SmugKitZine Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

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

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.

GUENOT PHILIPPE 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.

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.

Leofwine_draca FRIGHT is an early example of the slasher movie, neatly predating BLACK Christmas by two years, and featuring a lone babysitter menaced by a psychopath a good while before WHEN A STRANGER CALLS and HALLOWEEN came along. In fact the film it most reminded me of is TALES FROM THE CRYPT, specifically the segment where Joan Collins is menaced by a psycho Santa.It's a good, if not great little horror movie that takes no time in actually getting on with the storytelling. From the outset, in which sexy Susan George is left to fend for herself in a spooky old house, the chills pile up; the door handles rattle, there are distorted faces at the window and lurkers on the driveway outside. For a horror fan, the story of an escaped lunatic is very familiar, but writer Tudor Gates brings the horror back into the family circle and as the film goes on it moves away from a strict slasher flick and becomes more of a tragedy.It's fair to say that Ian Bannen makes for a complex villain. On the one hand, he's as disturbingly frightening as you could wish for in a scare film, but on the other he's genuinely disturbed and in need of psychiatric attention. Much of the suspense comes from the complex psychological games that victim George plays with him as the story goes on. George, dressed in a torn-open mini dress for most of the running time, looks gorgeous and plays a less irritating character than the one in STRAW DOGS (although there's still a fair bit of shrieking and crying).The supporting cast is packed with familiar faces from British TV (such as George Cole and Dennis Waterman, teaming up long before MINDER), including an amusing bit-part for an extremely young Roger Lloyd Pack as a copper. Honor Blackman appears in one of her more memorable parts – and gets to show a bit of spirit - as the put-upon wife, and Peter Collinson's direction adds an extra sheen of quality to the proceedings. I wouldn't call FRIGHT a classic, as it's too basic and familiar for that, but it's a nice example of what the slasher film can achieve when it doesn't rely on gore for effect.