Fright (1972)

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Fright is directed by Peter Collinson and written by Tudor gates. It stars Susan George, Ian Bannen, Honor Blackman, George Cole, Dennis Waterman and John Gregson. Music is by Harry Robinson and cinematography by Ian Wilson.A young babysitter is terrorised by an escaped mental patient.It plays as stock fair now, but Fright is undoubtedly influential in the line of "maniac stalks girl alone" movies. But! That is no gauge of quality because in spite of some good initial ground work in the first half, the pic fails to deliver on its promise. Susan George as Amanda, in fetching mini-dress, falls prey to an unhinged Ian Bannen as Brian who literally has come home. The build up consists of Amanda turning up for her babysitting assignment and finding the lady of the house (Blackman over acting big time) on tender hooks. Once Amanda is alone in the house noises are used as scare tactics, Waterman turns up as a horny boyfriend and soon gets sent packing with a flea in his ear, and then the lights go out and Brian turns up thinking that Amanda is his wife (Blackman who is out doing some awful dancing with Cole).General hysterics ensue as Amanda becomes a simpering wreck whilst trying to hold it together long enough to keep the baby safe from harm. Bannen goes into over drive convincing us he's mad, which leads to some very unsettling scenes as Amanda is put through a nightmare (1971 really saw George at the mercy of film makers!) until the conclusion which comes with the inevitable outcome.Horror really wasn't Collinson's forte, and his choices in the genre tended to revolve around a woman in peril, and that's kind of the problem with Fright, it just comes off as unsavoury (do I smell misogyny?). Collinson shows some nice touches, such as a pendulum sequence, while the sense of dread in that first half is well marshalled, but most of the time he's using the picture as an excuse to leer at George's skirt, legs and ripped blouse! Don't get me wrong, as a red blooded male I find George sexy in the extreme, but I don't need it as an excuse to cover up a scripts failings.It proves to be a most interesting viewing experience now, where armed with the knowledge of the sub-genre offerings that followed, you can't help but acknowledge that it's a film only of its time; yet still important on its basic formula terms. However, and casting aside that we are in a world where George Cole can net Honor Blackman, it really is distinctly average at best. 5/10

OK, I know a lot of people like this and that's fine. I don't find this earlier slasher to be a misunderstood or beyond bad flick but I still think it is punctured in many weak spots. I'm not sure why but I think it was because of these things.1. They revealed the killer way too soon and I found that to be heavily weak. I liked this killer but at the same time he's not as memorable as Billy from Black Christmas or even the popular culture icon, Michael Myers from Halloween.Yeah that was my only really major issue but there were also little bits and pieces which didn't work. More kills could have been better and the kills here sucked. The atmosphere of the house was scary but the death scenes, the killer or not even the music scared me. This film's called Fright and it didn't frighten me.The good was that even if the music wasn't creepy, I liked it, the acting was excellent, the house was scary to my satisfaction and the angle shots of things was done well.Overall it is an average flick. I was hoping I would have given it more than a 7 and I was really excited for this film since it was way way before Halloween and other slashers but it wasn't what it turned out to be. Oh well. I just wish it has the sheer power like Halloween, Black Christmas and even others like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, I Spit on your Grave and the early comers of Psycho.It's a 5.4/10 on this one.

