Night of Fear (1972)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Terry Bourke

Writer:

Terry Bourke (written by)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

Hunted and Trapped! Her Nightmare is Just Beginning!

Cast

Norman Yemm	...	The Man
Carla Hoogeveen	...	The Woman
Mike Dorsey	...	The Lover
Briony Behets	...	Horse Girl

Directed by
Terry Bourke

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Terry Bourke		written by

Produced by
Rod Hay	....	executive producer

Cinematography by
Peter Hendry

Film Editing by
Ray Alchin

Production Design by
Gary Hansen

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Michael Lake	....	assistant director

Art Department
Laurie Floyd	....	stand-by props

Distributors

• Umbrella Entertainment (2005) (Australia) (DVD)

Runtime:

54 min

Country:

Australia

Language:

English

Certification:

Australia:(Banned) | Australia:M (re-rating) (2005) | Australia:R (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Narrabeen, New South Wales, Australia

Trivia:

Originally planned as the first episode of a 12-part Australian Broadcasting Corporation horror series entitled "Fright".

Movie Connections:

Featured in Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation! (2008)

Aussie-Exploitation Rocks!

According to the writings of several of my respectable fellow reviewers around here, "Night of Fear" was the very first Australian horror/exploitation movie ever made. This bit of trivia also got confirmed in the brilliant documentary "Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation", so I just had to see it sooner or later… Well, the first Aussie horror flick definitely is a peculiar one. "Night of Fear" is very rudimentary, both in terms of plotting and execution, as if writer/director Terry Bourke was reading in his Horror for Dummies manual whilst operating the camera. There are no dialogs, only female screams and a lot of panting, no attempts to provide depth or background to the characters and the plot is simplistic as can be. Following a banal car accident, a sole young girl ends up on a rural backwoods road and quickly finds herself confronted with a hillbilly waving around an ax. She flees and seeks shelter in a nearby cabin, but obviously her troubles only get worse in there. It may all come across as formulaic and amateurish, but "Night of Fear" actually works quite effectively! The pacing is moderately fast and the suspense is non-stop throughout the short running time. Yup, a modest and straightforward little genre outing with some nasty images and authentic shocks. Sometimes that's all it takes to satisfy a horror fanatic. The ending is very shocking and immediately explains why Terry Bourke struggled against so much controversy when it came out. "Night of Fear" was supposed to be the kick-off installment of an Aussie horror TV-series, but the idiot censors didn't agree.