If you recall a little film called When a Stranger Calls (1979), a babysitter was terrorized relentlessly for the first 20-odd minutes, then the film changes gears, becoming something more in tune with a dramatic piece than a balls-out suspense thriller. The first act however is among the most suspenseful sequences I've ever seen, and more than makes up for the films lacklustre centerpiece. Fright, filmed eight years earlier, takes an approach which can best be viewed as the inverse of that of When a Stranger Calls. For the first 25 minutes or so, our heroine is not terrorized; the threat of violence always seems to be looming, as creepy sounds permeate the house. Nothing is ever really dangerous, yet director Peter Collinson manages to infuse these scenes with a surprising amount of suspense.

That all changes when the homeowner's psychotic ex-husband liberates himself from the local loony bin, and begins to terrorize the young babysitter (played by the cute-as-a-button Susan George). This is where most movies would find their stride; unfortunately this is where Fright begins to lose its footing. Making the villain such a visible central character so early in the movie serves only to dissolve the possibly of any suspense that would be inherent in a similar concept in which the antagonist were hidden.

There's no cat and mouse chase throughout the house, no possibility of someone creeping just outside the door. No, there he is, there's your villain… standing right there, for everyone to see. Where do we go from here? Not really anywhere, actually. Obviously there's some sort of story here, as Brian (the killer) begins to visualize Amanda (the babysitter) as Helen (his wife, and mother of his son, whom Amanda happens to be babysitting). So any sort of sanity he may have shown when he first turns up in the movie, slowly disappears until he's completely off his rocker, threatening to kill both Amanda and his own son if they attempt to leave.

If the story and suspense are not what most people would consider effective, than it would seem that the production values are sort of a proportional inverse. From the opening scene in which Helen walks down a flight of stairs, Fright has a distinctly British feel. This is most certainly a good thing, as 1960s/early-1970s genre work from Britain is among the most atmospheric horror you'll find - take a look at nearly any Hammer production from that period of time. Collinson frames everything quite nicely, giving the film a beautiful look that certainly would have benefited from a better premise.

In the end though, it really doesn't go anywhere, and the films strongest scenes are in the first 20 minutes; yet as an early example of the dreaded ‘babysitting danger' sub-genre it holds a certain historical significance. Predating every major modern horror film, including products which share more than a few similarities, such as When a Stranger Calls and Black Christmas, Fright has to be viewed as more than just a movie. It preceded a number of classics that dealt with similar subject matter, and while it may not be as effective a film as those that followed, it makes the film slightly more significant than other productions from the same period.