“As A Prelude To Fear” (** out of four) was a stuffy suspense melodrama about a young girl (Lara Lemon) who is kidnapped by a notorious serial killer called the Pied Piper and the police (led by Ian Cumberland) attempt to track him down and find them both before it is too late. Skillful performances do all they can to jack up the pulse and terror but there’s only so much they can do with tired material. Viewers would best re-watch “The Silence Of The Lambs” and “Se7en” for the same material done better 2-3 decades earlier.