Fright
Fright
PG | 30 May 1972 (USA)
Fright Trailers

Young babysitter Amanda arrives at the Lloyd residence to spend the evening looking after their young son. Soon after the Lloyds leave, a series of frightening occurrences in the gloomy old house have Amanda's nerves on edge. The real terror begins, however, when the child's biological father appears after recently escaping from a nearby mental institution.

Reviews
Baseshment

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

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WillSushyMedia

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

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Robert Joyner

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

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Gary

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

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Mr_Ectoplasma

In 1971, Susan George couldn't seem to get a break. If she wasn't being raped and assaulted in "Straw Dogs," she was being terrorized by a lunatic at a remote mansion in "Fright." This film follows George as a young college student who takes a babysitting job at a rural English manor. What begins as a fairly normal evening of babysitting gets progressively dangerous when the housewife's unhinged former husband arrives hellbent on taking his child."Fright" has been on my must-watch list for years now, and I'm happy to report after finally giving it a viewing that it met my expectations on most accounts. I am a sucker for the Hammer films and the British psychothrillers of the '60s and '70s in general, and "Fright" falls in line with the better of them. The story is a 20th century staple that we've seen done again and again: babysitter home alone gets terrorized by a madman. It's a story arc that would come to be the basis of "Halloween" and "When a Stranger Calls" about eight years later, so in some ways, "Fright" is one of the earliest "babysitter horror" movies.Aesthetically, "Fright" is characterized by a starkly British sensibility, with moody pan shots of the large Gothic manor, extreme angles of George running up and down the wooden staircase, and rapid splices and prominent use of parallel editing to generate tension. The tricks are standard, but director Peter Collinson makes them work. George is diminutive and appropriately frightful, while Ian Bannen plays the unhinged assailant with a keen sense of lunacy; his maddening rants and lashing out are at times genuinely threatening. Honor Blackman is also very commendable as the tortured wife. Like a great deal of these films of this era tend to do, the conclusion is a bit abrupt, but the handling of the final act—which could have been disastrous, but manages to be engaging—makes up for the premature credit roll.Overall, "Fright" is an above-average British psychothriller that works as much as a suspense film as it does an outright horror. Susan George is a great choice for the lead, and the film is tense and unnerving in the right doses. If Gothic, woodsy English manors and madman lurking outside are your cup of tea, then give this film a watch. It's definitely mine. 8/10.

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RavenGlamDVDCollector

The Susan George fan club president is here again (just kidding!) and my review of FRIGHT focuses more on whether or not this is a picture worthy of this lovely young starlet who unfortunately did not choose her parts well, and ended up in less conventional movies. And got dubbed (a) a sexpot (b) "poor Susan, always getting raped".FRIGHT, by today's standards, and by the kind of slasher flicks to follow in the wake of HALLOWEEN, is hardly a frightening movie. So if that's what you're looking for, you'd be well advised to stay clear. I wanted a good movie with suspense showing off Susan George to full advantage, and that is what I got, she is absolutely darling in this 1971 movie. At her best. Though I'd always have a special fondness for LOLA, better known as TWINKY. And DIRTY MARY CRAZY LARRY shall forever remain THE Susan George movie. But lookswise Susan's at the top of her game here. Did I say darling?The It girl of the late Sixties and early Seventies, Susan George was the best the silver screen had to offer at that time. Even today she'd hold her own looking the way she does in FRIGHT compared against the best of contemporary Hollywood. So just imagine her effect on the hearts and minds of men and women alike back in 1971! A blonde bombshell, and a very, very likable one too. Always cheeky in a very cute way, especially in FRIGHT, DIE SCREAMING MARIANNE and LOLA, Susan represents this reviewer's ideal dream girl, and it is saddening that alas! fate ruined her career with health obstacles. But for a time back there, she was the ultimate screen goddess, and her youthful exuberance will forever shine in my heart and mind forever. If you'd observe closely, she wasn't really Playboy pretty, more girl next door with just a fantastic figure and a really great hairstyle. Some people have a lot owed to choosing a great hairstyle, Farrah Fawcett- Majors, Jennifer Aniston... Include Susan George here. I did say darling, did I not?As for the picture, it really started off on the right track, but gets derailed and loses steam with an unconvincing villain and a script that falls far short as the story progresses. And that scene where she is trying to escape all busty-looking is filmed wrong. Unconvincing. Contrived. Film sexiness as sexiness, don't do it this way, it ruins all credibility and ruined my enjoyment of the movie as I from then on saw through all its mistakes.Honor Blackman was quite disappointing as well. Really, I can say a lot of good things about this movie: Susan's eyes, Susan's hair, Susan's legs. Without Susan, I'd not have bothered. Put it this way: Anything remotely likable about this movie besides Susan George? No. ZILCH.But, wow, nice chick. Unforgettable.

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Michael_Elliott

Fright (1971) ** (out of 4) British thriller has teenager Amanda (Susan George) showing up for a babysitting job when she soon finds herself being terrorized by the kid's father shows up after escaping from a mental hospital. The father plans on murdering his ex-wife but plans change after he notices that the babysitter reminds him of her. FRIGHT has a few tense moments early on but after a pretty good start the film sadly falls apart pretty quickly. I thought the first thirty-minutes of the film were rather well-directed and features a couple tense sequences and it's really too bad the rest of the film didn't live up to the title. Director Peter Collison really does a nice job at building up the tension early on and I especially liked the way that he used sound effects to build up not only the atmosphere but also some creepy moments. One perfect example deals with some dripping water but the highlight of the film is one of the first stalking scenes we witness as the babysitter's boyfriend is outside and being followed. This scene is without question the best of the movie and is almost strong enough to make the entire film worth sitting through. The problem with the final hour is that not too much happens. The entire thing is extremely slow paced and like many British films, the dialogue is just way too much and it pretty much takes over the picture and not a single thing said is interesting. Even worse is how the film keeps flashing back and forth between what's going on inside the house and what the kid's mother and stepfather are doing in town. Yet another problem is simply how stupid the babysitter gets once more of the action takes place inside the house. Fans of George will no doubt want to see her here as she's as cute as ever and turns in a decent performance. Honor Blackman and Ian Bannen are good in their supporting roles as well. FRIGHT manages to have a couple good sequences but sadly there just aren't enough to keep the film entertaining throughout.

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Coventry

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.

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