Fright (1971)

"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."

I've been watching a lot of films containing outstanding portrayals of nutters lately and it would be remiss of me if I didn't say something about "Fright".

Since I'm one of those people who will argue until I'm red in the face that the plot of "Fright" paved the way for "Halloween" (1978), I have to admit that John Carpenter probably had no idea of this film's existence when he made his own. Psychos escaping from asylums and seeking revenge was nothing new in the horror genre even in 1971 but, whereas John Carpenter added a few supernatural abilities to Michael Myers, "Fright" dealt with a much more human and sympathetic character.

"Fright" is almost a film of two distinct halves due to focusing first on Susan George (as babysitter Amanda) and then eclipsing her performance with the late Ian Bannen (as nutty Brian). When I say "almost", it's because Susan George in her skimpy lilac mini-dress absolutely carries this film from beginning to end.

Obviously this isn't just a story with two actors such as "Sleuth" (1972) but the others are little more than supporting roles. Honor Blackman does her best to act paranoid, Cockney geezer Dennis Waterman tries to be Amanda's desperately horny boyfriend, and George Cole is, well, just the same slightly amusing George Cole as he ever was though he's still eight years away from becoming Arthur Daley. There's nothing wrong with any of their performances and none of them are merely two-dimension bit parts but, as I said, this is Susan George's vehicle most of all.

Since I wasn't really alive at the time that "Fright" came out (1972 in the USA), I have absolutely no idea about what the reaction was to it. If you compare it to "The Exorcist" (1973), it's obvious that horror movies really increased in nastiness in little over a year. I know that it's a bit like comparing oranges with apples but "Fright" seems like a bit of a throwback to a much tamer world of horror movies. The fact that there's some quite brutal violence and lots of screaming does little to persuade me otherwise.

I suppose there's something a lot more cosy about British horror movies which didn't often go for gritty realism until much later than the American equivalents. "Fright" is full of well-mannered Brits all saying "please" and "thank you" though on one occasion Susan George lets a lovely four-letter expletive out and there's never any doubt in your mind that this is a horror movie.

If this was an American horror, Susan George's slip would have been one of those annoying clichés which would set her out to be either morally or mentally unstable. In "Fright", our heroine is very much a prototype for the even more foul-mouthed Margot Kidder in "Black Christmas" (1974). You know that Susan George isn't just an innocent dumb blonde with a pretty face and it makes her character real.

Of course, Susan George is also a fantastic piece of flawless eyecandy as well as being a feisty final girl. I really don't know a lot about her as an actress though she was footballer George Best's girlfriend at one point and also starred in the infamous "Straw Dogs" (1971). If she ever looked more beautiful in a film than she did in "Fright" then I want to see it.

Anyway, once creepy Ian Bannen turns up, Susan George is almost pushed completely out of the limelight by his acting prowess. Although he's not nearly as good in "Fright" as he is in "The Offence" (1972), there are some obvious parallels between the way Ian Bannen plays Brian and the suspected paedophile Kenneth Baxter. Maybe it's because he does a weird mumbling thing every so often but Ian Bannen really gets under my skin (or on my last nerve). I know it's wrong to speak ill of the dead but there was just something very sinister and menacing about Ian Bannen in every role that I've ever seen him in. He was probably a lovely man in real life though and, weirdly, that shows through too in the scene with his screen son (Tara Collinson) which looks improvised rather than scripted. Maybe it's just me but I felt a little bit sorry for nutty Brian.

I really don't have anything else to say about "Fright" other than recommending that you watch it. Yes, it's a little bit dated now but not in a bad way, and, no, it's not really very scary or exciting when compared to modern slashers but it still has some very effective moments. Watch out for a couple of self-aware "meta" moments which pre-date the "Scream" series by a quarter of a century.