Fear in the Night (1972)

A young woman recovering from a nervous breakdown moves with her husband to a boys' school, and finds herself being terrorized by a mysterious one-armed man, but nobody believes her.

Director:

Jimmy Sangster

Writers:

Jimmy Sangster (screen-play), Michael Syson (screen-play)

Stars:

Judy Geeson, Joan Collins, Ralph Bates

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Judy Geeson	...	Peggy Heller
Joan Collins	...	Molly Carmichael
Ralph Bates	...	Robert Heller
Peter Cushing	...	The Headmaster - Michael Carmichael
James Cossins	...	The Doctor
Gillian Lind	...	Mrs. Beamish
Brian Grellis	...	2nd Policeman
John Bown	...	1st Policeman

Storyline

A young woman recovering from a nervous breakdown moves with her husband to a boys' school, and finds herself being terrorized by a mysterious one-armed man, but nobody believes her.

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Plot Keywords:

nervous breakdown | broken eyeglasses | hanging | adultery | delusion | 

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Genres:

Horror | Thriller

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

October 1974 (USA)

Also Known As:

Dynasty of Fear

Filming Locations:

Aldenham Country Park, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hammer Films

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The was the last of three films directed by Hammer screenwriter/producer Jimmy Sangster, the others being The Horror of Frankenstein (1970) and Lust for a Vampire (1971). Ralph Bates appeared in all three films.

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Connections

Featured in Peter Cushing: A One-Way Ticket to Hollywood (1989)

User Reviews

Old-school terror.

Pretty, neurotic newlywed Peggy (Judy Geeson) survives an attack by a leather-gloved, one-armed assailant the day before she is due to leave London to live with her husband Robert (Ralph Bates) who teaches at a posh boys school in the country owned by sinister headmaster Michael Carmichael (Peter Cushing) and his bitchy young wife (the lovely Joan Collins).

Once there, though, poor Peggy soon realises that, even though she is now miles from the city, she still isn't safe: the one-armed maniac appears to have followed her to her new home...

It shouldn't take seasoned fans of psychological thrillers very long to suss that the mysterious goings on in Hammer's Fear In the Night are intended to turn the protagonist completely insane, drive her to murder, or both. But although the film's plot doesn't earn many points for originality, being heavily reminiscent of the French thriller Les Diaboliques, director Jimmy Sangster delivers enough startling imagery (Cushing's shattered glasses; a gloved prosthetic arm) and well-handled scenes of suspense to ensure that the film is certainly never dull: from its wonderful opening credits sequence, in which the camera pans across the school to eventually reveal the legs of a man hanging from a tree, to its tense denouement, Fear in the Night is a solid slice of macabre entertainment.