Why film a movie if you are not going to provide light for the cameras. The film would have been about seven minutes long if it were not for the shots of people walking through the woods. I enjoyed seeing the typical sixties dress and the 60's cars. I couldn't help but ask myself what self respecting kid would drive a Tornado, though they were neat cars. The music was tedious and repetitive. Ten minutes of people dancing in the dark was too much. I've seen worse acting, but the manikin should have had top billing. At least it kept it's mouth closed. I think the motivation for making the movie must have been that someone had a lot of film available that had gone beyond the expiration date and they didn't want to see it go to waste. It went to waste.
49 Reviews
Night Fright: Really awful stuff
Platypuschow28 November 2018
I was immediatly struck by the alarmingly low IMDB rating, at time of writing we're talking 2.4 and that's really impressive!
It tells the long drawn out story of a big beastie that's out in the forest killing folks off, usual standard stuff. Trouble is it never really gets going.
The pace of the film is remarkable, very little actually happens yet the entire film spends its time building up to something. I don't think I've ever seen a movie quite like it, it's the most anti-climatic thing I've ever seen.
Beyond that every other factor from the acting to the sfx are so mediocre that I'm not even remotely surprised that this has remained so obscure.
It's terrible stuff.
The Good:
Nothing springs to mind
The Bad:
Very repetitive audio
Lack of budget showed
Very anticlimatic
Goes nowhere and goes there slow
Things I Learnt From This Movie:
I learnt nothing, other than the other half moved the head ache tablets!
It tells the long drawn out story of a big beastie that's out in the forest killing folks off, usual standard stuff. Trouble is it never really gets going.
The pace of the film is remarkable, very little actually happens yet the entire film spends its time building up to something. I don't think I've ever seen a movie quite like it, it's the most anti-climatic thing I've ever seen.
Beyond that every other factor from the acting to the sfx are so mediocre that I'm not even remotely surprised that this has remained so obscure.
It's terrible stuff.
The Good:
Nothing springs to mind
The Bad:
Very repetitive audio
Lack of budget showed
Very anticlimatic
Goes nowhere and goes there slow
Things I Learnt From This Movie:
I learnt nothing, other than the other half moved the head ache tablets!
Night Fright Huh? Yeah That was Me after Seeing this One!
BaronBl00d23 June 2008
Okay it is terribly, and I mean terribly, easy to pick apart this film. C'mmon what do you expect with the title, synopsis, and actors in leads such as Carol Gilley, Ralph Baker Jr., Dorothy Davis, Bill Thurman, and, my personal favourite, Roger Ready. Yes, B star John Agar is here as a sheriff out to rid the Texan landscape of a robot-like ape from a NASA experiment gone awry. The movie has dreadful performances, dreadful scenery, dreadful special effects, and dreadful lighting. I really cannot find much good to say about it other than as bad films go you could do a lot worse as far as finding something dreadful to sit through. It is bearably short and has many moments of unintended humor. Missed cues, lighting faux pas, off-screen terror, an unbelievably inane score, and of course John Agar trying his level best to be the core of the film with an earnest performance amidst this muck. The beginning is the hardest part to sit through as it seems like it takes forever for these two teens to get their comeuppance for traveling in the woods down the Texas back roads where great ape soon will reek his vengeance in his own terrible way...Yeah right! Night Fright! Bah!
Space Gorilla Runs Amok In Texas
kikaidar17 May 2003
NIGHT FRIGHT shares an eerie half-world with a handful of similarly modest but entertaining teen horror/sci-fi entries like GIANT GILA MONSTER, HORROR OF PARTY BEACH and DEATH CURSE OF TARTU. These are an uneasy mix of happily gyrating teens and skulking horror that are a guilty weakness of mine.
The storyline is standard stuff: a spaceship sent into the icy depths of Out There by dedicated scientists runs into unchecked radiation, and the test animals aboard are mutated. The largest and nastiest promptly goes on an eating binge. The film appears for be a rehash of themes already used in the obscure DEMON FROM DEVIL'S LAKE.
Granted, Texas isn't known for astounding advances in cinema. Larry Buchannan, the fevered brow at the helm of THE EYE CREATURES, IT'S ALIVE! and ZONTAR, THE THING FROM VENUS, hailed from Texas. THE GIANT GILA MONSTER was filmed in and around Cielo. Still...
