Fright (1971)
Fright stars Susan George as a babysitter terrorized whilst looking after a child by the former husband of her employer now on the run from an institution. It's a film that can be described as genre straddling. It's partially a Gothic horror / old dark house film seeing as it's set in a secluded, wonderfully atmospheric old dark house even though it's a contemporary setting, it's certainly a home invasion film and definitely feels like a proto-slasher movie (SPOILER ALERT) even though the only person who actually dies is the madman himself.
It's probably Susan George's best role as the terrorized but gutsy heroine. There's enough about her performance to not simply scream and look terrified even though it appears this might be the case during the first half hour when she is joined by boyfriend Dennis Waterman at the house.
Ian Bannen proves a very good and delightfully complex madman. Firstly appearing to George as a concerned neighbour before his facade slips and his true identity is revealed. The rest of the cast is made up of seasoned character actors Honor Blackman, who is slightly annoying in her worried mother role until it's proved she has every right to be, John Gregson and George Cole. Cole and Waterman? Seriously!
Peter Collinson's direction is fine, he's often a director thought of as nothing out of the ordinary but he builds suspense and then maintains it with ease and the film has an air of creepy dread throughout. It's also the first baby sitter in peril movie, several years before John Carpenter took it to extremes with Halloween. It should also be noted the film has one or two sequences that would be frowned upon in mainstream cinema today.The US poster below shows the film as rated PG, however due to those sequences the Blu-ray is rated 18 by the BBFC.
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