The horror movie trope of the babysitter alone with one or more children in the house as she is stalked by a psychopath is cliche as to become a kind of Mad Libs.
Let’s see: [name of actress playing younger than her chronological age] is a [level of education or, if college, major] student babysitting [number of children] one night while [name of an older female and, optionally, male actor] are away [gerund form of verb]. Inevitably, she is stalked by [name of older actor] who is an [escapee or recent parolee] from [mental hospital or prison]. Twist ending optional, but recommended.
In the case of 1971 UK thriller Fright, Susan George is a college student majoring in child development. She arrives at a rather large, old house in the countryside to babysit Tara Collinson so that Honor Blackman and George Cole can enjoy a night out. Inevitably, George is stalked by Ian Bannen, who has escaped from a mental hospital.
Blackman and Cole are unaware of that last development, which is scary, as Bannen is her ex and he tried to kill her and their child. Now he has shown up in the ruse of a neighbor there to help the increasingly alarmed George. Once he is in the house, his initially genial facade wears down until she realizes the threat he poses.
The penny seems to drop when she realizes he has been the face peering in through the windows up until that point. So, it wasn’t Dennis Waterman, a cad who dropped by earlier that night in an attempt to relieve her of her virginity. He doesn’t succeed and, this being a slasher pic, means her chances of survival increase dramatically. His, however, are likely not so good.
George is a pretty good final girl, though she is really the only girl in this threadbare plot. She’s smart enough to clue into something wrong as soon as she enters the foyer, observing the multiple locks on the front door. And Blackman and Cole are awfully on edge and rather dodgy, even if they don’t avoid any questions. Until the nature of the threat they’re concealing is revealed, I thought they were Satanists offering up another babysitter for sacrifice. If that sounds ridiculous, then you haven’t seen enough UK horror of this vintage.
Cole even attempts to make awkward small talk with George before heading out for the night. He jokingly inquires of her major: “What do you do, change nappies all day?” She rightly shuts him down: “No, we do theoretical work: psychology, physiology, things like that. […] Sometimes we visit children’s homes for practical work. Maladjusted children.” The last of those had me thinking, “Ahhh..this is going to be one of those films where the kid is a killer or a demon, etc.” Of course, it isn’t that, either.
And it isn’t any of these potentially more interesting possibilities that is going to happen, because the threat was always going to be a mere mortal madman. Even as a picture of a type where the rules had yet to be established, this is largely a predictable movie. I can’t imagine it ever being truly surprising to anybody.
If there are any innovations in this, it is Bannen mistaking George for Blackman the more he interacts with her. This is accomplished through some rather clever editing, and it must have been odd for the two actresses to play the same scene, and in the same way, so that the editing could jump from one to the other without it being too jarring. Unfortunately, this leads to Bannen thinking he’s having consensual sex with Blackman when he actually raping George. So, not such a welcome innovation, then.
Despite all this, little transpires over the course of the runtime, leaving the feeling this is a short expanded to feature length. Takes tend to run quite looong, and the pacing is noticeably slack.
The movie is slightly quirkier than I expected, with John Gregson, as Bannen’s psychiatrist, accompanying Blackman and Cole at what I assumed was a rare romantic outing for the couple. I’m not sure if that was more or less weird than Bannen when he cranks the crazy up to 11, adopting a kind of barking speech pattern that brought to my mind the recurring “Gumby” character from Monty Python’s Flying Circus. I half expected him to put a handkerchief on his head and hit himself in the head with bricks. Now that might have nudged this film into the win column.
Dir: Peter Collinson
Starring Susan George, Honor Blackman, George Cole
Watched on Kino Lorber blu-ray