GamerTab
That was an excellent one.
Baseshment
I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.
Kailansorac
Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.
Michael_Elliott
Night Terror (1977) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Fairly suspenseful made-for-TV thriller about a woman (Valerie Harper) who must drive through the night alone so that she can reach her son who is in the hospital. Along the way she sees that a cop has another driver (Richard Romanus) pulled over and when she pulls up to talk to the cop he's shot in the back. Now the woman must race in her car to try and find help while this psycho is stalking and trying to kill her. A movie like this would never sit well in today's times for a couple reasons. For starters, today we'd just pick up our cell phone and call for help but that's a luxury not available here. Another major plot point deals with the woman running out of gas and since there's not any 24-hour stations this here is a big problem and leads to one of the most suspenseful scenes in the film as she stops as a rundown gas station, which is closed and she must try and find a key to the pump. I think what makes this film work so well is that director E.W. Swackhamer really makes you feel as if this woman is alone in the world with no one to help here and she has no where to turn. I think the isolation really leads to some nice atmosphere as the woman frantically searching for help that seemingly never comes. Another strong part is that Romanus is so good as the killer. We never figure out what this guy's problem is but that just adds to the fun and the mystery. He uses a voice box, which we get to hear a couple times in the film and the eerie sound just adds to the drama. I think there are some perfectly built up scenes including the before mentioned gas station and another is when the drivers get caught in a rain storm and briefly take shelter. I won't ruin what happens but it's a pretty well-directed sequence. At just 73-minutes the film doesn't have any filler and instead we're just taken on this drive and for the most part everything works. The one major flaw I had was with Harper's performance, which was just way too over-the-top and jumpy for my liking. I also thought her character was incredibly annoying and some of the dumb things she did will get on your nerves. With that said, with such a short running time it's nearly impossible not to recommend this film. Yes, it's clearly influenced by Steven Spielberg's DUEL but there's enough going for it to make it worth viewing.
The_Void
Night Terror is not a particularly original film and clearly takes more than a little bit of influence from Steven Spielberg's suspenseful masterpiece 'Dual'. In spite of this, however, Night Terror is a decent romp that does at least entertain for most of its duration. The plot is very simple and focuses on a woman out on the road by herself. It just so happens that there's also a psycho around and when she witnesses him killing a police officer; she finds herself on the wrong end of his attention as she is stalked through the road by the psychopath. The film was made for TV and the budget restrictions are obvious because the film does not lift itself above the ordinary; but it keeps the focus on the plot and the suspense and this is enough to carry it on through. The lead actress is Valerie Harper, who apparently has a lot of TV credits to her name. She gives a decent performance; it not especially brilliant but at least she remains interesting for the duration. Richard Romanus is not memorable enough for me in his psycho role, however. It all boils down to the token and expected ending and while I would say that the film is slightly too long on the whole; it's still decent enough stuff and is worth a look if you can find it.
Michael McGeehan
I also remember watching this movie as a kid and it scared the hell out of me as well. It has never left my mind even though I have not seen the film in more than 20 years. I just placed a bid for the movie on VHS at ebay and I'm hoping to win the auction so I can show it to my niece and see if it has the same affect on her (she's 14). Probably won't since she laughs at "The Exorcist" and "Friday the 13th." Ah, times have changed.
ALS1
I agree with Kirk; I saw this when I was nine, and never forgot it! It provided a special twist to your typical, melodramatic woman-alone-on-the-road story, so common for an age where were just getting over the idea of women being "helpless." But this killer should never have messed with Rhoda!The production values weren't bad for the 70s-made-for-TV genre, either. Really kind of a breath of fresh air, when all the other made-for-TVs were going for the "creepy-crawly thing of the week" motif.Valerie Harper plays a mother who is traveling across the country to see her son, who has just had an ear operation. On the way, she witnesses a policeman being murdered. What's worse, the murderer witnesses HER. Then the chase is on!The killer only speaks through a vibrating larynx box, which makes his words, considering their nature, sound even more sinister and mechanical, when we hear him speak at all (really only at the beginning).I'm not sure where this movie can be rented...the best hope is to wait for your local television station to play it as a late-night feature or a Sunday matinee. Try and catch it if you can. Watch especially for the clever climax and turnabout, as Val turns the tables on the killer!
