Producers Rod Hay and Terry Bourke had persuaded the ABC (the Australian equivalent of the BBC) to make a pilot episode for a horror TV series which was to be called Fright. The ABC gave Bourke access to their production facilities and very rashly allowed him to do what he liked.
Then the ABC hierarchy saw the pilot, Night of Fear, and had collective heart failure. Not only was there no chance it could be shown on television, there was no way it could be edited to make it acceptable for TV. They would have needed to cut at least 40 minutes of the 54-minute running time. It was not a problem with particular images or events in the film - the whole thing was just so relentless violent, sleazy, scuzzy, brutal and confronting.
Terry Bourke wasn’t concerned by their rejection of the pilot because somehow he had persuaded them to allow him to shoot it in 35mm. That meant it could be released theatrically. But there was a snag. The film censorship board banned the movie. And again the problem wasn’t particular moments - it was the tone of the whole movie. They didn’t order cuts. They banned it outright. After an epic fight by the producers the ban was reversed.
The most striking thing about this movie is that there is no dialogue. No dialogue at all. None. Making a movie with minimal dialogue is tricky but possible. Making a movie with zero dialogue is a real challenge but in this case it is not a gimmick. Dialogue would have softened the impact of the horrors.
None of the characters have names. In the credits Norman Yemm is The Man and Carla Hoogeven is The Girl.
Night of Fear begins with a pretty blonde (played by Briony Behets) riding her horse. She encounters a weird guy who looks feral. The encounter does not end well for the girl.
Then we are introduced to another attractive young woman, also blonde (played by Carla Hoogeveen). She enjoys a game of tennis. She doesn’t know she is being watched.
Shortly afterwards after a motoring mishap she ends up on a lonely dirt track with a broken down car. And she encounters The Man. He smashes the windscreen on her car to get at her. We know something terrible is going to happen to her and we make the obvious assumption about what it’s going to be. But we’re wrong. It’s something worse, something much more twisted. I’m not going to spoil it by telling you what it is.
This is where the cleverness of the absence of dialogue comes in. The Man is so feral and so deranged and so cut off from human society that he is not a man. He’s a monster from a fairy tale or a nightmare. He cannot speak. He cannot understand human speech. There is no possibility of communication with him on any level. This is what makes the Girl’s situation so terrifying. There is no possibility of reasoning with him or pleading for mercy. And she has no way of knowing what he will do next or what his ultimate intentions are. She faces the ultimate terror of the unknown.
This guy makes Michael Myers and Jason seem warmhearted and easygoing. Norman Yemm gives us the scariest psycho in movie history.
Since the Girl cannot communicate with him Carla Hoogeveen has to convey the Girl’s terror without any words at all. She does a superb job.
This movie gets very confronting in an extremely visceral way. After more than half a century it still has the power to shock.
Night of Fear was made on an incredibly tight schedule with virtually no money upfront but it doesn’t look cheap and never seem amateurish. It’s a very professional production and Terry Bourke was a very competent director.
The very short running time works in its favour. There’s not a wasted moment and the horrors build relentlessly. And the ending is excellent.
Night of Fear isn’t quite a slasher but it’s very much in the mould of the increasingly violent horror films being made in various countries at that time. And it’s as effective a horror film as anything being made at that time. It’s not exactly pleasant viewing but it achieves what it sets out to do. Highly recommended.
Umbrella’s Blu-Ray looks great and includes an audio commentary with Rod Hay and Carla Hoogeveen. They are both (rightly) proud of this movie.
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