Jag

I wasn't expecting a lot from this after finding the tape at a thrift store for a dollar, and reading the ratings here before watching. However, I was pleasantly surprised at how well crafted this tale of a haunted Jaguar was, and it reminded me very much of the great 1970s British series of features broadcast by BBC under the title of Thriller. The US release title of Dark of the Night is a bit more appropriate than Mr Wrong.

Though filmed in New Zealand in around 1984, it has the look and feel of something done 10 years earlier, and is not at all like a 1980s horror film. It also has nice character development and a well-handled plot with a subtle musical score. Some might feel it is a bit slow, but that is more an effect of a comparison to modern terror films that are quick-cut and horror-action vehicles with teens being slaughtered, and with relatively little in the way of development of character.

This film does not stereotype it's players, and give full dimension to as many characters as possible. The one fault it has is a lack of substance in regards to the one who we learn is the killer. But even with this shortcoming, I'd still give high recommendations.

New Zealander Heather Bolton buys a jaguar from a car lot, takes a long drive home to see the folks, and on her return trip sees a strange woman(who she had already seen in a dream) get in her back seat...then a man gets in the passenger seat. She stops car for gas, man gets out, and she drives back home. She works, gets some roses, realizes car belonged to a woman that disappeared mysteriously, and then for an interminable amount of time - tries to sell her car. But what happens...the door won't open when buyers try to look at it. And that, except for the rather tame and lame denouement, is the height of suspense for this literal "sleeper" from New Zealand. Rather than saying I laughed, I cried, and I ran the whole gambit of emotions, I can say with honest frankness, I stretched, I sighed, and I yawned...repeatedly! Who would have thought life with a jaguar could be this boring and dull. A real snooze-fest!

A woman named Meg buys a beautiful jaguar for her upcoming road trip to her parents house. Once the sale is complete, she hits the open road. But late at night while she's stopped on the side of the road, something strange happens. She hears what sounds like a woman gasping for air in the backseat. She turns the car light on and it stops. Then when she turns the light off, the sound comes back. Meg brushes the incident off and goes to her parents. While on the way home, she picks up two hitchhikers - a man and a woman. After a while on the road, the female hitchhiker in the backseat disappears and the man says there never was a woman back there.

The woman she saw was Mary Carmichael, a woman who was believed to have been murdered years ago. We also discover that Mary used to own the jaguar up to the time of her death. Meg believes the car must be haunted, so she decides to sell it. A few days later, she sees the male hitchhiker all around town glaring at her. Is the car really haunted or is Meg losing touch with reality? And who is the man stalking her all around town? All are answered in an explosive ending.

I thought this New Zealand flick was a very good suspense thriller! The scenes with the hitchhiker that disappears from her car is VERY unsettling. There are many more moments like that throughout the movie. The beginning is very well done. The middle frame is a little slow and drags a bit, but towards the end of the film it really picks up. Almost impossible to find on DVD or VHS, but if you can - check it out for sure.

7/10

This consistently chilling, finely tuned supernatural thriller from New Zealand has far more poke under the bonnet than you might initially expect! After moving to the big smoke, sensitive country gal, Meg (Heather Bolton) purchases a haunted Jag which rather swiftly takes her on a white-knuckled, nightmarishly circuitous journey into radiator-bursting Hitchcockian fright! The magnificently menacing performance by David Letch as 'The Man', an engagingly spooky text, appealing NZ locations and consistently sharp filmmaking from, Gaylene Preston eerily ensures that no viewer's spine shall go untingled! An unjustly obscure thriller, this atmospheric Kiwi road-creeper comes especially recommended to spook-seeking aficionados of vintage vehicular maleficence!

'Enjoy the ecstasy of abject terror in, Gaylene Preston's gripping 'Dark of The Night', this masterfully creepy supernatural horror, will certainly put your cinematic shock absorbers through their paces! Cult horror fans will most certainly recognise, David Letch from Aussie Sci-horror gem 'Death Warmed up'

This movie probably looked a lot better in 1985, when it came out. By modern standards, it's a little too light and too slow for a horror movie, a little too mild and obvious for suspense, and not quite quirky enough as pure film.

That said, it's not badly made. Nicely filmed, with decent performances, and both a truly beautiful vintage Jaguar and truly beautiful New Zealand scenery. The story cleverly combines and twists a few urban legends and ghost stories which -- through no fault of the filmmakers -- have become cliches by now. Again, they would have seemed much fresher in 1985.

The twist ending is pretty clever, although it's foreshadowed a little too broadly. For a small-budget suspense/horror film, it all adds up to 'not bad', but not fantastic either. I'd say that it has the feeling of a made-for-TV film.

What's strange about this movie -- released in the US on video as "Dark of the Night", for some reason -- is that the box boasted half a dozen strong reviews, from "Playboy" and the Village Voice among other sources. It's worth a rental if you like gentler suspense films (no gore in this one) or are a particular fan of 80's and/or New Zealand horror films.