Fright (1972)

I would say that, after seeing all Peter Collinson's movies, he was a sort of British Dario Argento, if you consider some of his movies. Except concerning the pictorial aspect. But for the overall schemes of some of his movies, he reminds me Argento very much. Think of PENTHOUSE, STRAIGHT ON TILL MORNING, OPEN SEASON, SPIRAL STAIRCASE, FRIGHT, and from my point of view, you find many elements in common with Argento. This movie is fairly done, and the closest to Giallo genre for me, even if this scheme of the baby sitter threatened by a vicious killer has been told hundred of times before and after; in movies and TV episodes too. I will finish by saying that the poor Susan George had a bad year 1971, a difficult one, with features such as STRAW DOGS and FRIGHT to act in. And maybe some others too. I am sure that the producers and directors may have chosen her for dozens of screenplays involving terrorized women by home invaders.

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

OK, I know a lot of people like this and that's fine. I don't find this earlier slasher to be a misunderstood or beyond bad flick but I still think it is punctured in many weak spots. I'm not sure why but I think it was because of these things.1. They revealed the killer way too soon and I found that to be heavily weak. I liked this killer but at the same time he's not as memorable as Billy from Black Christmas or even the popular culture icon, Michael Myers from Halloween.Yeah that was my only really major issue but there were also little bits and pieces which didn't work. More kills could have been better and the kills here sucked. The atmosphere of the house was scary but the death scenes, the killer or not even the music scared me. This film's called Fright and it didn't frighten me.The good was that even if the music wasn't creepy, I liked it, the acting was excellent, the house was scary to my satisfaction and the angle shots of things was done well.Overall it is an average flick. I was hoping I would have given it more than a 7 and I was really excited for this film since it was way way before Halloween and other slashers but it wasn't what it turned out to be. Oh well. I just wish it has the sheer power like Halloween, Black Christmas and even others like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, I Spit on your Grave and the early comers of Psycho.It's a 5.4/10 on this one.

This is a clumpy prototype of the slasher films which were to become so ubiquitous by the late 1970s and '80s. It starts off promisingly, setting up the story with Susan George arriving as the babysitter for a slightly odd couple – the mother clearly on edge to the point of neurosis – and, after they leave, becoming spooked by the thuds and shudders of an old, time-worn house. However the script is clumsily constructed, so moments of tension are dissipated by switching back and forth between the house and the couple's evening out. The repressed virgin routine that Susan George goes through, also, has dated pretty badly and probably seemed fairly risible even in the early '70s when the film was made. Ian Bannen as the ex-husband gone homicidal does not ring true – the moments when he growls like an over-excited terrier are as frightening as he gets; a shame because he's so good in such films as 'Tales from Beyond the Grave' (Amicus) and, much later, in 'Gorky Park' and 'Hope and Glory'. As for Susan George, her character simply turns into a sopping wet, quivering pulp of nerves as if she were in 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' instead of this very plodding drama. The DVD was only available as a Region 1, so – unable to view it as a rental - I bought it on the strength of its cast. Don't make the same mistake. Alas, I found myself in the end so uninvolved that I passed the time noticing how many times the music score (by Harry Robertson) ripped off Prokofiev's atmospheric Third Symphony.