John Agar, in one of his last "earnest man with a job to do" roles is a somewhat peeved lawman charged with finding out what exactly is killing the locals. He does well in the limited role, providing the film's one strong performance. The other characters are broadly written and almost painfully bland. The bizarrely named Roger Ready woodenly plays a scientist who knows more than he admits (and who is largely qualified as being a researcher by way of smoking a pipe). There's also a nerdy newshound, police resenting kids, and an extremely lackluster love interest.
That said, the overall film is actually fairly enjoyable. The monster, a hulking gorilla with facial spines and a Klingon head ridge, is reasonably impressive for a regional production. The isolated locales and dim photography add a certain appeal, though the latter occasionally flashes almost starkly bright (particularly during the climax where half the hunters seem to be waiting in the dead of night and the rest in some distant land where it's high noon). The government cover-up angle is expected, and should neatly justify the suspicions of any borderline paranoids in the audience.
Not a great film but, taken as a simple "googly fiend run amok" picture, it's more than passable.
The storyline is standard stuff: a spaceship sent into the icy depths of Out There by dedicated scientists runs into unchecked radiation, and the test animals aboard are mutated. The largest and nastiest promptly goes on an eating binge. The film appears for be a rehash of themes already used in the obscure DEMON FROM DEVIL'S LAKE.
Granted, Texas isn't known for astounding advances in cinema. Larry Buchannan, the fevered brow at the helm of THE EYE CREATURES, IT'S ALIVE! and ZONTAR, THE THING FROM VENUS, hailed from Texas. THE GIANT GILA MONSTER was filmed in and around Cielo. Still...
John Agar, in one of his last "earnest man with a job to do" roles is a somewhat peeved lawman charged with finding out what exactly is killing the locals. He does well in the limited role, providing the film's one strong performance. The other characters are broadly written and almost painfully bland. The bizarrely named Roger Ready woodenly plays a scientist who knows more than he admits (and who is largely qualified as being a researcher by way of smoking a pipe). There's also a nerdy newshound, police resenting kids, and an extremely lackluster love interest.
That said, the overall film is actually fairly enjoyable. The monster, a hulking gorilla with facial spines and a Klingon head ridge, is reasonably impressive for a regional production. The isolated locales and dim photography add a certain appeal, though the latter occasionally flashes almost starkly bright (particularly during the climax where half the hunters seem to be waiting in the dead of night and the rest in some distant land where it's high noon). The government cover-up angle is expected, and should neatly justify the suspicions of any borderline paranoids in the audience.
Not a great film but, taken as a simple "googly fiend run amok" picture, it's more than passable.
Dull beyond belief!
planktonrules6 August 2009
I am a fan of bad horror films of the 1950s and 60s--films so ridiculous and silly that they are good for a laugh. So, because of this it's natural that I'd choose this film--especially because with John Agar in it, it was practically guaranteed to be bad. Sadly, while it was a bad film, it was the worst type of bad film--dull beyond belief and unfunny. At least with stupid and over-the-top bad films, you can laugh at the atrocious monsters and terrible direction and acting. Here, you never really see that much of the monster (mostly due to the darkness of the print) and the acting, while bad, is more low energy bad...listless and dull.
The film begins with some young adults going to Satan's Hollow to neck. Well, considering the name of the place, it's not surprising when they are later found chewed to pieces! Duh...don't go necking at Satan's Hollow!! Well, there are reports of some sort of crashing object from the sky, so what do the teens go? Yep, throw a dance party--a very, very, very slow dance party where the kids almost dance in slow motion. So it's up to the Sheriff (Agar) and his men to ensure that the teens can dance in peace without fear of mastication.
As for the monster, it's some guy in a gorilla suit with a silly mask--a bit like the monster in ROBOT MONSTER. Not exactly original and not exactly high tech. To make it worse, it makes snorting noises and moves very, very slowly--so slow that even the most corpulent teen could easily outrun it! How it manages to kill repeatedly is beyond me.
Overall, too dull to like--even if you are a fan of lousy cinema.
The film begins with some young adults going to Satan's Hollow to neck. Well, considering the name of the place, it's not surprising when they are later found chewed to pieces! Duh...don't go necking at Satan's Hollow!! Well, there are reports of some sort of crashing object from the sky, so what do the teens go? Yep, throw a dance party--a very, very, very slow dance party where the kids almost dance in slow motion. So it's up to the Sheriff (Agar) and his men to ensure that the teens can dance in peace without fear of mastication.
