IMDb: Night Fright
P.S. The cover to this film, is probably one of the best covers evar.
Review: Hmmm, I don't know where to start. This movie is a perfect example of a period film, watching this today is... kind of hard to stomach. There is so much wrong with this movie, I found myself constantly wondering when it would be over. However, looking back I actually kind of enjoyed it, if nothing else, as a quick view into the late 60s.
Pros:
Cars: If I had to give one big glowing thumbs up, it would definitely be for the cars. My personal feeling is that at least half of the films budget went to the cars. It didn't look like anything in this film would really cost anything besides those cars.
Monster: The monster looked like a Gorilla and the Creature from the Black Lagoon spent a night together. Though you rarely see the monster (not intentionally), it is one of the more interesting and original monsters I've seen from the era.
Cons:
Stereotypes: This film stereotypes almost everybody in it. Sheriffs wearing cowboy hats is getting a little over used. The reporter who looks exactly like Clark Kent, right down to the black rimmed glasses, is a bit much. All the teenagers being rebellious jerks, minus like two, seems a little unrealistic I'm sure some teenagers were jerks. However, I'd say that 8/10 might be a little much.
Realism: This complaint is directed at the researcher. Whoever worked on this film, researching police procedure, should literally be lobotomized. Even in the 60's I doubt it was procedure to give a REPORTER a key piece of evidence. Not to mention it's the only piece of physical evidence you have. If that cop was on Law and Order, he'd be so dead.
Night: This one is the real killer for me. Films from the late 60s to about the mid 70s, didn't understand the importance of lighting. I mentioned earlier how you rarely see the monster, that's due to the black costume and the dark woodsy background. The only thing you can generally make out is his glossy head. This issue made me almost turn off this movie about 4 or 5 times. The best view you ever get of the monster is a general outline.
Continuity: This one is a lesser issue, however I noticed it. During most of the "sunset" scenes, one shot would be light, then dark, then light, then black, then light, then black, then dark. You get the idea. It was very disjointed, the argument could be made that it's darker in heavily forested areas. However, that's no excuse to go from 4:30 PM to 11 PM.
FINAL SCORE:
5/10
Though this kind of hurts me, the movie was pretty good. My brain says 3, however my heart says 7. So I middle-grounded it. The movie was good, The acting was ok, the story and everyone behind the camera was pretty abysmal.
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