AnhartLinkin
This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.
Invaderbank
The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.
Jakoba
True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.
markcope1981
in what appears to be the first of its kind it made me realize that the classic halloween 1978 is a blatant rip off well there are a few differences but both have similar plots susan george is great and everyone else is OK we have a decent heroine we have a scary killer we have little gore this film is great just what i need bottom line great with the exception of the awful extremely abrupt ending i really like the film john carpenter has to have seen it amanda marring is babysitting tara a young boy taras crazed father brian has come home and terror begins scary film good movie i like it a lot pretty good 9 out of 10
wes-connors
Wearing a mini-skirt with an attached top unbuttoned nearly halfway all-ready, sexy blonde babysitter Susan George (as Amanda) arrives at a creaky mansion for an evening of sherry, TV and a visit from the boyfriend. As luck would have it, homicidal maniac Ian Bannen (as Brian Helston) escapes from a nearby insane asylum. There could be some connection, but not on the telephone; the land line goes dead when worried mother Honor Blackman (as Helen Lloyd) calls to check up on her son and the babysitter. This thriller loses steam before it's even half over, but Susan George is arousing even before her top is half off... don't feel bad, we are encouraged to notice.***** Fright (11/71) Peter Collinson ~ Susan George, Ian Bannen, Honor Blackman, George Cole
Leofwine_draca
FRIGHT is an early example of the slasher movie, neatly predating BLACK Christmas by two years, and featuring a lone babysitter menaced by a psychopath a good while before WHEN A STRANGER CALLS and HALLOWEEN came along. In fact the film it most reminded me of is TALES FROM THE CRYPT, specifically the segment where Joan Collins is menaced by a psycho Santa.It's a good, if not great little horror movie that takes no time in actually getting on with the storytelling. From the outset, in which sexy Susan George is left to fend for herself in a spooky old house, the chills pile up; the door handles rattle, there are distorted faces at the window and lurkers on the driveway outside. For a horror fan, the story of an escaped lunatic is very familiar, but writer Tudor Gates brings the horror back into the family circle and as the film goes on it moves away from a strict slasher flick and becomes more of a tragedy.It's fair to say that Ian Bannen makes for a complex villain. On the one hand, he's as disturbingly frightening as you could wish for in a scare film, but on the other he's genuinely disturbed and in need of psychiatric attention. Much of the suspense comes from the complex psychological games that victim George plays with him as the story goes on. George, dressed in a torn-open mini dress for most of the running time, looks gorgeous and plays a less irritating character than the one in STRAW DOGS (although there's still a fair bit of shrieking and crying).The supporting cast is packed with familiar faces from British TV (such as George Cole and Dennis Waterman, teaming up long before MINDER), including an amusing bit-part for an extremely young Roger Lloyd Pack as a copper. Honor Blackman appears in one of her more memorable parts – and gets to show a bit of spirit - as the put-upon wife, and Peter Collinson's direction adds an extra sheen of quality to the proceedings. I wouldn't call FRIGHT a classic, as it's too basic and familiar for that, but it's a nice example of what the slasher film can achieve when it doesn't rely on gore for effect.
The_Void
The origins of the slasher flick can be traced all the way back to Hitchcock's masterpiece, Psycho, but the modern slasher is a different animal entirely. Some still believe that John Carpenter's overrated Halloween began the craze, but that was predated by Black Christmas, and that in turn was predated by this British flick from 1971. Fair enough, this isn't exactly a template for the modern slasher film, but many of the staples of the genre - a young woman in peril, a killer fresh out of the loony bin, the babysitter theme etc - feature, and to the best of my knowledge; this was one of the first films to feature these themes together. The film can be described as the film that 'When a Stranger Calls' should have been, as it takes the theme of a babysitter being stalked by a lunatic, except everything is fit into one night; and so doesn't suffer from the sprawling middle section of the aforementioned film. Amanda is a young babysitter who arrives at the residence of the Lloyds to look after their three year old son while they go out to a party. What she doesn't realise is that the father's biological father has broken out of a mental home, and has decided to go and see his won...By keeping the focus on just one situation over one period of time, director Peter Collinson (Straight on Till Morning, The Italian Job) creates a tense atmosphere, which benefits from the dark and gloomy feeling that the night setting gives to the story. The film isn't all that gory, but this doesn't really matter as the focus is always on the atmosphere, and this is enough to pull it through. The film benefits from two great performances. First and most importantly, we have Susan George, who lights up the screen throughout with her stunning good looks. Also appearing is Pussy Galore herself Honor Blackman, who is good in the time that she appears. The plot moves well throughout, and the fact that the film doesn't really have a great deal of story is excellently masked by the tense atmosphere, which is enough to keep things moving. There's only one real twist in the story, and that concerns the meeting of the lunatic father. His appearance isn't all that shocking since the hints that he will turn up come thick and fast early on. This is where Fright falls down, but even so; this is a nice little exercise in suspense, and is well worth seeing.