As for the monster, it's some guy in a gorilla suit with a silly mask--a bit like the monster in ROBOT MONSTER. Not exactly original and not exactly high tech. To make it worse, it makes snorting noises and moves very, very slowly--so slow that even the most corpulent teen could easily outrun it! How it manages to kill repeatedly is beyond me.
Overall, too dull to like--even if you are a fan of lousy cinema.
Lame sci-fi horror
Red-Barracuda25 May 2009
This cheap and rubbish film is about a NASA test rocket that is sent into space with a cargo of animals. It vanishes for a while then unexpectedly returns, crash landing in a forest, unleashing a vicious mutant creature.
Like many films of this type, Night Fright, features dumb teenagers boogieing on down to 60's surf music before being killed. None of the murders, however, are even remotely memorable, as we don't really see anything. One thing we do see, however, is that one of the teenagers appears to be about 40 years old and sports a quite impressively silly haircut.
For a creature feature to work, it really has to present its monster to the viewer properly. In this film, however, we only get the briefest glimpses of the monster. It seems to sort of resemble the alien from Robot Monster. But I'm not sure; as the photography was so dark I simply couldn't make out what the hell was going on a lot of the time. Although, my gut feeling was that I probably wasn't missing very much.
Like many films of this type, Night Fright, features dumb teenagers boogieing on down to 60's surf music before being killed. None of the murders, however, are even remotely memorable, as we don't really see anything. One thing we do see, however, is that one of the teenagers appears to be about 40 years old and sports a quite impressively silly haircut.
For a creature feature to work, it really has to present its monster to the viewer properly. In this film, however, we only get the briefest glimpses of the monster. It seems to sort of resemble the alien from Robot Monster. But I'm not sure; as the photography was so dark I simply couldn't make out what the hell was going on a lot of the time. Although, my gut feeling was that I probably wasn't missing very much.
A Valiant hearse is the first clue there's something wrong.
yonhope6 May 2007
When the budget doesn't allow for a Cadillac or Packard or Lincoln or Imperial hearse we are talking cheep cheep. That's bird language for cheap cheap.
What is in the hair of the forty year old teen boy? The guy who looks like a cement head who tries a couple of times to run over John Agar and provides the only scare in the movie by how close he comes. His hair looks like a shoe. A patent leather shoe. He is a shoe head.
The nurse woman needs immediate emergency hair washing. She has lacquer in her blond locks that would ignite if the production company had been able to afford lights.
The monster? The music was scarier. I would try to run from the music. The monster probably had better hair than the rest of the cast. Put some lipstick on that monster and you've got Divine's older sister.
The camera work and editing and plot provided a buffer to prepare the audience for the bad music throughout.
Hello Mr. Agar? We're thinking of doing a sequel to Night Fright and... Mr. Agar? Agar? Tom Willett
What is in the hair of the forty year old teen boy? The guy who looks like a cement head who tries a couple of times to run over John Agar and provides the only scare in the movie by how close he comes. His hair looks like a shoe. A patent leather shoe. He is a shoe head.
The nurse woman needs immediate emergency hair washing. She has lacquer in her blond locks that would ignite if the production company had been able to afford lights.
The monster? The music was scarier. I would try to run from the music. The monster probably had better hair than the rest of the cast. Put some lipstick on that monster and you've got Divine's older sister.
The camera work and editing and plot provided a buffer to prepare the audience for the bad music throughout.
Hello Mr. Agar? We're thinking of doing a sequel to Night Fright and... Mr. Agar? Agar? Tom Willett
Horror of a Movie
Hitchcoc5 February 2007
Imagine what it must have been like for John Agar. One of Hollywood's handsome leading men. Married to Shirley Temple for five years. He finds himself doing movies like this. I remember him in "Tarantula" where he wasn't half bad. Unfortunately, there is nothing to recommend this film. The monster is dumb uninteresting and incompetent. The police are boring. The teenagers are boring. The plot is stupid. People run around. There are events that do nothing to advance the plot. There's dancing that goes on and on, and then there is no attack. There is some idiotic love triangle that no one could care the least about. It isn't even campy or outrageous. It's just no worth anything. Agar might as well have been a post. He's given nothing to do.
