. Reed's evil-looking face made him the perfect man for the role. A lot of the movie has the usual stuff that we see in these movies: screaming, eerie images, etc. I did like the cinematography showing the rocky English coast; the terrain looks as sinister as anything going on in the house. In the end "Paranoiac" isn't a great movie, but worth seeing, if only once.
