Night of Fear (1973)

A young woman is riding her horse in the forest but is left to walk when her horse bolts. She is then stalked and taken prisoner by a maniac. Some time later another young woman is forced off the road while driving. Her car is damaged and immobile and the maniac is now after her...Reasonably interesting and intriguing, though a bit lacking. This is really a short film with pretensions of being a feature film. Only 50 or so minutes long and some scenes feel padded. A tighter script with more plot development and this would have been great.

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.

Terry Bourke's Night of Fear was originally meant to be the pilot for an Australian TV-series titled "Fright." However, the censors banned it on the grounds of "indecency and obscenity." That is unfortunate, as it would have made a great TV series, as this was a pretty good movie in its own right. Although you can tell it was a pilot, as the movie has opening titles very much like a TV show (and it is called "Fright), plus it only goes for 50 minutes and there is pretty much no dialogue.Having said this, it is grisly and unsettling and although tame by today's standards, does feature a few nasty scenes. Also (and very interestingly) this was made two years before Tobe Hooper's widely regarding cult classic, "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre." While I was watching this, I was constantly reminded of Hooper's film, with the outback setting, the distressed and screaming heroine and the disturbed hillbilly villain. Night of Fear is virtually plot less, it follows 'The Woman' (Carla Hoogeveen) who takes an accidental wrong turn to avoid a collision and crashed her car near 'The Man's' (Norman Yemm) house. He stalks and terrorises her for the rest of the film.It is a shame this was extended into a feature length with some dialogue, as it would make a great 70's exploitation film along the lines of Hooper's "Massacre." However, for what it is, it is quite good and it would not surprise me if some filmmakers got inspiration from this...("Wolf Creek").3½/5

Night of Fear was supposed to be the pilot for a twelve-part anthology series titled 'Fright'. That series never saw the light of day. Night of Fear went on to become Australia's most controversial film of the '70s. The censor, who banned the movie, branded it "indecent" and "obscene". Which led to the film's producers fighting a long and defiant battle before it could be shown in theatres. It then remained unseen for 30 years until its DVD release.This is a very interesting film in the style of 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre', which incidentally it predates by a couple of years. It tells the story of a young woman who takes a ride into the Australian countryside. She takes a wrong turn, hits a bump in the road and crashes her car near a ramshackle lodge, where a redneck psychopath lives with a colony of rats. The girl is then stalked and terrorised throughout the rest of the film. I should also mention that since this was the pilot for the proposed anthology series. It still carries the original title 'Fright' in the opening credits and has run time of 50 minutes. Oh, I nearly forgot...there is no dialogue whatsoever in the film.I enjoyed this film: it is relatively tame by today's standards but has a bit of nudity along with a quite bizarre scene involving a human skull. The beautiful Carla Hoogeveen gives a great performance as 'The Woman', throwing herself right into the part. If you are a fan of 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' or 1970s exploitation films in general, you might want to give it a look.