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| Fright (1971) 87 min |
| aka - Night Legs |
| Fright is a quiet little entry into the babysitter stalking subgenre. It should be noted that it was one of the earlier tellings of this now common theme. Immediate comparisons arise between more well known films such as Halloween and When a Stranger Calls, but I would be careful not to quickly lump them all together. Although they have obvious similarities they have enough to set them apart from each other too. Each film is strong enough to stand on its own two legs (the last film of these chronologically, Halloween, is one of the greatest achievments in the history of formalist cinema). So without descending into a spiral of endless comparisons that would ultimately involve such greats a Mario Bava's Twitch of the Death Nerve, I'll look at Fright on its own merits. |
| Fright tells the story of a young babysitter named Amanda who's left in charge of toddler-aged Tara for the night. It's not long after she's left alone before the tension starts to mount. A young admirer of Amanda's comes to visit with an ulterior motive, but the comfort he brings is shortlived. He tells her a spooky story about the family's past that scares the bejesus out of her. He is promptly kicked out and she continues to question her own safety in the dark and silent house. Secrets are revealed at a slightly uneven pace until a satisfying (or, atleast I thought so) climax. |
| Director Peter Collinson does a good job keeping the story tense and interesting. The most interesting aspect of the film for me was the wonderful camerawork. It's stylish but very unobtrusive. The intense darkness of the house comes to life, shrouding every corner in mystery. Collinson keeps both Amanda and the audience on edge with menacing silhouettes and faces peering in through windows. He uses the zoom lense for maximum effect, reminiscent at times of Bava's Black Sabbath. His pacing at times seems slightly uneven, but never risks sinking the movie. Overall though, his direction is energetic and interesting, making this a very well told story. As I said earlier, his unobtrusive style is effective for drawing you into the characters and letting you forget that you're watching a movie. |
| This was helped, to no small degree, by an outstanding performance turned in by Susan George as Amanda. Her lively reactions bring so much of the (mostly unseen) terror to life. Aside from being an extremely beautiful screen presence (her long legs in that purple skirt are enough to make nearly any man faint) she proves herself as a wonderful actress time and time again. The rest of the cast does a good job rounding out the picture as well. None are given the opportunity to shine as much as George, but for the most part lend themselves to the roles nicely. Former Bond girl Honor Blackman is quite impressive as the paranoid mother. She brings the mysterious nature and the worrying concern to an empathetic level, preventing her character from being annoying and whiney. Dennis Waterman does well to lighten the mood a bit as the hormone driven suitor to Amanda (honestly, who among us could blame him?). His slight comic relief is very well placed before the film takes an irreverably dark tone. From there enters Ian Bannen as psychotic (spelled M-U-R-D-E-R) who is quite frightening at times. Unfortunately, other times his blithering nature is more pathetic than threatening. I suppose this was done intentionally to give his character more depth than just a one dimensional psycho but does get slightly tiresome at times. Overall, the acting is very strong and is partly responsible for the success of the film's suspenseful moments. |
| I had never seen the film before the release of Anchor Bay's recent DVD. I'm not sure how earlier video copies looked, but I fear the worst. This film is powerful in its darkness, but there is a whole lot of it! I'm pretty sure an old video tape will lose most if not all of the picture in the darker scenes. The digital image presented on the AB's disc is superb. The blacks are extremely rich and the picture contrasts wonderfully with it. I suggest that anybody who didn't particularly care for this film the first time around give it another chance on DVD. The mono soundtrack is clear and free of any defects. Included on the disc is a pretty nice bio on Collinson and the silly but fun theatrical trailer. |
| I give this one 4 imperiled babysitters out of 5 |
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| review by Joe Canistro 05/31/2002 |
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