Bottom-of-the-barrel monster movie.
Phroggy10 August 2000
This one isn't even lively enough to be fun. Something is out there, ripping people off (off-screen) after a spaceship crash (off-screen) while government executives investigates (off-screen) and bad actors says stupid lines (on-screen), including a guy who looks like Jim Carrey with a hangover. The "monster", when it finally is shown, looks like an extra from "Robot Monster", but there ain't enough monster fu anyway.
Fortunately, it's pretty short. Skip it, unless you want to get bored out of your skull by this
Fortunately, it's pretty short. Skip it, unless you want to get bored out of your skull by this
goes on... and on... and... on....
winner5515 November 2006
Mixing small town sheriffs, high-school students, fake rock music, and some weirdo who kills for, well, no reason in particular, this film is essentially a re-make of "The Giant Gila Monster" - except without the gila monster, of course.
Now, anyone who has actually seen "Giant Gila Monster", knows that it is one of the worst made films of all time, frequently so slow, it's not even funny. And I can't believe that by 1967, "Giant Gila Monster" had earned such a reputation that young directors were just dying to get to work on a sequel, let alone a remake. So will someone please explain to me why this film was made?! The dance sequence, by the way, is historically interesting, although about three years out of date; but even that's spoiled, since it goes on... and on... and... on....
Now, anyone who has actually seen "Giant Gila Monster", knows that it is one of the worst made films of all time, frequently so slow, it's not even funny. And I can't believe that by 1967, "Giant Gila Monster" had earned such a reputation that young directors were just dying to get to work on a sequel, let alone a remake. So will someone please explain to me why this film was made?! The dance sequence, by the way, is historically interesting, although about three years out of date; but even that's spoiled, since it goes on... and on... and... on....
Poor
KDWms3 April 2003
There is one adjective that describes everything about this film - acting, plot, effects, continuity, etc. - and that word is poor. The government wants to asses the effects of space travel on certain organisms but the capsule crashes and a mutant something-or-other (looks like a guy in an ape suit with the top of a football helmet over his face) wreaks havoc around the accident scene, which includes a favorite place for the window-fogging, partying set. Therefore, some young people - as well as a law enforcement officer - are among the creature's victims. You gotta be extremely unparticular about how you spend your time - or rich, if you spend any money - to view this epic.
Entertainingly cruddy Grade Z sci-fi/horror schlock
Woodyanders8 March 2012
Warning: Spoilers
A murderous mutant ape terrorizes a bunch of party hearty teenagers in the woods of a sleepy Texas town. It's up to stalwart Sheriff Clint Crawford (veteran dime-store cinema regular John Agar at his most endearingly sincere) to figure out a way to kill the bloodthirsty beast. Man, does this clinker possess all the right wrong stuff to qualify as an amusingly awful stinkeroonie: hopelessly all-thumbs (mis)direction by James A. Sullivan, sluggish pacing, stiffly earnest acting by a game, but lame cast, over-aged teens frugging up a storm like rejects from an AIP "Beach Party" flick, zero tension or creepy atmosphere, a cornball score, priceless tin-eared dialogue (Sheriff Crawford to a surly teen: "Look, punk -- don't call me fuzz; when you talk to me call me sheriff"), a meandering narrative, clumsy cinematography that's rife with queasy zoom-ins, primitive fades, and lousy dissolves, a completely fumbled less-than-thrilling "explosive" climax, and a laughable monster played by some poor schmo in a ratty gorilla suit with a cheap plastic fright mask covering his face. Dorothy Davis looks mighty purdy as the feisty Judy while the ubiquitous Bill Thurman has a sizable supporting part as the ill-fated Deputy Ben Whitfield. A real crummy hoot.
Skip This One - Unless You Enjoy Boring!
Rainey-Dawn17 January 2016
Why did they put this one in the Pure Terror 50 Movie Pack? - WHY? This one is not creepy. It's not even funny enough to make fun of - it's just dull, boring and completely awful.
The acting is so bad in this it hurts to watch. I've seen better creature costumes in the cheap costume departments at Halloween. The story is bland - not nearly as good as it sounds like it would be. The first 45 minutes to an hour of the film drags and drags - the last 15 to 20 minutes is barely watchable.
