Notte di terrore

I have often confounded NIGHT OF TERROR with CRY TERROR, because both have "terror" in the title, and also because both are made by the same director; and let's admit that both stories are quite close. Hoodlums against the common law abiding citizen living in the suburb. John Cassavetes and Vince Edwards literally steal the show because of their performances. This story could have been perfect for a seventies or even eighties film, partly because inspired from true events that occured in february 1953. It is predictable, easy to know how it will end, but just enjoy the directing and acting too. Useless to insist on this same topic as DESPERATE HOURS.

The Night Holds Terror doesn't have a whole lot going for it except for tension – but maybe that's enough. Like Detour (which may be a distant ancestor), it's the story of how a whim, a twist of fate, can turn lives upside down. Driving home from his job at Edwards Air Force Base, Jack Kelly picks up a hitch-hiker (Vince Edwards) who pulls a gun on him. The rest of Edwards' gang (John Cassavettes and David Gross) join up, but spare Kelly's life when he has only 10 bucks on him. Deciding that trading in his car for cash is a better deal, they take over Kelly's knotty-pine home – he has a wife (Hildy Parks) and two kids – until the following day.

From then on in it's a standard family-held-hostage suspenser, with Edwards putting the moves on the wife and the inevitable sorting out of the pecking order among the gang members. When they depart next morning, taking Kelly along for insurance, Parks disobeys orders and calls the police. But will the police locate the gang before they kill Kelly?

His five years of glory as Ben Casey, M.D. still down the road, Edwards, smoldering and stretching the seams of his T-shirt, makes the strongest impression in the movie – maybe the only impression. Cassavettes (occasionally looking like Jerry Lewis at about the same time) delivers an unremarkable performance, and the rest of the cast is no more than passable. Photography is the flat, ‘50s style until the end, when some night shots in driving rain add atmosphere. The story unfolds in the semi-documentary style common to its times, complete with voice-over narration (first by Kelly, then by an anonymous authority figure).

The Night Holds Terror gets compared frequently to The Desperate Hours, a better production but a stagier one as well. For all its low-budget look and low-price acting, the movie retains some authenticity. At times it almost seems like cinema-verité – like those edgy little films Cassavettes himself would soon be making.

These types of films seemed to be quite common in the 1950s. Drivers making the foolish mistake of picking up the worst possible type of hitch-hiker--a criminal. One who might take him hostage or kill him at any moment. A very real fear of the possible.

This film feels like a mix of THE HITCH-HIKER and THE DESPERATE HOURS but isn't quite on par with either. Unlike those, this feels like a Made For TV film. The Narration is very much a negative and will probably make many laugh due to its dire seriousness.

But the characters in this film are well-played and certainly entertaining enough to make this film an enjoyable ride. Especially good are Hildy Parks as the terrorized wife who won't stand for it and Jack Kelly as her husband who is thinking only of his family's welfare. John Cassavetes is also good in his role as the mastermind criminal. There's some terrific cinematography in the film featuring scenes out in the desert and the climatic ending in the rain.

THE NIGHT HOLDS TERROR is an interesting thriller/film noir entry for various reasons. Yes, it bears a strong similarity to THE DESPERATE HOURS, but that's because both were inspired by the same true (and sensational) story. Proving which one went into production first might be difficult. But really, it doesn't matter, because unlike the Hollywood sheen of THE DESPERATE HOURS, this odd little film has many gritty aspects and colorings and transcends its low budget.

John Cassavetes is always great to watch, even in a lesser picture. Here, while he rarely truly shines, he manages to keep tightly wound like a coiled spring, with his menacing glare and occasional flashes of violence. Vince Edwards is actually nowhere near as good here as he was playing similar hoods in MURDER BY CONTRACT, CITY OF FEAR and THE KILLING, though it's an acceptably menacing performance.

What really makes THE NIGHT HOLDS TERROR is a constant reliance on real locations. I couldn't spot one studio set in the entire picture; every interior seems to be in a real place (Cassavetes' modern hilltop home and the Courtiers' kitchy suburban one, police stations, telephone switching centers, the Mojave desert, etc.). There is even one standout sequence where the captors' car careens through the desert, photographed by what appears to be a cameraman barely holding onto the hood of the car. No rear screen here, and this is several years before the famed from-the-hood Venice driving sequence in TOUCH OF EVIL.

And the pace of the picture is practically amphetamine-charged. If the camera isn't moving, the cast always is, with constant dialogue shot through with tension. This is a strong, underrated thriller, and while hardly a perfect masterpiece, it's definitely superior to stagier hostage dramas of the period and well worth tracking down.

Enjoyed this 1955 film with great actors like Vince Edwards,( Victor Gosset) and John Cassavetes, (Robert Batsford) who were just starting their careers. In this picture Jack Kelly,(Gene Courtier) makes a very bad mistake and picks up a hitchhiker in the desert and Victor Gosset commanders his car and wants him to sell it for money and then meets up with Robert Batsford who is the boss of the kidnapping and then they decide to go to Gene Courtier home and hold his wife, Doris Courtier,(Hildy Parks) and two children hostage in their own home. Victor Gosset is crazy about women and can't seem to keep his hands off Doris Courtier and starts all kinds of problems with her husband. There is very high tension through out the entire picture and it was a great film for 1955. Enjoy