There was a time in Horror cinema history when a young woman crawling to survive a lunatic was a dime a dozen. The prototypical plot of what became known as the Slasher, while many consider Bob Clark’s 1974 classic Black Christmas the first to inspire the sub-genres trend, look deeper beneath the surface, and you will uncover a little film called Fright from 1971.
A predecessor to many, Fright is a British film from 1969’s Italian Job Director Peter Collinson and esteemed Screenwriter Tudor Gates (known for co-writing 1968’s Barbarella). Starring Susan George (known for many films, including 1971’s Straw Dogs) as the babysitter, you also had the Academy Award-nominated Ian Bannen as an unhinged, simply terrifying man. The film’s two focal stars and the tension built the two challenges as some of the most underrated Horror films during the ‘70s era. In fact, the mood and edge-of-your-seat terror Fright projects are arguably some of the best of the decade.
In this story you have Amanda (Susan George) taking a babysitting job for Lloyd’s family setback in the woods on a large estate. Innocent enough, what Amanda does not know is that the biological father was committed to a psychiatric institution for trying to murder his wife. A revelation that only appears a little later in the film, you can feel something is quite off in the house with Mrs. Lloyd’s uneasy demeanor. Worse yet, the institutionalized Mr. Lloyd (Ian Bannen) has escaped and is eager to make a surprise visit to his family.
A well-plotted story, it is the performances and build in each scene that make Fright so unbelievably effective. With this in mind, considering the legitimate terror, Fright is only rated PG! Perhaps because not much is exposed graphically… but the implications during many uncomfortable sequences, and the earth-shattering screams, would lead you to give this an R rating. Nonetheless, if you appreciate Horror films of this type that excel in the filming style, atmosphere, and substance of the content, but have never seen Fright, then it is a must-watch. That is why it is exciting to learn that Kino Lorber offers the feature in a 4K Ultra HD format.
Released as a 2-disc 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray set on November 5, 2024 through Kino Lorber, you could argue it trumps the Scream Factory Blu-ray edition that arrived in 2019. This new pressing is from a 4K scan of the 35mm original camera negative and judged up against the Scream Factory copy, it is comparable quality-wise. However, the difference is that now that the transfer is on a 4K disc, the quality is much more revealed and impressive. What this means is the colors are rich and deep and the overall viewing experience is enjoyable.
Beyond this, you get the film on the 4K disc, as well as the Blu-ray disc. Additionally, the Blu-ray disc gives you new audio commentaries and interviews with film historians, but sadly nothing else. Not a complete loss, it would be extremely compelling to see more supplement content created for Fright, but you have to take what you get.
Overall, the new Kino Lorber 4K Ultra HD edition of Fright is worth the time and money even with limited extras. The visual and audio quality is enough to sell it, but most of all, the film in itself is the biggest drawing card. A hidden gem that should be rediscovered, Cryptic Rock gives this 2024 4K Ultra HD edition of Fright 5 out of 5 stars.
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