I like bad B-films - but this is triple "Z". It's to bad this film is terrible - I was hoping to find another "hidden gem" but, alas, this one is my IMDb list named "garbage collection".
1/10
The acting is so bad in this it hurts to watch. I've seen better creature costumes in the cheap costume departments at Halloween. The story is bland - not nearly as good as it sounds like it would be. The first 45 minutes to an hour of the film drags and drags - the last 15 to 20 minutes is barely watchable.
I like bad B-films - but this is triple "Z". It's to bad this film is terrible - I was hoping to find another "hidden gem" but, alas, this one is my IMDb list named "garbage collection".
1/10
Poor - Even By The Usual Standards of 1960s Texan SF Horror Flicks
junk-monkey25 March 2007
Warning: Spoilers
In a pre-title sequence that seems to take up half the movie a necking couple are attacked by Something From The Trees just after hearing a news report about a flaming object having landed in the nearby woods. Teenagers. Point Of View shot of something coming through the wood towards the car. Close up of girl screaming, then Wham! cut to the credits... er... no. What happens here is we cut away from the girl screaming to a different girl laughing. This new girl meets her boyfriend and they go for a drive. They meet some other 'teenagers'. They kiss, They talk, they walk about in the woods. Do impressions of kindly professors and talk talk endlessly bloody talk. Just when you are wondering if they are ever going to shut up (please god, make them the next victims) they MAKE A DISCOVERY she screams. Then, finally, we get the opening credits - it's that sort of movie.
What happens next is we get a shots of a ambulance with its sirens blaring despite there being nothing else on the road. It passes the sheriff who is at the crash site of the Flaming Thing that came down in the woods before the movie started. He follows the ambulance,and doesn't bat an eyelid when he discovers the ambulance crew shoving the stiffs in the back of their vehicle even before the police arrive. CSI this isn't. The two cops and a reporter who looks suspiciously like Brad from The Rocky Horror Show spend five minutes screen time wandering around open woodlands in daylight as the soundtrack unsuccessfully tries to generate the sense of menace and foreboding usually reserved for skulking about dense woodland by moonlight. They discover a footprint and wander about for another 5 minutes.
Other mind numbing highlights include:
Middle-aged teenagers doing vertical epileptic fit dancing and delivering lines like "This is our own private blast, if you don't dig it, split." to one another. Did ANYONE really talk like that?
A police officer on being attacked by The Thing, becomes probably the only law enforcement officer in the history of American cinema to forget he has a gun so therefore doesn't bother to shoot futilely in the general direction of The Thing before getting eaten. Hasn't this man seen any movies?
Towards the end of the movie the Gorilla Suit (you just knew the monster was going to be a man in a gorilla suit didn't you?) attacks the eldest and most deserving to die of all the middle-aged teenagers. His girlfriend rushes off pursued by Gorilla Suit. She runs into the arms of her sister. Just as the Gorilla Suit is upon them the sheriff arrives and futilely fires his pistol in the general direction of The Thing (at last someone who has watched a movie!) while they escape. Then he runs off through the woods pursued by the Gorilla Suit only to bump into our perky teenage couple from the opening sequence who have just chanced on the body of the deputy in his car. Just how big ARE these woods? About 20 feet across by the look of it.
The finale is ludicrous. The sheriff hatches a plan. He gets a mannequin and some stuff from perky teenager (his dad runs a construction company). He then sits in the middle of the wood with his girlfriend, the local nurse, surrounded by middle-aged men lurking around in plain sight with guns. He has a cigarette. And waits. The middle-aged men wait. We wait. The Girlfriend waits. The perky teenagers in the car get fed up with waiting and fall asleep. The Gorilla suit attacks them (he likes tinned meat obviously)! They get out of the car and run through the woods towards the sheriff and the girlfriend. The Gorilla suit sees the girlfriend sitting in the middle of the woods and attackes her (despite the fact that middle-aged men are shooting at him from every direction - maybe it had a nurse uniform fetish or something) The Girlfriend Explodes! Oh no! The sheriff's girlfriend just exploded! But wait! who's that emerging from behind a tree. It's the girlfriend. Ahhh I get it. It wasn't the Girlfriend that exploded, it was the mannequin dressed up! and stuffed full of explosives. Wow! What a twist.
