Night of Fear (film)
6.2 /10 1 Votes
Writer Terry Bourke Language English | 6/10 IMDb Genre Horror Duration Country Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Release date 18 March 1973 Initial DVD release March 16, 2005 (Australia) Cast Carla Hoogeveen (The Woman), (Horse Girl), (The Man), Mike Dorsey (The Lover), Curt Jansen (Garage Attendant)Similar movies Related Terry Bourke movies Tagline Hunted and Trapped! Her Nightmare is Just Beginning! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Night of Fear is a 1972 Australian horror film, directed by Terry Bourke. It was written by Bourke and produced by Rod Hay. It is about a woman who is terrorised by a serial killer in the woods. Its theme and style bears a resemblance to the horror classic The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, released two years later. The film is notable for having no dialogue or character names. It has been called "the first Australian horror movie of the renaissance".
Contents
The film was featured in the documentary Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation!.
A young girl (Carla Hoogeveen) who has just spent an afternoon playing tennis and making love with a man (Mike Dorsey), gets accidentally run off the road by a truck. Ending up on a dead-end dirt road, her car gets stuck in a ditch, where she starts getting terrorised by a drooling, gibbering psycho (Norman Yemm), who also has a colony of rats.
Plot
A young woman crashes her car on a lonely country road. She is terrorised by a crazed hermit.
Cast
Production
The film was shot over twelve days in mid 1972. It was originally intended to be a pilot for TV series called Fight. The Australian Broadcasting Commission provided a crew and 35mm production facilities in exchange for television rights.
Release
The film was initially banned in Australia by the OFLC. The makers of Night of Fear appealed to the review board and it was released in November 1972 with an R (18+) rating. It has since been re-classified M (15+).
The film enjoyed a profitable run in independent cinemas and drive ins.
Critical reception
AllMovie wrote, "Night of Fear is a potent, no-frills little shocker that is likely to delight fans of vintage horror", complimenting its "excellent use of whiplash-speed editing, bizarre camera angles and a densely layered soundtrack to create a consistently unnerving atmosphere."
Home video
The film was released on DVD alongside fellow Australian horror film Inn of the Damned (also directed by Bourke) by Umbrella Entertainment on 16 March 2005.
References
Night of Fear (film) WikipediaNight of Fear (film) IMDb Night of Fear (film) themoviedb.org