People are voting emotionally.

Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.

This movie sets up a fairly simple premise, but manages to maintain a creepy, uncomfortable atmosphere. Basically, Susan George is a baby sitter who is terrorized by a madman; as others have noted, the first half of the move bubbles along but then it tends to get a little bogged down in the second half, but hey, it's hardly high art. The actors do a good job of keeping the tension high with the exception of George Cole, whose face never seems to betray anything apart from a slightly ambiguous surprise, the sort of face you'd expect from somebody who'd just seen a streaker on the 6 o'clock news while eating dinner. Part of the fun of the movie is the hideous/awesome 70s fashions, Dennis Waterman's cardigan being the prime offender, his robust 'romancing' of George would not go down well in this day and age I suspect. In summary: worth a go if you're a fan of old Hammer films and 70s retro styling.

The sheer simplicity of this film is one of the main things I love about it. It plays upon our most primal fears and proves that you do not need severed, spurting arteries; chainsaws; or monsters to deliver chills. The chills found in 'Fright' are extremely minimal and thoroughly effective: a dripping tap has us genuinely unnerved! The glimpsed, unclear face of a stranger peering in at a window is incredibly frightening.The film's set-up is as old as horror itself: nubile young babysitter alone in house at night menaced by mental asylum escapee. Sounds boring, right? If you are looking for gore then you are definitely looking in the wrong place. 'Fright' offers very little blood but instead serves up excellent tension and a real sense of unease. The only bit that is a drag is the third act, which becomes a little tedious with repeat viewings. In addition, the film's story places a child in harm's way, which is something I never like to see.Susan George is fine as the chaste babysitter Amanda. Dennis Waterman pops up as her sexually frustrated boyfriend, and George Cole is also in it. Waterman and Cole would later star together in the successful television show 'Minder'.There is a delicious timelessness about 'Fright' which makes it an all-time favourite. The film's premise sounds like an urban legend which only adds to the film's appeal. It has nothing on 'The Italian Job' (1969) which was also directed by Peter Collinson, but is most enjoyable nonetheless.At the end of the day, there is just something downright unsettling about being alone in a strange house in the middle of the night, every sound taking on an ominous, sinister quality. The film works especially well when contrasting the loud, brightly-lit environs of The Plover Inn with the heavy silence and shadows of the Lloyd house. They don't make 'em like they used to!

FRIGHT starts out on the right note, with an attractive blonde college student named Amanda (Susan George) heading through the dark woods toward a large, remote country home, all set to an eerie ballad called "Ladybird." When she arrives she meets Jim (George Cole) and Helen (Honor Blackman), a presumably married couple who live there with their 3-year-old child Tara (Tara Collinson). The parents show Amanda around, introduce her to their child (who's already tucked in bed and about ready to go to sleep), show her how to work the TV (where she'll later watch THE PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES), give her their contact information and head out for the night. The mother also acts strangely apprehensive about leaving Amanda there alone, but Jim convinces her everything will be OK. It's a fair enough introductory 20-minute sequence that has echoes of such films as BLACK Christmas (1974), HALLOWEEN (1978), WHEN A STRANGER CALLS (1979) and several other films, except this was actually made first. So you have to give credit where credit is due, even though one might not be too thrilled with the eventual outcome.Unfortunately after the solid set-up with the babysitter-left-alone-in-a-big-old-creepy-house, the film basically falls apart and becomes overwrought and shrill. Someone seems to be creeping around outside the estate, peeping in the windows and such. It turns out to be a maniac who has recently escaped from an insane asylum and is somehow linked to the mother and child. Instead of eliciting chills, the killer character (as played by Ian Bannen) comes off ludicrously. His nonstop, incomprehensible babbling and wide-eyed stares are unintentionally hilarious, not at all creepy. And what was up with Susan George's character? She seems every bit as unstable as the killer; freaking out, screaming and crying over the most insignificant things imaginable early on. Many movies like this try to hint that the lead female is a virgin; I guess to make her seem more vulnerable. This one has to beat you over the head with the fact by throwing in an equally annoying pushy suitor (Dennis Waterman) who basically shows up to try to date rape her and then die. Then they predictably give the killer his own would-be rape scene which tries to fuel the silly surprise 'revenge' ending. Unfortunately, George's character is so grating throughout you can't sympathize much with her. You basically just want someone to stuff a sock in her mouth and do whatever they want with her. No one in this film is even remotely likable and you could basically care less what happen to any of them. For a slasher style film like this, you really need a decent central character to revolve all the horror scenes around or else many people will find it hard to get involved. I feel this film lacks that.And I don't blame actress Susan George for this. She did a decent job in her role. She's appealing, looks good and her crying and screaming and emoting were all pretty convincing. It's the horrible screenplay, character arcs and dialogue that make this a chore to sit through. The terror isn't gradually built. There's a hysterical tone to the entire film that shows up early on and never goes away, making the whole experience pretty monotonous. Scenes at the house are cut between scenes of Blackman and Cole's night out on the town, which reveal very little aside for a predictable twist that's already telegraphed early on. Things wrap up with a police stand-off at the home, which has some nasty scenes of the killer threatening to slit George and the child's throats with a shard of glass. This sequence is fairly solid for the most part, except it's ultimately ruined by the inclusion of an unnecessary and lame shock "twist," which left a bad taste in my mouth.

I might have missed out on the first fifteen minutes of "Fright" because the only thing that repeatedly went on in my head was: "Why the bloody hell didn't I ever had a babysitter as stunningly gorgeous as Susan George???" The unearthly beautiful star of "Straw Dogs" and "Dirty Mary Crazy Larry" walks through the opening credits wearing a minuscule yet incredibly sexy purple dress as she goes to the Lloyd's mansion to baby sit their little son…That lucky kid! The house lies isolated in the country and young Amanda is in for a night of morbid surprises, as an uncanny figure pops up at the window and even beats the hell out of her boyfriend (though he was a bastard, anyway). "Fright" can actually be considered as an influential and progressive horror movie, since it got released many years before "Halloween" that once and for all portrayed babysitters as prototype target for demented serial killers and sleazy perverts. Obviously the number of casualties isn't very high and the evoked scares are very basic, yet "Fright" is an effective little chiller that honestly deserves to be more known and appreciated among the horror-loving crowd. The direction is solid and there are hardly any words to describe the essence of Susan George. You already know my opinion on her looks, but she's also a very decent actress and perfectly suitable to play a vulnerable and hard-screaming victim of a raving madman. The pacing slows down a bit as soon as the perpetrator has been identified, but the film most likely has made a positive impression on you already by then.