Fear in the Night (1974)

Undescribable Perfection

Must See Movie...

Best movie ever!

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

A slow-moving psychodrama from the Hammer stable, this was the last of the Hammer thrillers (probably due to diminishing returns). Although the film is badly flawed, there is still some fun to be had with the twisting plot as alliances change throughout the film. It's also good fun to watch actors and actresses from a typically period setting act in a contemporary setting like this.The acting in this film ranges from good to bad. As the dim-witted, drippy female lead, Judy Geeson is highly annoying. We don't care for her, we just want her off the screen. She's a lot like the character of Barbara in the original NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, in that she sits around in silence and screams sometimes, while not doing much herself. This is a long way from her outstanding performance in INSEMINOID. However the other three actors and actresses all act well to make up for this disgrace, so three out of four isn't bad. Joan Collins has a ball as an evil character who specialises in sadism and torturing people, and it's obvious that she enjoyed the role a lot.Ralph Bates is good value as the apparently kind husband. It's the only time I've seen Bates do this type of role, so the novelty value is there. Peter Cushing is also on hand in an unfortunately brief role as the crippled, one-armed headmaster of the school, and he's great as always, stealing every scene in an enjoyably sinister role. His presence is felt even when he's not on screen.While the film is hardly original - the premise had already been done by Hammer many times before - and offers up nothing new in the way of suspense, there are some chills to be had, mainly in the scenes in the deserted school, while recordings of the children play in the background. There is little gore on offer, apart from a shot rabbit; this film works on suspense instead. For many fans this is going to be a turn-off, mainly because of the incredibly slow pace. For the first hour not much really happens and things are over-simplistic, it's not until the final half an hour that things hot up and become quite exciting. Is the climax worth waiting for? I'd say so, but then again I'm biased in this film's favour, in that I like the cast so much.

Fear In The Night is a late entry in Hammer's sub-genre of contemporary psychological thrillers. While most commonly remembered for its Gothic horrors, the studio frequently tried its hand at other stuff (historical swashbucklers, prehistoric adventures, TV comedy spin-offs, sci-fi, etc.) Their modern-based thrillers include such movies as Taste Of Fear, The Maniac, Nightmare, Crescendo and Straight On Till Morning. Fear In The Night marks the final time Hammer regular Jimmy Sangster directed a film for the studio, and he brings a reasonably intriguing sense of mystery to the proceedings. It's a very low-key, low-budget affair – almost along the lines of a filmed stage play – and when you've seen it once it's not a film that encourages repeat viewings (without the fun of anticipating the twist in the tail, there's not much else to it).Recovering from a nervous breakdown, pretty but vulnerable Peggy (Judy Geeson) marries a charming school teacher, Robert Heller (Ralph Bates). She plans to move into a house with Robert inside the grounds of the well-to-do public school where he works. However, shortly before the move, Peggy is assaulted by a mysterious assailant. She blacks out during the attack, but before she faints she manages to pull off the attacker's false arm. Later, a still-jittery Peggy arrives at her new home at the school. Here she meets the Headmaster's wife, Molly Carmichael (Joan Collins), an abrupt and bitchy type who instantly makes Peggy feel less than welcome. She also meets the Headmaster, Michael Carmichael (Peter Cushing). Michael demonstrates some downright eccentric behaviour, such as teaching in empty classrooms and playing tape recordings of pupils' voices… but none of that is as disturbing to Peggy as the realisation that Michael has a false arm….The four main characters are quite nicely played overall. Geeson is surrounded by some pretty heavyweight talent but she rises to the role very well; Bates creates an interesting characterisation in a rare contemporary role; Collins (an actress I usually really dislike) is particularly memorable as the film's super-bitch; and ever-reliable Cushing only gets around ten minutes of screen time but makes every second of it count in his pivotal guest cameo. The story unfolds slowly – sometimes too slowly? – but generates intrigue on the whole. There's a nicely controlled atmosphere thanks to the secluded deserted-school locale, and Sangster clearly relishes punctuating the story with various red herrings and open-ended exchanges of dialogue. The twist, when it comes, is rather clever. As noted earlier, though, the twist also provides the film with its main appeal… so once the audience is "in" on the film's secret there aren't many reasons to watch it again. Overall, Fear In The Night is a competently made but undistinguished suspenser in the 'Diabolique' mould.

