Mr_Ectoplasma In 1971, Susan George couldn't seem to get a break. If she wasn't being raped and assaulted in "Straw Dogs," she was being terrorized by a lunatic at a remote mansion in "Fright." This film follows George as a young college student who takes a babysitting job at a rural English manor. What begins as a fairly normal evening of babysitting gets progressively dangerous when the housewife's unhinged former husband arrives hellbent on taking his child."Fright" has been on my must-watch list for years now, and I'm happy to report after finally giving it a viewing that it met my expectations on most accounts. I am a sucker for the Hammer films and the British psychothrillers of the '60s and '70s in general, and "Fright" falls in line with the better of them. The story is a 20th century staple that we've seen done again and again: babysitter home alone gets terrorized by a madman. It's a story arc that would come to be the basis of "Halloween" and "When a Stranger Calls" about eight years later, so in some ways, "Fright" is one of the earliest "babysitter horror" movies.Aesthetically, "Fright" is characterized by a starkly British sensibility, with moody pan shots of the large Gothic manor, extreme angles of George running up and down the wooden staircase, and rapid splices and prominent use of parallel editing to generate tension. The tricks are standard, but director Peter Collinson makes them work. George is diminutive and appropriately frightful, while Ian Bannen plays the unhinged assailant with a keen sense of lunacy; his maddening rants and lashing out are at times genuinely threatening. Honor Blackman is also very commendable as the tortured wife. Like a great deal of these films of this era tend to do, the conclusion is a bit abrupt, but the handling of the final act—which could have been disastrous, but manages to be engaging—makes up for the premature credit roll.Overall, "Fright" is an above-average British psychothriller that works as much as a suspense film as it does an outright horror. Susan George is a great choice for the lead, and the film is tense and unnerving in the right doses. If Gothic, woodsy English manors and madman lurking outside are your cup of tea, then give this film a watch. It's definitely mine. 8/10.

Spikeopath Fright is directed by Peter Collinson and written by Tudor gates. It stars Susan George, Ian Bannen, Honor Blackman, George Cole, Dennis Waterman and John Gregson. Music is by Harry Robinson and cinematography by Ian Wilson.A young babysitter is terrorised by an escaped mental patient.It plays as stock fair now, but Fright is undoubtedly influential in the line of "maniac stalks girl alone" movies. But! That is no gauge of quality because in spite of some good initial ground work in the first half, the pic fails to deliver on its promise. Susan George as Amanda, in fetching mini-dress, falls prey to an unhinged Ian Bannen as Brian who literally has come home. The build up consists of Amanda turning up for her babysitting assignment and finding the lady of the house (Blackman over acting big time) on tender hooks. Once Amanda is alone in the house noises are used as scare tactics, Waterman turns up as a horny boyfriend and soon gets sent packing with a flea in his ear, and then the lights go out and Brian turns up thinking that Amanda is his wife (Blackman who is out doing some awful dancing with Cole).General hysterics ensue as Amanda becomes a simpering wreck whilst trying to hold it together long enough to keep the baby safe from harm. Bannen goes into over drive convincing us he's mad, which leads to some very unsettling scenes as Amanda is put through a nightmare (1971 really saw George at the mercy of film makers!) until the conclusion which comes with the inevitable outcome.Horror really wasn't Collinson's forte, and his choices in the genre tended to revolve around a woman in peril, and that's kind of the problem with Fright, it just comes off as unsavoury (do I smell misogyny?). Collinson shows some nice touches, such as a pendulum sequence, while the sense of dread in that first half is well marshalled, but most of the time he's using the picture as an excuse to leer at George's skirt, legs and ripped blouse! Don't get me wrong, as a red blooded male I find George sexy in the extreme, but I don't need it as an excuse to cover up a scripts failings.It proves to be a most interesting viewing experience now, where armed with the knowledge of the sub-genre offerings that followed, you can't help but acknowledge that it's a film only of its time; yet still important on its basic formula terms. However, and casting aside that we are in a world where George Cole can net Honor Blackman, it really is distinctly average at best. 5/10

Boris_G This is a clumpy prototype of the slasher films which were to become so ubiquitous by the late 1970s and '80s. It starts off promisingly, setting up the story with Susan George arriving as the babysitter for a slightly odd couple – the mother clearly on edge to the point of neurosis – and, after they leave, becoming spooked by the thuds and shudders of an old, time-worn house. However the script is clumsily constructed, so moments of tension are dissipated by switching back and forth between the house and the couple's evening out. The repressed virgin routine that Susan George goes through, also, has dated pretty badly and probably seemed fairly risible even in the early '70s when the film was made. Ian Bannen as the ex-husband gone homicidal does not ring true – the moments when he growls like an over-excited terrier are as frightening as he gets; a shame because he's so good in such films as 'Tales from Beyond the Grave' (Amicus) and, much later, in 'Gorky Park' and 'Hope and Glory'. As for Susan George, her character simply turns into a sopping wet, quivering pulp of nerves as if she were in 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' instead of this very plodding drama. The DVD was only available as a Region 1, so – unable to view it as a rental - I bought it on the strength of its cast. Don't make the same mistake. Alas, I found myself in the end so uninvolved that I passed the time noticing how many times the music score (by Harry Robertson) ripped off Prokofiev's atmospheric Third Symphony.

whpratt1 Enjoyed this British film with Susan George, (Amanda), "The Strange Affair", who plays the role of a young gal attending college and taking on a babysitting job way out in the country and walking all by herself after getting off a bus. The house where Amanda is to babysit is very old and their is a little boy she is to take care of while his mom and dad go out to dine. Amanda has a visit from her boyfriend who attempts to make love to her and starts to almost get to first base when the telephone starts to ring. Susan George gives a great performance through out the entire picture and it truly shows the great talent she had during her early years of stardom. If you like Susan George when she was young, pretty and sexy, this is the film for you. Enjoy.