It surely doesn't happen very often that I'm giving a Hammer movie a rating of only 5 out of 10 or less, especially not when it's starring the almighty Peter Cushing, but "Fear in the Night" was a disappointment. And for some strange inexplicable reason I know it was going to be a disappointment, otherwise I would have seen it long time ago already. Horror and thriller movies from the legendary Hammer Studios are practically all favorites of mine, but instinctively I always postponed watching "Fear in the Night" in spite of its terrific ensemble cast and the presence of multi- talented writer/director Jimmy Sangster. The plot of this film is obviously a rehash of the French classic "Les Diaboliques" as well as of Hammer's very own 1961 sleeper hit "Taste of Fear". The problem with imitations of "Les Diaboliques" is that there are so many of them that the scenarios have become entirely unsurprising and fairly predictable straight from the beginning. Beautiful but mentally unstable 22-year-old London girl Peggy Heller follows her brand new husband Robert to the remote countryside where he works as a caretaker in a boarding school for boys. During her last night in London, as well as during one of her first nights at the school, poor pretty Peggy brutally gets assaulted by a man with an artificial wooden arm. The only other people on the school's premises are the creepy but authoritarian headmaster Michael Carmichael (Cushing) and his frigid wife Molly, who relentlessly blasts cute little bunny rabbits to pieces with a shotgun. During her brief stay, Peggy finds out about the macabre school history as well as a disturbing thing or two about her marriage. The unfolding of the plot is quite dull and mechanical, and far too many sequences are overlong and irrelevant. The denouement is too calculable because there are only four protagonists and two of them are behaving extremely suspicious. Besides, I have yet to see the first film in which Ralph Bates doesn't depict a character that is hypocrite or deceitful. The scenes building up towards the moments of attack are atmospheric enough, with eerie prowling camera movements and menacing sound effects. The unseen assailant, with his wooden arm could come straight out of an Italian giallo scenario and also the background story of Cushing's character and his beloved prep school is more intriguing than the actual plot. Still, this isn't a noteworthy Hammer highlight.

Fear in the Night starts as Peggy Heller (Judy Geeson) is set to leave London & join her new husband Robert (Ralph Bates) in the country at a boarding school where he works, however the night before she is due to leave Peggy is attacked in her bathroom by someone with a false arm. No-one believes her though & she decides to just forget about it, once at the boarding school which is empty due to the end of term Peggy meets the strange headmaster Michael Carmichael (Peter Cushing) who has a false arm & his overbearing wife Molly (Joan Collins). Soon after arriving Peggy is attacked again by the mysterious person with a false arm, Peggy puts two & two together & suspects Michael. Is she right? If so what does Michael intend to do? Why attack her & what does he want...This English production was co-written, produced & directed by Hammer studios regular Jimmy Sangster after he made the disastrous The Horror of Frankenstein (1970) & Lust for a Vampire (1971), realising that their popular classic monsters like Dracula & Frankenstein weren't doing the business at the box office anymore Hammer studios made film just like Fear in the Night to try & branch out & expand with mixed results. I mean if you hear the name Hammer studios you instantly think Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Frankenstein & Dracula not Judy Geeson & Fear in the Night. The script by Sangster & Michael Syson is a psycho thriller with plenty of twists rather than a straight horror, I would say it's worth a watch & the story is good but it's not perfect & has zero replay value as once you know the twists (if you buy the DVD don't watch the trailer before you watch the feature proper as it gives the whole plot away) it loses any surprise or impact that it had. The character's are alright although I have to say some of them are rather gullible & do things which are hard to believe, I mean how could two people marry & one of them not ever see where the other lived? For the plan to work Peggy needed to be fooled but what if those not involved with the plan told her the truth, be it by accident or not? The last thirty minutes has plenty of twists & turns that come thick & fast some of which are highly improbable & a little difficult to swallow, I think maybe that there's one contrived twist too many. Still a good mystery thriller to watch as a one off though & I did like it overall.Director Sangster does alright but instead of the trademark Hammer horror Victorian period setting Fear in the Night takes place during contemporary Britain, there's a nice early 70's dated but fun look to it & the big school is a period building so in that regard maybe it's not quite as far from the Victorian set classics as I first thought. There's absolutely no gore or violence (although a rabbit is shot by Joan Collins) or nudity so don't expect any, any & all shock value in Fear in the Night comes from the twists & turns in the story. The opening sequence is very good, probably the best in the whole film actually where angelic children are singing on the soundtrack as the camera pans across a picturesque English field & stops on a pair of swinging feet belonging to someone who is hanging from a tree!Technically the film is good with nice locations, good cinematography & decent production values. The acting is pretty good as well, despite near top billing Peter Cushing only gets about five minutes of screen time with Joan Collins faring little better & she doesn't even appear in the film until past the forty minute mark. Collins made this when her career was at an all time low & after she found success again in Dynasty (1981 - 1989) Fear in the Night was re-released on video to capitalize under the title Dynasty of Fear! Strange but apparently true. Geeson is sort of cute while Bates has a horrible 70's haircut.Fear in the Night is an entertaining thriller with a fair amount of twists which aren't overly new or original (even back in 1972) but work well enough. A little silly & not really scary or anything it's just about clever enough & the last third has plenty of twists to keep you interested.

"Fear in the Night" is a somewhat contrived and lesser Hammer picture from 1972 that somehow still manages to work up a fair amount of suspense and one or two chilling moments. The film concerns young Peggy Heller (excellently portrayed by Judy Geeson), who, after suffering a nervous breakdown, moves with her new teacher husband to a large, private boys' school on 1,200 acres of English countryside. Poor Peggy is soon made the victim of a string of attacks by a stalker with a prosthetic hand, and her lot is hardly made more comfortable by the presence of the very strange headmaster (Peter Cushing) or his haughty young wife (Joan Collins). The film builds to a surprise ending of sorts that probably won't surprise many, especially those viewers who have already seen a certain classic Vincent Price horror movie from 1958. Still, the film does offer some compensations, including very fine performances by the actors just mentioned, as well as by Ralph Bates, playing Peggy's husband. Viewers will appreciate just how fine the acting is, perhaps, after a second viewing, with a greater knowledge of all the characters' secret motivations. The film also offers some beautiful scenery, both in terms of the autumnal Hertfordshire countryside AND Ms. Collins herself. Thirty-nine years old here, and nine years prior to incarnating TV's ultimate bitch on wheels, Alexis Carrington Colby Dexter, etc. on "Dynasty," she really is quite gorgeous to look at. (Sadly, she and Cushing, though playing man and wife, share no screen time whatsoever in this picture.) But the film belongs to Geeson, who appears in every single scene (with one major exception). Just five years after her "To Sir, With Love" debut, she turns in a very credible and ingratiating performance. Indeed, it is the sterling acting by all four principals that elevates this rather pedestrian thriller into something quite admirable indeed.

A Hammer film from the latter part of the studio's days. A woman with a history of mental illness is beset by visitations of a person in trench-coat & gloves who repeatedly acosts her, but is she just suffering from delusions again? very VERY slow moving.My Grade: C-Extras: just a commentary & the theatrical trailer