The version I watched is part of a boxset of 50 crap movies called 'Nightmare Worlds'. The transfer is very bad, nearly unwatchable. About an hour in the sound goes out of sync by about 4 frames.
What happens next is we get a shots of a ambulance with its sirens blaring despite there being nothing else on the road. It passes the sheriff who is at the crash site of the Flaming Thing that came down in the woods before the movie started. He follows the ambulance,and doesn't bat an eyelid when he discovers the ambulance crew shoving the stiffs in the back of their vehicle even before the police arrive. CSI this isn't. The two cops and a reporter who looks suspiciously like Brad from The Rocky Horror Show spend five minutes screen time wandering around open woodlands in daylight as the soundtrack unsuccessfully tries to generate the sense of menace and foreboding usually reserved for skulking about dense woodland by moonlight. They discover a footprint and wander about for another 5 minutes.
Other mind numbing highlights include:
Middle-aged teenagers doing vertical epileptic fit dancing and delivering lines like "This is our own private blast, if you don't dig it, split." to one another. Did ANYONE really talk like that?
A police officer on being attacked by The Thing, becomes probably the only law enforcement officer in the history of American cinema to forget he has a gun so therefore doesn't bother to shoot futilely in the general direction of The Thing before getting eaten. Hasn't this man seen any movies?
Towards the end of the movie the Gorilla Suit (you just knew the monster was going to be a man in a gorilla suit didn't you?) attacks the eldest and most deserving to die of all the middle-aged teenagers. His girlfriend rushes off pursued by Gorilla Suit. She runs into the arms of her sister. Just as the Gorilla Suit is upon them the sheriff arrives and futilely fires his pistol in the general direction of The Thing (at last someone who has watched a movie!) while they escape. Then he runs off through the woods pursued by the Gorilla Suit only to bump into our perky teenage couple from the opening sequence who have just chanced on the body of the deputy in his car. Just how big ARE these woods? About 20 feet across by the look of it.
The finale is ludicrous. The sheriff hatches a plan. He gets a mannequin and some stuff from perky teenager (his dad runs a construction company). He then sits in the middle of the wood with his girlfriend, the local nurse, surrounded by middle-aged men lurking around in plain sight with guns. He has a cigarette. And waits. The middle-aged men wait. We wait. The Girlfriend waits. The perky teenagers in the car get fed up with waiting and fall asleep. The Gorilla suit attacks them (he likes tinned meat obviously)! They get out of the car and run through the woods towards the sheriff and the girlfriend. The Gorilla suit sees the girlfriend sitting in the middle of the woods and attackes her (despite the fact that middle-aged men are shooting at him from every direction - maybe it had a nurse uniform fetish or something) The Girlfriend Explodes! Oh no! The sheriff's girlfriend just exploded! But wait! who's that emerging from behind a tree. It's the girlfriend. Ahhh I get it. It wasn't the Girlfriend that exploded, it was the mannequin dressed up! and stuffed full of explosives. Wow! What a twist.
The version I watched is part of a boxset of 50 crap movies called 'Nightmare Worlds'. The transfer is very bad, nearly unwatchable. About an hour in the sound goes out of sync by about 4 frames.
I'm going to be honest, i do not like this one.
Hayjohowe6 May 2012
Warning: Spoilers
Night Fright is a poorly put together film that centers around a small town who is experiencing murders. Upon investigation, the sheriff finds the print of a large creature. This is the only somewhat interesting thing that happens in the movie, until about 50 minutes of so in. The rest of the time is just people talking about whats going on. We see a group of kids planning a party, then (With horror and shock beyond belief) Go to the party. We see the sheriff doing nothing but talk about the mystery, and everyone else just listens. I didn't have high hopes for this movie, but I expected something a little better. We don't even see the monster until 50 minutes in, and when we see the monster, the lighting is so bad that we don't "See the monster". Anyway, there's a five minute chase scene, and then it's back to talking about whats going on, for another 15 minutes. They then decide to kill the monster using bait, and a mannequin strapped to a bomb. When the monster comes to take the bait (Two young teens), they run to the mannequin, which the monster grabs, and it blows the monster to bits. I do not recommend this movie. All it is is people talking, talking, partying, talking, and- Oh hey there's a poorly lit monster chasing a dude, more talking, more talking, and-Oh hey look the monsters gonna grab that mannequin and-OOOOOHHHH he just got the stuff blown out of him. I got this on a 50 pack of sci-fi invasion films, which cost about $10.00. so this movie cost me about 20 cents. Don't pay anymore than that, it's honestly not worth it...
