Night Fright
Night Fright
| 01 November 1967 (USA)
Night Fright Trailers

A government space experiment into the effects of cosmic rays on animal life goes horribly wrong, creating a mutant monster that terrorizes a rural community.

Reviews
Idiot-Deluxe

Move over "Curse of Bigfoot", you have been usurped by a movie even more boring. Kneel and bow before it, all hail: Night Fright!Talk about a lame and boring sorry excuse of a movie. Just dismal. 1985's "Fright Night" is a true work of genius compared to this.The story was actually fairly interesting and had a lot of potential, about the NASA space prob and the animal mutations. However they didn't have the budget, the expertise, nor any of the necessary special effects for the 40 or so mentioned mutated animals or the spacecraft. The direction and overall execution of this b-flick are woefully terrible and the end result is just another lame monster movie, that is a complete and utter bore to sit through. Most especially in the case of the movies patently lame finale, where we're treated to the thrills of watching several anonymous people who are waiting for the monster to appear; which adds up to -several minutes- worth of people, (I.E. characters you don't care about) sitting in complete silence, staring into the woods at night. The monster is lured into a trap of sorts, with a mannequin which is used as bait and is then blown-up by dynamite. Possibly the least exciting explosion ever caught on film, covered very economically by a single camera angle (blink and you miss it) and there, that's the climax of the movie. In the immediate aftermath, moments later they couldn't even muster up some smoldering monster chunks, instead we see just a small scrap of hair that's not even the slightest bit singed - despite being dynamited one minute earlier. This movie offers no real visuals (except a guy in a gorilla suit and a latex mask), nor generates, at any time, any energy or excitement to speak of. You'll just have to be content with b-list actors briefly describing things to you and several aimless, seemingly under-lit scenes of the monster trudging through the woods at night. Not to forget the "red hot parking action". I'm talking about those scenes that show someone parking their car, getting out and walking to the front door of a house, all in real time, with no editing. One of the staple shots, frequently used in bad movies to pad out their run time and this movie has several such scenes. Ultimately just a profoundly boring and mundane way to tack on extra 20 seconds (or more) to an already crappy movie, all this makes for some truly riveting cinema.How they depict the monster is actually quite amusing (from a page right out of the Hanna-Barbara playbook!), because it has a VERY strong Scooby-Doo-esque sensibility to it, why it's practically tangible. Really, how? Because the monster does nothing, except aimlessly runs through the woods and clearings, with it's arms in the air, while constantly making "scary noises" (just like the monster's in Scooby-Doo cartoons) clearly the mutation it underwent in space didn't increase it's intelligence. Laughable yes, but also repetitive, lame and entirely pointless. Also there's several teen-age beach party and malt shop scenes, which also falls right in line with the well-known formula seen in ANY given Scooby-Doo episode. Further adding credence to the "Scooby-Doo connection".Here's a thought. This movie actually predates Scooby by 1 or 2 years, so just maybe this was seen by the Hanna-Barbara crew and they were somehow miraculously inspired by it, took some notes and ran with it and an iconic cartoon was born; with inspiration born from the bumbling, sub-par effort known as Night Fright. To watch this movie just once, is to watch it too much and too often.And for the record I like and have always liked Scooby-Doo.

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Bezenby

It's the oldest teenagers ever wandering around a wood versus a guy in an alien suit wandering around a wood while cops wander around a wood while other teenagers wander around a wood. Night Fright is THAT interesting. Especially the bit where Jackie Chan, John Wayne, Elvis, Jesus and George Buck Flower form a band and play for the youths, but that might be missing from the version you see.Some 'teenagers' are necking in the woods in their car when something approaches them and kills them…offscreen. Soon we're introduced to some more geriatric teenagers, all planning to go down Satan's Hollow and boogie down to some vibes, daddy. However, something has crashed in the forest and even the local cops aren't allowed near the crash site. The sheriff and his deputy (Bill Thurman, who somehow looks older here than he does in later films like Keep My Grave Open and Creature from Black Lake) wander around the woods a bit and find some fur. They also chase off the local youths, and nothing is gonna stop those local youth coming back for a bit of a party. At this point there's an excellent orgy scene involving over forty people culminating in the most jaw dropping money shot in movie history, but that might be missing from your copy.So, you got the cops wandering around, a journalist wandering around, some youths dancing to some awful music while the camera lingers on their arses, and the two innocent youths trying to prevent the bad youths from being killed, while this big creature wanders around. Wander wander. What a drag, mang. Thankfully Lulu and the Beatles turn up to do a hilarious comedy skit that ends in a big pie fight, but that's only available in certain versions.There's no gore, no nudity, and not much happening at all. My copy wasn't too hot either (but I'm not marking it down for that – the film has enough faults as it is!). What's the point if you're not going to show anything? Except for that flashback the sheriff has to the D-Day landings which involves some of the most realistic scenes ever filmed, but that was only on the old Betamax versions.Seriously, does anyone read these reviews? Mr would you please help my pony?

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oldschoolhero2006

please disregard all the above ''critics'' who feel it's their 'mission' in life to ridicule classic cinema from the good old days! well, I'm here to set the record straight! NIGHT FRIGHT is a fun, interesting little movie with beautiful girls, a very cool monster & an excellent swinging 60s soundtrack by ''The WILDCATS''. I've watched it numerous times & it's like taking a time machine back to simpler, more enjoyable times. this film has what i call ''60's charm''. i can give it no higher praise than that. other movies that have ''60's charm'' are: HORROR of party beach [1964], FRANKENSTEIN meets the space monster[1965] & SANTA CLAUS conquers the martians[1964]. if you want to cozy up in your favorite chair with popcorn, soda & an open mind, this is a charming slice of a bygone era.

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MartinHafer

I am a fan of bad horror films of the 1950s and 60s--films so ridiculous and silly that they are good for a laugh. So, because of this it's natural that I'd choose this film--especially because with John Agar in it, it was practically guaranteed to be bad. Sadly, while it was a bad film, it was the worst type of bad film--dull beyond belief and unfunny. At least with stupid and over-the-top bad films, you can laugh at the atrocious monsters and terrible direction and acting. Here, you never really see that much of the monster (mostly due to the darkness of the print) and the acting, while bad, is more low energy bad...listless and dull.The film begins with some young adults going to Satan's Hollow to neck. Well, considering the name of the place, it's not surprising when they are later found chewed to pieces! Duh...don't go necking at Satan's Hollow!! Well, there are reports of some sort of crashing object from the sky, so what do the teens go? Yep, throw a dance party--a very, very, very slow dance party where the kids almost dance in slow motion. So it's up to the Sheriff (Agar) and his men to ensure that the teens can dance in peace without fear of mastication.As for the monster, it's some guy in a gorilla suit with a silly mask--a bit like the monster in ROBOT MONSTER. Not exactly original and not exactly high tech. To make it worse, it makes snorting noises and moves very, very slowly--so slow that even the most corpulent teen could easily outrun it! How it manages to kill repeatedly is beyond me.Overall, too dull to like--even if you are a fan of lousy cinema.

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