FRIGHT starts out on the right note, with an attractive blonde college student named Amanda (Susan George) heading through the dark woods toward a large, remote country home, all set to an eerie ballad called "Ladybird." When she arrives she meets Jim (George Cole) and Helen (Honor Blackman), a presumably married couple who live there with their 3-year-old child Tara (Tara Collinson). The parents show Amanda around, introduce her to their child (who's already tucked in bed and about ready to go to sleep), show her how to work the TV (where she'll later watch THE PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES), give her their contact information and head out for the night. The mother also acts strangely apprehensive about leaving Amanda there alone, but Jim convinces her everything will be OK. It's a fair enough introductory 20-minute sequence that has echoes of such films as BLACK Christmas (1974), HALLOWEEN (1978), WHEN A STRANGER CALLS (1979) and several other films, except this was actually made first. So you have to give credit where credit is due, even though one might not be too thrilled with the eventual outcome.Unfortunately after the solid set-up with the babysitter-left-alone-in-a-big-old-creepy-house, the film basically falls apart and becomes overwrought and shrill. Someone seems to be creeping around outside the estate, peeping in the windows and such. It turns out to be a maniac who has recently escaped from an insane asylum and is somehow linked to the mother and child. Instead of eliciting chills, the killer character (as played by Ian Bannen) comes off ludicrously. His nonstop, incomprehensible babbling and wide-eyed stares are unintentionally hilarious, not at all creepy. And what was up with Susan George's character? She seems every bit as unstable as the killer; freaking out, screaming and crying over the most insignificant things imaginable early on. Many movies like this try to hint that the lead female is a virgin; I guess to make her seem more vulnerable. This one has to beat you over the head with the fact by throwing in an equally annoying pushy suitor (Dennis Waterman) who basically shows up to try to date rape her and then die. Then they predictably give the killer his own would-be rape scene which tries to fuel the silly surprise 'revenge' ending. Unfortunately, George's character is so grating throughout you can't sympathize much with her. You basically just want someone to stuff a sock in her mouth and do whatever they want with her. No one in this film is even remotely likable and you could basically care less what happen to any of them. For a slasher style film like this, you really need a decent central character to revolve all the horror scenes around or else many people will find it hard to get involved. I feel this film lacks that.And I don't blame actress Susan George for this. She did a decent job in her role. She's appealing, looks good and her crying and screaming and emoting were all pretty convincing. It's the horrible screenplay, character arcs and dialogue that make this a chore to sit through. The terror isn't gradually built. There's a hysterical tone to the entire film that shows up early on and never goes away, making the whole experience pretty monotonous. Scenes at the house are cut between scenes of Blackman and Cole's night out on the town, which reveal very little aside for a predictable twist that's already telegraphed early on. Things wrap up with a police stand-off at the home, which has some nasty scenes of the killer threatening to slit George and the child's throats with a shard of glass. This sequence is fairly solid for the most part, except it's ultimately ruined by the inclusion of an unnecessary and lame shock "twist," which left a bad taste in my mouth.

You might call this a slasher prototype (since it resembles something of "Halloween" and "When A Stranger Calls"), as your generic staples are there and in full flight. However it's not terribly successful in making it totally effective, but anything with Honor Blackman and the lovely Susan George in a short purple skirt has got to be worth your time. Of course! Being a very minimal production, the Gothic set-pieces are tight and the story quite simple-minded (babysitter terrorised by a escaped homicidal lunatic who returns to his family home for one night), where its all about hysteria and claustrophobic tension in a forlorn staging. The main problem it was just too uneven. Good uneasy first half, let down by a weak, bloated second half. Some plastered jolts, and atmospheric touches worked (mainly those vivid sound effects), but definitely there were moments that didn't have much impact, and fell in the risible bracket. Not helping was the script completely plods along. Peter Collinson's terse direction, along with Ian Wilson's skillful cinematography and Harry Robertson's whimsically edgy musical score build upon the creaky, and moody old-school atmosphere. The dark, gloomy isolated house (you cant go wrong there!) is well-used in many of the set-ups, and they achieve many unique placements (reflections to silhouettes) with the characters. Collinson's framing is first-rate. A busty Susan George (who gets some scenes with her bra-exposed) is superb in her well-rounded performance of conveying the frightening despair that basically overwhelms her. On the other hand Ian Bannen's spaced out, muttering psychotic loony was a bit hit-and-miss. Honor Blackman scores points as the up-tight mother. George Cole, John Gregson and Dennis Waterman provide sturdy support. Passable little horror flick.