#55: WAIT UNTIL DARK (1967)

THRILL SCALE 1-10

9

HAVE I SEEN IT BEFORE?

Never

BEST SEQUENCE

The last 15 minutes

BEST LINE

"I cannot negotiate in an atmosphere of mistrust"

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE

96%

ROTTEN TOMATOES CRITICS CONSENSUS

"Nail-bitingly tense and brilliantly acted, Wait Until Dark is a compact thriller that makes the most of its fiendishly clever premise."

IMDB SYNOPSIS

"A recently blinded woman is terrorized by a trio of thugs while they search for a heroin-stuffed doll they believe is in her apartment."
DIRECTOR

Terence Young

MAIN CAST

Audrey Hepburn, Alan Arkin, Richard Crenna, Jack Weston, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Julie Herrod

THOUGHTS

• As established, the Thrill Scale is entirely unscientific, but while watching this movie I thought I should add a couple of qualifiers - a Chill Factor and a Yell Factor. If a movie gives me chills up and down my spine at any point, that deserves a bit of a bump, and same if it makes me yell out loud while watching it. Wait Until Dark got me in both ways. I'll be getting into spoilers shortly, but before that I'll just say that the whole movie definitely isn't a 9/10 for thrills, there's a bit of a slow patch after the first 30 minutes, but man, that climax really stuck the landing for me. And now, spoilers follow
• The first 30 minutes were extremely effective as an opening act, watching the three antagonists get a feel for each other, and efficiently and effectively establishing the stakes for the rest of the movie. It was also a great "show, don't tell" moment when we came to understand the level of danger posed by main antagonist Harry Roat, played by a sleazy and intimidating Alan Arkin. I don't think I've seen young Alan Arkin in anything, and before now the earliest movie of his that I've seen would be Edward Scissorhands (although to be honest, I don't remember him in that at all, so Glengarry Glen Ross might be the better answer), but he's terrific in this as a bad guy with zero redeeming qualities whatsoever
• After that we meet our protagonist Susy, played by Audrey Hepburn, and the next 45 minutes or so focus more on the "con man" side of the plot. There's a (very) steady building of tension here, and I wouldn't necessarily say I was bored, but it is the weakest part of the movie for me, and also called into question some of the logistics of this plan - namely, do we buy that Susy would be so quick to trust con man Mike after a few easily told lies? And also, sure it was fun to see Alan Arkin put on a few costumes and pretend to be different characters, but costumes don't do a whole lot for you when you're trying to deceive a woman who can't see
• Speaking of Audrey Hepburn, she's pretty good in this, especially towards the end of the movie, and this is definitely a very different style of movie from the other ones that she was well known for. She was even nominated for Best Actress, the only Oscar nomination this movie received. At times she's a little mawkish, though, and if they made the movie today I do think the subject of ableism would enter the conversation
• And finally, the movie hits its stride for me when Susy realizes that Mike isn't who he says he is, and that's when I got the spine chills. And then the situation gets more and more precarious for Susy, until we get to the showdown between her and Roat, my favourite part of the movie, and also the source of my "yell out loud" moment. This might be one of the earliest "bad guy isn't really dead" scares that I can think of
• So in conclusion, I consider this a terrifically tense movie, especially the climax, and I certainly recommend it. And, I'm in good company - in his 1981 non-fiction book Danse Macabre, Stephen King called this the scariest movie of all time

Up next: Another Western, and there won't be another one for quite a while, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid from '69

#56-B: BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935)

THRILL SCALE 1-10

6.5

HAVE I SEEN IT BEFORE?

Never

BEST SEQUENCE

When the Bride from her slab began to rise

BEST LINE

"To a new world of gods and monsters"

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE

98%

ROTTEN TOMATOES CRITICS CONSENSUS

"An eccentric, campy, technically impressive, and frightening picture, James Whale's Bride of Frankenstein has aged remarkably well."

IMDB SYNOPSIS

"Mary Shelley reveals the main characters of her novel survived: Baron Henry Frankenstein, goaded by an even madder scientist, builds his monster a mate."

DIRECTOR

James Whale

MAIN CAST

Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, Ernest Thesiger, Elsa Lanchester, Valerie Hobson

THOUGHTS

• To be frank(enstein), I was looking forward to this one, but I was kind of underwhelmed and I don't really understand why a lot of people think it's better than the original. A lot of it felt like a rehash and while there were some new things I did like (Dr. Pretorius, the titular Bride herself), the novelty of the original makes me rank it higher
• I'm also a little torn on the Monster starting to gain the ability to speak and communicate, even though this is taken from the book. While it gives him more depth, it also takes away some of the animalistic horror of the first movie
• For a character that has had such a lasting impact on horror and the general population's understanding of Frankenstein, it may be surprising for some of you to learn that the Bride of Frankenstein only comes to life in the last five minutes of the movie. Even still, I can understand why she's so memorable, and in ways that really only became apparent while watching the movie as opposed to just seeing pictures. The way that Elsa Lanchester plays her, all sudden, jerky movements and inhuman screams and hisses, really stays with you after the movie ends. And I'll admit, I also thought she was legitimately, if unsettlingly, attractive
• You'll be pleased to know that Mary Shelley finally gets her rightful acknowledgement as the author of the novel in this movie's opening credits - "suggested by the original story written in 1816 by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley". It also would have been even more noticeable if she wasn't credited, considering Elsa Lanchester actually has a dual role, playing her as a character in what I found to be a pretty clever little prologue. This is Lanchester's only official credit, though, as we also see "The Monster's Mate....?", a fun addition to the first movie's similar question mark credit of Boris Karloff as The Monster (Boris was the big draw for the sequel, though; the first credit we see is "Carl Laemmle presents KARLOFF in Bride of Frankenstein")
• Certain people get all up in arms when Frankenstein's Monster is referred to simply as Frankenstein, and as a card-carrying pedant myself, I've been pretty careful not to make that mistake. Frankenstein is the mad scientist, and the Monster is the big guy with bolts in his neck. It is fair to acknowledge, however, that this very movie does refer to the Monster as simply Frankenstein - explicitly in the prologue, and I would argue, also in the title itself. Some may say that the title still refers to the human bride of the human Frankenstein, played by Valerie Hobson in this one, but I think that's grasping at straws
• I alluded to this in my previous review, I first saw Young Frankenstein many many years before seeing either of these movies, and I rewatched it again recently. One of the greatest parodies ever made, in part because of how faithfully it recreates the look and feel of the originals, even using many of the exact same props as lab equipment
• Finally, I do want to mention that James Whale, the director of both Frankenstein and its sequel, was openly gay throughout his career, which was, as we know, incredibly rare back in the 1920s and 30s. Bride of Frankenstein has been interpreted as a distinctly queer film, and I recommend this article from Medium and this one from ScreenRant if you'd like to learn more

Up next: Another new one for me, and one that I know very little about, Wait Until Dark from 1967