woods, woods, and more woods
MovieLoonie18 October 2005
This movie was painfully awful. Most of the movie consisted of people running in the woods, walking thru the woods, or dancing in the woods. More than half, at least. Then two kids who discover two 'horribly mutilated bodies' in the woods, return to the woods the very next night for a romantic walk. ????? There is no time continuity. its day, its night, its day, its really really night, its dusk, its pitch black, its day. All the woods scenes go on like this until you think you will lose your mind. really bad. The sheriff discovers a five foot claw print embedded in the dirt of the woods and theorizes that a super large alligator may have learned to walk upright. Really a silly movie with no real motivation written in for the characters. Might be entertaining for young kids, as an alternative to really graphic stuff.
Wouldn't Scare the Family Cat
wes-connors23 June 2008
"A Texas community is beset with a rash of mysterious killings involving some of the students from the local college. The sheriff investigating the death discovers the startling identity of the killer responsible for the murders. A NASA experiment involving cosmic rays has mutated an ape and turned it into an unstoppable killing machine with a thirst for blood," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.
Or, could the creature really be a mutated alligator returning from a space-bound "Noah's Ark"?
A long opening, with laughably straight 1960s couple Ralph Baker Jr. (as Chris) and Dorothy Davis (as Judy), suggests "Night Fright" might be a joyously bad movie; but, don't get your hopes up. After some innocent cavorting, the attractive collegiates discover another couple has encountered a monster; naturally, the creature is hell-bent on terrorizing young romantics. Sheriff John Agar (as Clint Crawford) isn't trusted by the younger set; but, he really wants to help.
Mr. Agar was a friend of my aunt; he spoke about very few movies, and this wasn't one of them.
Or, could the creature really be a mutated alligator returning from a space-bound "Noah's Ark"?
A long opening, with laughably straight 1960s couple Ralph Baker Jr. (as Chris) and Dorothy Davis (as Judy), suggests "Night Fright" might be a joyously bad movie; but, don't get your hopes up. After some innocent cavorting, the attractive collegiates discover another couple has encountered a monster; naturally, the creature is hell-bent on terrorizing young romantics. Sheriff John Agar (as Clint Crawford) isn't trusted by the younger set; but, he really wants to help.
Mr. Agar was a friend of my aunt; he spoke about very few movies, and this wasn't one of them.
So bad that its almost good...
RobinsonGruesome18 January 2008
Warning: Spoilers
Okay, When I bought this flick I though this gotta be the ultimate b-movie, space monkey landing to the Earth and starts right away to kill people!
Well, It was almost everything what I expected, typical low-budget scifi movie from the 60's. Acting has to be the worst I've ever seen, especially the girl playing the lead role and the girl that played the waitress made me laughing my ass off.
So why 'Night Fright' doesn't fall in to category 'so bad that it's good'? Reason why is that some of the scenes were just too long and boring. For example the scene were the police officers are searching clues in the woods it was just minutes of walking without purpose. And then the grand finale, the people's waiting for the monster about 5 minutes and when the space monkey appears it get wack'd in 20 second, end of film.
Yeah, 'Night Fright' is boring, but it got couple of funny moments. I can recommend this movie to all who liked films like 'Zontar, the Thing from Venus' or 'Curse of the Swamp Creature'.
I give 'Night Fright' 4 Space Monkey slaps out of 10..
-Rob Gruesome-
Well, It was almost everything what I expected, typical low-budget scifi movie from the 60's. Acting has to be the worst I've ever seen, especially the girl playing the lead role and the girl that played the waitress made me laughing my ass off.
So why 'Night Fright' doesn't fall in to category 'so bad that it's good'? Reason why is that some of the scenes were just too long and boring. For example the scene were the police officers are searching clues in the woods it was just minutes of walking without purpose. And then the grand finale, the people's waiting for the monster about 5 minutes and when the space monkey appears it get wack'd in 20 second, end of film.
Yeah, 'Night Fright' is boring, but it got couple of funny moments. I can recommend this movie to all who liked films like 'Zontar, the Thing from Venus' or 'Curse of the Swamp Creature'.
