FEAR IN THE NIGHT (1972)
Article 2969 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 6-24-2009
Posting Date: 9-30-2009
Directed by Jimmy Sangster
Featuring Judy Geeson, Joan Collins, Ralph Bates
Country: UK

A woman finds no one believes her when she is assaulted by someone with an artificial arm. When she moves into a cottage at a boys’ school with her husband, she is assaulted again, and once again she is not believed. Could someone at the school be responsible?

The acting is quite good from everyone here; Judy Geeson and Joan Collins do fine, fourth-billed Peter Cushing is excellent as usual, and Ralph Bates gives the best performance of his that I’ve seen so far. Unfortunately, it’s at the service of one of the most predictable scripts I’ve encountered in some time, and this is one of those stories that should be anything but predictable. For a while, I thought it was walking the well-trodden GASLIGHT path, but after a while it became apparent that the also over-traveled road of DIABOLIQUE was its real route. The less familiar you are with that movie (or its many imitations), the more likely it is you’ll like this one. Still, I must say I do like a few of the side touches, such as the backstories about the headmaster and the school; I only wish they had been put to the service of a less tired storyline.