Disabled damsels in distress (blind damsels in particular) are thankful and often recurring protagonists in thrillers. It's not exactly original, but the premise already resulted in several successful film in the past, like "The Spiral Staircase", "Wait Until Dark", "See No Evil" and "Jennifer Eight". "A Long Dark Night" - also known as "Blind Fear" - is a lot lesser known, and also less good, but still a reasonably entertaining thriller with a good atmosphere and adequate performances. Young Erika (the stunningly beautiful Shelley Hack) and the elderly Lasky are the last remaining employees of little hotel in remote Maine that recently got declared bankrupt. On their final night, however, they receive unwelcome guests when the three fugitive robbers of a money transport entrench themselves in the hotel. Erika must hide and eventually fight back, but this is not easy for her since she's blind and - obviously - quite petrified. Director Tom Berry clearly didn't have a wide budget at his disposal, so he merely aims at generating atmosphere and tension via the claustrophobic setting and the unpredictable personality of lead villain Kim Coates. This works quite well at first, but eventually the film does become rather tedious and repetitive. Half of the footage is also too dark to follow, and I ensure you it's hasn't got to do with "putting the viewer in the heroine's shoes". The plot twists at the end are ambitious, but absurd and they feel very much forced.
Best part of the film: crazy robber Kim Coates unleashes his Sherlock Holmes deduction skills and figures out the presence of another person inside the hotel, based on the anchovies' toppings on half a pizza!