Sangster's third and final film as director forsakes the Gothic trappings of the first two for the psycho-thrillers which Hammer occasionally dabbled in (inspired by LES DIABOLIQUES [1954] and kick-started by the Sangster-penned TASTE OF FEAR [1961]).As such, it's a pretty solid entry in the genre: well-made (the last half-hour being especially tense), stylish (making subtle use of elliptical editing, careful not to go overboard as was the case with STRAIGHT ON TILL MORNING [1972]) and sporting a compact but most able cast - Judy Geeson (her inherent vulnerability is suited to this type of frightened lady role), Joan Collins (going through a horror/thriller phase at the time and who's, of course, alluringly bitchy), Ralph Bates (it took me some time to accept him in a modern setting since he's so comfortably placed in the Gothic world of his other stuff for Hammer, but there's no denying that he does quite well by his role here!) and Peter Cushing (superlative as always, he has a field day with an ambiguous characterization); incidentally, Cushing and Collins must be one of the most incongruous husband-and-wife pairings in film history!As one can gather from the above, I liked the film quite a bit and, in fact, pondered for a while the notion of awarding it a *** rating but was, ultimately, deterred from doing so by a couple of flaws: the 'ingenious' plot is, actually, fairly predictable (but, if anything, it's even more fun to be able to anticipate the many twists involved!); however, this also means that one has to labor through a first half that is both slow and repetitive!! I do feel that it's underrated in the Hammer canon: Leonard Maltin dismisses it, for instance, but Leslie Halliwell - not usually one to bother much with the company's latter-day output - is surprisingly complimentary in his review.While FEAR IN THE NIGHT more or less adheres to Hammer's formula for this type of film - an innocent girl having a brush with murder and madness in remote surroundings - it also draws parallels to the contemporary giallos, especially with its device of a black-gloved stalker. Incidentally, of Hammer's 10 modern suspensers, I've only got two more to catch up with - MANIAC (1963) and CRESCENDO (1970).The Audio Commentary here proves disappointing - not because it isn't informative but, rather, due to the fact that we get an awful lot of repetition of Sangster's anecdotes from his tracks for THE HORROR OF FRANKENSTEIN (1970) and LUST FOR A VAMPIRE (1971); to be fair to him, the fault lies more with moderator Marcus Hearn - who should have come up with a fresher set of questions, as it were. Then again, I'd have expected more insight into the actual construction of the script (a psycho thriller being, fundamentally, more intricate than a Gothic horror) - but it's safe to assume that, after all these years, Sangster recalls precious little about this aspect...although he does mention that he had pitched the script to the company as early as 1963, and that it was originally intended to be set on a boat! The discussion also touches upon Hammer's other suspensers: apart from citing TASTE OF FEAR and THE NANNY (1965) as his favorite films, Sangster mentions that Orson Welles turned up unannounced one day on the set of MANIAC; in connection with the film under review - which, incidentally, brought Sangster's fortuitous association with Hammer to a close - he acknowledges the fact that Peter Cushing was basically serving the same function (i.e. a red herring) that Christopher Lee did in TASTE OF FEAR.

Fear in the Night is a very seldom discussed Hammer film with Peter Cushing and Joan Collins. It's the story of a woman recently released from the hospital after suffering a nervous breakdown. She's just been married and is about to join her husband who teaches at an all-boys school. The night before she leaves, she is attacked in her apartment. When help arrives, there is no sign of an intruder. Did she imagine the attack or did it really happen? Soon after arriving at the school, she is attached again. No one believes her. Her husband leaves for an overnight trip to London. That night, she hears strange noises downstairs. She grabs her gun and carefully goes down the stairs. Suddenly, the lights come on and…….. There's a reason this movie is so seldom discussed – much of the movie is a complete and utter bore. A good portion of the screenplay consists of various characters walking around the school. Just walking. Nothing really happens to them. They just walk. The movie is not, though, without its good points. The finale presents a nice twist that, although fairly predictable, is well done. I can't really recommend this to anyone other than Peter Cushing or Hammer completest. For what it's worth, I give this one a 5/10.