#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