FRIGHT is one of a handful of tense thrillers directed by the late Peter Collinson (STRAIGHT ON TILL MORNING, THE PENTHOUSE), and this one was written and produced by the team that gave us Hammer's "Karnstein Trilogy" (Tudor Gates, Harry Fine, Michael Style), the last production for their Fantale Films production company. Also having the advantage of a top-notch British cast, FRIGHT is the often-unacknowledged prototype for later films like HALLOWEEN and WHEN A STRANGER CALLS, which also situated a babysitter alone in a house against a homicidal maniac.

Jailbait babysitter Amanda (Susan George, DIRTY MARY CRAZY LARRY), is irresistibly cute in her short dress and high boots, blissfully calling everything "super," at least for for the time being. Amanda is hired by Helen (Honor Blackman, GOLDFINGER) and her husband Jim (George Cole, THE VAMPIRE LOVERS) to stay in their creaky old secluded house and look after their young boy Tara (Tara Collinson, the director’s real-life son). What Amanda doesn't know at first is that the couple is going out to celebrate Helen's divorce from her first husband who tried to strangle her and was put into an asylum (he is also the real father of the child). As the worried Helen tries to enjoy herself at the restaurant, things start to get funky at the house. Getting spooked and seeing a strange face at the window, Amanda's hormone-driven beau (Dennis Waterman, SCARS OF DRACULA) arrives at the door hoping to get lucky. He manages to get in some smooching and loosens Amanda's blouse, but she soon throws the overzealous clown out for good. As the boyfriend remains creeping about outside, his face is beat to a bloody pulp by an unseen assailant. A strange man shows up at the door with the wounded boy and he pretends to be a concerned neighbor, but in actuality, he's Brian (Ian Bannen, THE OFFENCE) the escaped ex-husband who's violently mad and capable of anything.

The late Ian Bannen (who tragically died in a 1999 auto accident) was a great actor whose horror roles have ranged from the heroic (DOOMWATCH) to the timid (FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE) but here he's divinely mad — an escaped nut with more than a few screws loose. The actor perfectly conveys this in an unpredictable twitchy manner that has Brian going from one extreme to the other; being gentle and sedate to violent and out of control. He even manages to elicit sympathy at certain points and is a far more effective psychopath than HALLOWEEN's faceless and undefined Michael Myers. Susan George, who was also in Sam Peckinpah's STRAW DOGS the same year, also plays it wonderfully, becoming more and more panicked as the film progresses and the situations become more intense (George is arguably the most underrated scream queen of her era). Collinson's direction is most inventive for the time it was made, offering nice juxtaposition between the worried mom at the restaurant and the terrified babysitter helpless and terrified at home. There are some real shocks here, one which made me REALLY jump up from the sofa (I haven't seen the film in some years), and even though the climax is a bit abrupt and unrewarding, FRIGHT is a very good little thriller that's deserving of a wider modern audience. John Gregson (THE NIGHT OF THE GENERALS) plays Brian’s doctor (who is conveniently dining with the worried couple on the night of the tragedy) and the coppers are played by Michael Brennan (LUST FOR A VAMPIRE), Maurice Kaufmann (THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES) and Roger Lloyd Pack (FIDDLER ON THE ROOF). Hammer’s THE PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES plays on TV (in black and white) during the proceedings, just to make the night a little more frightful.

Briefly screened theatrically in the United States in 1972 by Allied Artists (in which it was co-billed with the re-released THE SORCERERS, which also featured George in a small role), FRIGHT was previously available here as an EP-speed VHS tape from Republic and then in the early 2000s, Anchor Bay Entertainment released it on DVD. Scream Factory’s Blu-ray presents the film in 1080p HD in a fitting 1.66:1 aspect ratio. Detail is sharp throughout, with colors looking vivid, and black levels strong. There are high levels of fine detail (and excellent shadow detail) and tightly-woven film grain, so for a film that was shot almost entirely in Shepperton Studios (some recycled interiors from THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD are detectable) and set during the night, it looks terrific. Like most Studio Canal-licensed titles as of late, the film elements don’t show any significant flaws to speak of, making for a very clean and more than pleasing visual presentation. The audio is presented in English 2.0 mono DTS-HD, with the mix being very satisfying: there’s clear dialogue and sound effects and the haunting score by Harry Robinson (who did likewise for the other Fantale Films productions) is presented to good effect. Optional SDH subtitles are included.