Coda (1987) – Nostalgia Central

A promising young music student named Anna (Vivienne Greaves) is attacked in her university room and thrown from the window. Miraculously, she survives, but is subsequently murdered in the hospital by a masked intruder.

Mike Martin (Patrick Frost) is suspected of the crime, but his ex-wife, mature student Kate Martin (A Country Practice star Penny Cook), is convinced he is innocent and begins her own investigation.

Soon, though, Kate and her friend Sally Reid (Liddy Clark) find themselves targeted by a masked killer who is stalking the dark corridors of the university.

The film has a small cast of major characters, so the pool of suspects is limited, making the eventual reveal of the masked killer relatively predictable for seasoned thriller fans.

Coda – a competently made suspense thriller heavily indebted to Hitchcock, with dollops of Brian De Palma and Dario Argento thrown in for good measure – was made for the television and video market and shot on a budget of just $60,000 on 16 mm, largely on the campus at location shooting took place at Flinders University in Adelaide.

The film was released on video in the UK as Symphony of Evil.

Penny Cook died from cancer on 26 December 2018 at the age of 61.

Kate Martin
Penny Cook
Sally Reid
Liddy Clark
Dr Leslie Steiner
Arna-Maria Winchester
Mike Martin
Patrick Frost
Anna
Vivienne Greaves
Det. Sgt. Turner
Olivia Hamnett
Estate agent
Adrian Shirley
Psychiatrist
Bob Newman
Old Man at the Opera
Hedley Cullen

Director
Craig Lahiff

Video