Die Nacht des kalten Grauens

Susan George seemed to have spent a large part of 1971 being terrorised in rural houses by maniacs; in Straw Dogs she suffered violence at the hands of vicious country yokels and in Fright she is threatened by an escaped lunatic with murder on his mind.

Unfortunately, despite a great cast including George Cole, Honor Blackman and Dennis Waterman, and direction from Peter Collinson (who gave us the classic The Italian Job) this somewhat tedious thriller/horror rarely manages to be anything more than average.

Susan George (looking a lot like Sarah Michelle Gellar to me — only much sexier) is great as Amanda, the babysitter who must protect baby Tara when his homicidal father drops by for a visit; she convincingly portrays the terror of the situation (whilst simultaneously looking great in a very short dress), but even her performance cannot save the film; the histrionics in the latter part of the film undermine all that goes before and the finale, in which Amanda exacts revenge on the killer, is quite ridiculous.

Director Collinson manages a few nice touches (I particularly liked the intercutting between Susan George and Honor Blackman to show how the maniac was unable to discern between the two women), but the tension of the housebound action is dissipated by some dreadfully dull scenes set in a nearby restaurant and the local police station.

With a little more action, a bit less talk and maybe one or two more deaths, this could have been a classic little chiller — as it stands, it is just another so-so horror film which is unlikely to cause anyone sleepless nights.

Enjoyed this British film with Susan George, (Amanda), "The Strange Affair", who plays the role of a young gal attending college and taking on a babysitting job way out in the country and walking all by herself after getting off a bus. The house where Amanda is to babysit is very old and their is a little boy she is to take care of while his mom and dad go out to dine. Amanda has a visit from her boyfriend who attempts to make love to her and starts to almost get to first base when the telephone starts to ring. Susan George gives a great performance through out the entire picture and it truly shows the great talent she had during her early years of stardom. If you like Susan George when she was young, pretty and sexy, this is the film for you. Enjoy.

Fright (1971)

** (out of 4)

British thriller has teenager Amanda (Susan George) showing up for a babysitting job when she soon finds herself being terrorized by the kid's father shows up after escaping from a mental hospital. The father plans on murdering his ex-wife but plans change after he notices that the babysitter reminds him of her. FRIGHT has a few tense moments early on but after a pretty good start the film sadly falls apart pretty quickly. I thought the first thirty-minutes of the film were rather well-directed and features a couple tense sequences and it's really too bad the rest of the film didn't live up to the title. Director Peter Collison really does a nice job at building up the tension early on and I especially liked the way that he used sound effects to build up not only the atmosphere but also some creepy moments. One perfect example deals with some dripping water but the highlight of the film is one of the first stalking scenes we witness as the babysitter's boyfriend is outside and being followed. This scene is without question the best of the movie and is almost strong enough to make the entire film worth sitting through. The problem with the final hour is that not too much happens. The entire thing is extremely slow paced and like many British films, the dialogue is just way too much and it pretty much takes over the picture and not a single thing said is interesting. Even worse is how the film keeps flashing back and forth between what's going on inside the house and what the kid's mother and stepfather are doing in town. Yet another problem is simply how stupid the babysitter gets once more of the action takes place inside the house. Fans of George will no doubt want to see her here as she's as cute as ever and turns in a decent performance. Honor Blackman and Ian Bannen are good in their supporting roles as well. FRIGHT manages to have a couple good sequences but sadly there just aren't enough to keep the film entertaining throughout.

A young woman goes to a secluded large house to babysit a little boy however once there she is terrorized by her employers ex husband.

The first half of the film is by far the best, the suspense is very good (if a little creeky), there is a couple of good jump scares and tension builds well. Acting is also very strong, George as the film's central character holds everything together well she as always delivers, Bannan as the demented maniac is chilling at times and Honor Blackman is also very good. What holds the film back however is Collinsons direction in the 2nd half, instead of keeping the audience on the edge by staying in the confines of the house we keep leaving and going to nothing scenes at the restaurant or police station. This could have been a really terrifying experience given the story and situation but sadly only occasionally delivers the goods.

One of the first of the babysitter stalker movies made so it does deserve some credit and its definitely not a bad film it just didn't reach the level I was expecting.

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.