Fear in the Night (1972) 4K UHD Collector’s Edition Review

Fear in the Night (1972) 4K UHD Collector’s Edition Review

Following their hugely popular STUDIOCANAL 4K Collector Edition releases of THE HORROR OF FRANKENSTEIN and SCARS OF DRACULA, the Peter Cushing Hammer thriller FEAR IN THE NIGHT makes its worldwide 4K UHD debut on the revised release date of 23rd March, with a superb brand new 4K restoration. The Collector’s Edition includes both UHD and Blu-ray discs, stunning new artwork by Johnny Dombrowski, two posters, and a 64-page booklet featuring new essays, and is packed with extras.

Directed, produced, and co-written by Hammer legend Jimmy Sangster (THE HORROR OF FRANKENSTEIN), this taut and tense psychological thriller proved to be the final entry in Hammer’s line of ‘mini-Hitchcock’s.’ Something of a departure from the Gothic horror that Hammer is famed for, it is nevertheless a highly effective chiller that keeps the viewer guessing right to the nerve-wracking finale.

With an outstanding cast, including Judy Geeson (Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush), Joan Collins (Cosh Boy), Hammer stalwart Ralph Bates (Lust For A Vampire) and the formidable Peter Cushing (Dracula, The Curse of Frankenstein, Dr. Who and the Daleks), FEAR IN THE NIGHT is being marketed as a nightmarish 1970s Hammer gem. As the original tagline says, “It starts in the dark in throat-gripping fear… and the worst is yet to come.” Fear has never looked better!

As Peggy (Judy Geeson) recovers from a nervous breakdown, she is attacked by an unseen, one-armed assailant. Shaken by the attack, Peggy and her new husband Robert (Ralph Bates) move to the country school where Robert teaches – a school they discover is completely deserted save for the headmaster (Peter Cushing) and his wife (Joan Collins). Despite moving away from London to the isolated school grounds, Peggy is once again assaulted by the one-armed attacker. When Robert is sent back to London on behalf of the headmaster, Peggy is left alone to face her fears…

Fear in the Night (also known as Dynasty of Fear and Honeymoon of Fear) was billed back in the day as a psychology horror. Nowadays it would barely passed muster as a thriller. Jimmy Sangster’s movie is both mechanical and by-the-numbers. The plot twists are neither new nor original and consequently it becomes predictable, which in turn means that it lacks any scares, with the viewer is always two-steps ahead of where the story is going.

Usually any film starring the late, great Peter Cushing would see the wonderful actor stealing the movie, that it is not the case with Fear in the Night. Instead, the acting honours go to another British icon, Joan Collins. As the bitchy and catlike Molly Carmichael, Joan adds a much-needed tension to an otherwise flaccid flick, as she taunts and goads damsel in distress Peggy (Judy Geeson).

If you factor in that at time of its 1972 release Fear in the Night was already falling behind the level of horror that the American film studios were churning out for cinema audiences – consider this, it was only a year later that The Exorcist was released, and just two years before the grisly The Texas Chainsaw Massacre further upped the shock factor – and you can appreciate how out of touch and antiquated this Hammer offering was even at the time.

On the plus side this Collector’s Edition comes with several decent extras and the 4K upgrade enhances the visuals brilliantly. If you are a Hammer completist then you will need no convincing to go and snap this up for your disc collection. Anyone else would be wise to save their pennies instead.

FEAR IN THE NIGHT Collector’s Edition, including the film on 4K UHD and Blu-ray discs, is released on 23rd March.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

• NEW “The Fragile Mind”: Kim Newman Explores Fear in the Night

• Audio Commentary with Co-writer/Producer/Director Jimmy Sangster and Hammer Film Historian Marcus Hearn
• Audio Commentary with Film Historian Troy Howarth
• “End of Term”: Inside Fear in the Night
• Stills Gallery
• Theatrical Trailer

The release includes a 64-page perfect bound booklet and two posters.