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5.8/10
1.9K
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An English baby sitter is terrorized by her friend's ex-husband, escaped from an asylum.An English baby sitter is terrorized by her friend's ex-husband, escaped from an asylum.An English baby sitter is terrorized by her friend's ex-husband, escaped from an asylum.
Lewis Alexander
- Man in Restaurant
- (uncredited)
Aileen Lewis
- Woman in Restaurant
- (uncredited)
Frank Maher
- Plainclothes Policeman With Pistol
- (uncredited)
Brook Williams
- Victim on Television
- (archive footage)
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAmong horror fans this film is considered the first film to come up with the popular horror convention of a lone babysitter terrorized by a psychotic murderer.
- GoofsAt the house it is always dark (night-time) but when Helen and Jim rush from the pub to the house there is daylight.
- Quotes
Inspector: How do you spell that word, "psychotic"?
Dr. Cordell: You may have to spell it M-U-R-D-E-R, murder, if you don't get someone over there quickly!
- ConnectionsFeatured in Grindhouse Universe (2008)
Featured review
Maniac stalks young girl... one of the earlier examples of the slasher movie.
Fright (1971) is directed by Peter Collinson, a largely under-rated film-maker who received his only positive notices for the film The Italian Job, though in reality he made a fair few good films such as Innocent Bystanders and The Earthling.
The story is simple, but fairly engrossing: a young babysitter in a lonely mansion is terrorised by an escaped homicidal lunatic. The babysitter is nicely played by Susan George and the maniac is very convincingly portrayed by Ian Bannen.
The film starts out just fine, with some careful and genuinely suspenseful build up scenes. Every now and then, we are fed another clue that someone unpleasant is hanging around outside the mansion... Dennis Waterman is assaulted whilst walking through the grounds; we see a cloudy figure sneaking past the kitchen door as George boils the kettle, etc. The film is pretty scary early on, and I'm not embarrassed to admit that the hairs on my neck were prickling a bit.
However, it all goes wrong later on. The maniac turns up about a third of the way in and the effective suspense suddenly gives way to sadism and over-the-top hysterics. Bannen, as mentioned earlier, plays the part very well, but the lines he has to speak and his actions are ludicrously and needlessly savage. I know he's meant to be a bad man, but his nastiness just seems too excessive. Collinson forgets to keep the suspense ticking over and lunges for the audiences jugular, dragging down what could have a great little thriller and turning into a mere exploitation shocker.
The story is simple, but fairly engrossing: a young babysitter in a lonely mansion is terrorised by an escaped homicidal lunatic. The babysitter is nicely played by Susan George and the maniac is very convincingly portrayed by Ian Bannen.
The film starts out just fine, with some careful and genuinely suspenseful build up scenes. Every now and then, we are fed another clue that someone unpleasant is hanging around outside the mansion... Dennis Waterman is assaulted whilst walking through the grounds; we see a cloudy figure sneaking past the kitchen door as George boils the kettle, etc. The film is pretty scary early on, and I'm not embarrassed to admit that the hairs on my neck were prickling a bit.
However, it all goes wrong later on. The maniac turns up about a third of the way in and the effective suspense suddenly gives way to sadism and over-the-top hysterics. Bannen, as mentioned earlier, plays the part very well, but the lines he has to speak and his actions are ludicrously and needlessly savage. I know he's meant to be a bad man, but his nastiness just seems too excessive. Collinson forgets to keep the suspense ticking over and lunges for the audiences jugular, dragging down what could have a great little thriller and turning into a mere exploitation shocker.
helpful•203
- barnabyrudge
- Jan 23, 2003
- How long is Fright?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- I'm Alone and I'm Scared
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $169,246
- Runtime1 hour 27 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.66 : 1
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