Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Janis One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

BA_Harrison Narrowly missing a collision with a truck, a young woman (Carla Hoogeveen) veers off the road and down a dirt track, her car ending up stuck in a ditch. Soon after, she finds herself menaced by a leering lunatic (Norman Yemm) with a gimpy leg and a rat on his shoulder.Although considered quite the shocker when it first came out, being banned by the Australian Censorship Board, Night of Fear is a very rudimentary 'woman in peril' horror - woman crashes car in countryside, woman encounters killer hillbilly, woman flees with maniac in pursuit - which will hold very few surprises and deliver scant scares for seasoned fans of the genre.I guess a few similarities to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre from the following year will make it of interest to some - animal parts and stuffed rats adorn the killer's shack, and the man himself likes to play with the bloody skull of a previous victim - but on the whole, this is a mildly interesting Antipodean obscurity (the complete lack of dialogue certainly marks it as unusual) rather than an essential piece of Ozploitation.4.5 out of 10, rounded up to 5 for Pinkie the rat.

Bloodwank Night of Fear, what a film. It excels with a simple plot involving a luckless lady run off the road in a car accident. Pulling herself together and getting out of the wreck, she comes across a malevolent backwoods creep who pursues her deep into the backwoods in a relentless and frightening chase. This film appears to be the first Australian horror of note, or at least it would have been were it not banned almost immediately as "obscene". By today's standards it may be relatively tame, but back in 1972, before the backwoods nightmare template had been really established, this must have been quite something. Also it was made as a pilot for a TV series, perhaps an ill advised move (after this was banned, the rest of the series was sadly never made). Director Terry Bourke puts together a real winner here, the pace is unrelenting after a bit of an introduction to our protagonist in her ordinary setting, an introduction that stays for just the right length to paint her as an everywoman, a bright, pleasant looking individual and easy to root for. Carla Hoogeveen really throws herself into the role, convincing harried and nervous she carries well the physical and mental strain of the character, if perhaps a shade too stoically (no Marilyn Burns style screaming here). Norman Yemm plays the antagonist, very well too, a genuinely muchos shifty and unnerving freakazoid his turn epitomises the sort of individual one doesn't want to meet out in the unknown. The film eschews dialogue, practically the only words heard are on a car radio, music and sound effects carry this one in an almost arty fashion, though the editing of Ray Alchin is what truly sets this one above its grind-house trappings. Things roll along looking normal for deceptive stretches, before breaking into rapid fire frenzies, the images leaping out in speedy cuts sometimes to enhance the intensity of action, but also to strafe the audience with jagged flash-forwards and nightmare fantasy, glimpses perhaps of how far the film might have gone if it hadn't been intended for television. Some will no doubt find the approach off-putting but its undeniably skilled and ambitious work for an early 70's low budgeter. The production design and camera-work is pretty impressive too (some nifty close ups if memory serves), combining to create quite a fraught and verging on delirious feel it comes across very much reminiscent at times of a certain better known horror of the 70's that came out a couple of years after…Nothing to add really, save that this is a must see for Australian horror fans, backwoods horror fans, grind-house horror fans, in fact pretty well anyone who can dig a simple, single minded freaker. Its only 50 odd minutes long too, so what are you waiting for?

ronevickers Just when you're thinking of the worst movies you've ever seen, along comes this grade Z clunker zooming into the frame! Anyone who is aware of this Aussie film will know that it was banned by the censors for a long time. It's a pity, in many ways, that the censors eventually relented, as depriving viewers of catching up with this dross would have been something of a bonus. In reality, it has very little in its favour. Okay, it may well be the first Australian horror movie, and a pre-runner of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but it doesn't take very long to become monotonous and downright irritating. The actors couldn't have been too concerned about learning their lines, as there simply arn't any. It's probably the horror equivalent of "The Plank"!! Put simply, this is a total waste of time.

The_Void My knowledge of Australian horror cinema isn't exactly encyclopaedic, but apparently, this is the first Oz horror film. Night of Fear was originally intended to be the first episode in a twelve part Australian TV horror series, but because Australian censors deemed it 'too gory', it never saw the light of day; until its DVD release some years later. The film definitely is nastier than your average TV show, and it's not really surprising that it never got shown on television. There is no dialogue at all in the film, although this is masked by a barrage of tense and macabre scenes that our young heroine terrorised by a madman. While the film does well in the violence and gore stakes, I personally don't rate it as a masterpiece simply because there isn't all that much to it. The film only lasts for fifty minutes, so you can't expect too much - but the unrelenting pace can become monotonous. You've got to respect writer-director Terry Bourke for attempting to bring horror to Australian TV screens and having his attempt dismissed for featuring too much horror, but personally I'd rather have seen him put his efforts into a more ambitious feature length film instead, and I'll endeavour to see his later efforts such as 'Inn of the Damned'.