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Fright (1971)

Dir: Peter Collinson

Child psychology Student Amanda (Susan George, sporting a dress so short it brings a tear of thanks to the eye, and lets not even mention the kinky black boots) arrives at the isolated home of Helen and Tim Lloyd (Honor "Goldfinger" Blackman, and George "The Belles of St. Trinians" Cole) to baby-sit their son, Tara, whilst they go out for a meal.

Helen is obsessed with the safety of her child and both her and Tim seem on edge as they say their goodbyes to Amanda.
Already ill at ease, Amanda is further spooked when her boyfriend Chris (Dennis Waterman, "The Sweeny") unexpectedly makes an appearance looking for a spot of loving, but virginal Amanda is having none of it.

Through Chris, Amanda learns the truth about the Lloyds. It seems that Tim is her second Husband, as her first husband Brian (the late, great Ian Bannen, "Doomwatch", "The Offence") is currently in a mental hospital after trying to kill Helen, his baby and himself!

But on this night, with Amanda alone in the house with his child, Brian has broken out from the hospital and is on his way home…….

Even in '71 of course many basic aspects of this story had become cliché (dripping taps, creaking sounds, a face at the window etc, etc) but the British made "Fright" brings a (then) modern slant to proceedings (and does many things with the 'pretty young lady/baby sitter in peril' plot that have become staples) years before the oft touted "Black Christmas", let alone "Halloween", saw the light of a movie projector.
In fact "Fright" forewarns of a good many ideas that would find their way into the very American Horror sub-genre, the 'Slasher' film. At one point, 7 years before Carpenter had "The Thing from Another World" playing on the TV in the background of his babysitting locale in "Halloween", "Fright" backs its psycho stalking's with a TV screening of 'Hammer's' "Plague of the Zombies" and, 25 years before "Scream", descriptions of horror movies and their content are used as verbal references in the movie as well as ways for the mischievous Chris to scare Amanda.
Yet, away from British Horror movie Aficionado's, this movie gets very little acknowledgement for it's soon to be overly familiar content, which is a shame.

For fans of British film and TV the film is a gold mine of talent.
Eagle eyed viewers will spot Roger Lloyd Pack ("Interview with the Vampire", but best known in the UK for his role in the massively popular sitcom "Only Fools and Horses") who makes an early appearance as a member of the very ineffectual Police Force.

British film stalwart John Gregson ("Genevieve", "Angels One Five") makes his last feature film appearance as Dr Cordell, who is treating Brian, and adds a real dash of class to the proceedings.

Blackman does a fine job as the increasingly (and quite rightly!) paranoid Helen and really comes into her own during the tense finale.

George Cole is given little to do but does a solid job, as does Dennis Waterman (in pink flared trousers and spouting delightfully English dialogue like "I reckon you've got the most beautiful pair of Bristols") who makes Chris a far more likeable character then he at first appears.
What is strange about Cole's and Waterman's appearance in "Fright" is that they never actually meet on screen, but 8 years later would team-up and create one of British TV's longest running and most well loved double acts in the comedy/drama series "Minder".

Susan George delivers another sexy but venerable performance in the same year that would see her really push her talent forward in Sam Pekinpah's infamous "Straw Dogs". No one quite did frantic, eye rolling terror and hysteria like Susan George and she does well here in a role that basically carries the entire film on it's shoulders.

Ian Bannen has lots of fun with the totally deranged Brian, and skips marvellously from sweaty, barely held together calm to ranting, teeth gnashing, eye bulging psychotic blow-out's. Bannen never failed to hold an audience and was one of British cinema's unsung heroes and although there is nothing really 'deep' here, he manages to bring to life a memorable screen crazy.

Director Peter Collinson (who helmed the iconic and ever popular British gem "The Italian Job") uses a strange (but weirdly effective) fast cutting device throughout the movie as images (like Amanda screaming, shots of her dress being undone and Brian seeing Helen in Amanda's face) are rapidly edited into the main action. A visual tool that fractures proceedings in such a way that it could almost represent the broken mind of the film's psychologically damaged killer.

The Cinematography also plays a big part in the structure and feel of the movie.
We have stalking POV shots, sharply in focus foreground and background images split between the left and right of the frame (very well used in a scene where Brian tries to persuade Amanda not to leave the house), great use of shadow and plenty of unusual compositions (for example, when the bars of the cot cut across Brian's face as he looks down at his sleeping child).
It's excellent work by Ian Wilson, whose resume includes everything from "Queen Kong" and "Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter" to "The Crying Game" and "Emma".

Although blood and gore are not really in evidence, there is an effectively violent moment where the killer repeatedly beats a victim bloodily in the face and a wincing moment of a person's cheek being slashed.
A genuinely disturbing aspect though is what the young Tara Collinson (the Director's son) goes through as the unfortunate offspring of mad brian. As well as the shouting and general hysteria, at one point the child has a broken shard of glass held to it's throat as Bannen screams threats about what he will do! You can't see this happening in a movie today and it would be a miracle if the poor rug rat did not have a few major nightmares thereafter!

The script by 'Hammer' writer Tudor Gates ("Twins of Evil", "The Vampire Lovers") is the only real weak link and provides nothing that really surprises the viewer. The identity of the psycho is revealed before he even appears, everyone acts pretty much as you would expect and basically the plot plays out just like you expect it to.
It's basically a 60 minute TV thriller/drama padded out to feature length and with the odd bit of 70's cinematic violence (plus one unexpected bit of swearing) and psychological trauma thrown in to make sure it gets an 'X' rating.
The only real unusual parts of the screenplay are the bumbling Police, whose basic incompetence is summed up when the Desk Sergeant asks the increasingly worried and frantic Dr Cordell "How do you spell that word 'psychotic' again"?
And although these slightly comic moments are at odds with the rest of the film, they do not stick out as badly as they could have done strangely enough.

But luckily Collinson does wonders with this very average script, moving the action along nicely, providing some well crafted scenes of threat and madness, and with the aid of his very accomplished cast and crew he has made a film that is far more effective than its screenplay would seem to suggest it ever could be.
Well worth a view for fans of British Horror cinema as well as for those interested in the history of 'psycho' flicks.