I give 'Night Fright' 4 Space Monkey slaps out of 10..
-Rob Gruesome-
Sh*te Fright or Night Sh*te or Sh*te Sh*te
Bezenby20 June 2014
It's the oldest teenagers ever wandering around a wood versus a guy in an alien suit wandering around a wood while cops wander around a wood while other teenagers wander around a wood. Night Fright is THAT interesting. Especially the bit where Jackie Chan, John Wayne, Elvis, Jesus and George Buck Flower form a band and play for the youths, but that might be missing from the version you see.
Some 'teenagers' are necking in the woods in their car when something approaches them and kills them offscreen. Soon we're introduced to some more geriatric teenagers, all planning to go down Satan's Hollow and boogie down to some vibes, daddy. However, something has crashed in the forest and even the local cops aren't allowed near the crash site. The sheriff and his deputy (Bill Thurman, who somehow looks older here than he does in later films like Keep My Grave Open and Creature from Black Lake) wander around the woods a bit and find some fur. They also chase off the local youths, and nothing is gonna stop those local youth coming back for a bit of a party. At this point there's an excellent orgy scene involving over forty people culminating in the most jaw dropping money shot in movie history, but that might be missing from your copy.
So, you got the cops wandering around, a journalist wandering around, some youths dancing to some awful music while the camera lingers on their arses, and the two innocent youths trying to prevent the bad youths from being killed, while this big creature wanders around. Wander wander. What a drag, mang. Thankfully Lulu and the Beatles turn up to do a hilarious comedy skit that ends in a big pie fight, but that's only available in certain versions.
There's no gore, no nudity, and not much happening at all. My copy wasn't too hot either (but I'm not marking it down for that – the film has enough faults as it is!). What's the point if you're not going to show anything? Except for that flashback the sheriff has to the D-Day landings which involves some of the most realistic scenes ever filmed, but that was only on the old Betamax versions.
Seriously, does anyone read these reviews? Mr would you please help my pony?
Some 'teenagers' are necking in the woods in their car when something approaches them and kills them offscreen. Soon we're introduced to some more geriatric teenagers, all planning to go down Satan's Hollow and boogie down to some vibes, daddy. However, something has crashed in the forest and even the local cops aren't allowed near the crash site. The sheriff and his deputy (Bill Thurman, who somehow looks older here than he does in later films like Keep My Grave Open and Creature from Black Lake) wander around the woods a bit and find some fur. They also chase off the local youths, and nothing is gonna stop those local youth coming back for a bit of a party. At this point there's an excellent orgy scene involving over forty people culminating in the most jaw dropping money shot in movie history, but that might be missing from your copy.
So, you got the cops wandering around, a journalist wandering around, some youths dancing to some awful music while the camera lingers on their arses, and the two innocent youths trying to prevent the bad youths from being killed, while this big creature wanders around. Wander wander. What a drag, mang. Thankfully Lulu and the Beatles turn up to do a hilarious comedy skit that ends in a big pie fight, but that's only available in certain versions.
There's no gore, no nudity, and not much happening at all. My copy wasn't too hot either (but I'm not marking it down for that – the film has enough faults as it is!). What's the point if you're not going to show anything? Except for that flashback the sheriff has to the D-Day landings which involves some of the most realistic scenes ever filmed, but that was only on the old Betamax versions.
Seriously, does anyone read these reviews? Mr would you please help my pony?
This one actually made me wish I'd watched "Horror Of Party Beach" instead
lemon_magic24 November 2010
Warning: Spoilers
OK, so middle-aged teenagers want to do the Frug and the Watusi by the beach, but they are being menaced by a monstrous freak created by radiation run amok...sound familiar? Well, "Giant Gila Monster" and "Horror Of Party Beach" did this much better. Not that those weren't supremely silly movies, but they at least had a sense of place and a sense of summer, party culture, and "teenagers" trying to have some fun. This half-curdled effort doesn't even get those elements right, and ends up being nothing but an exercise in boredom.
John Agar is in here, playing the county sheriff and using his best John Wayne mannerisms. He's the only real actor in the movie (well, Bill Thurman is a pro too, but he's just playing Monster Fodder), and it's very sad to watch him trying to carry the entire movie by himself, dragging all manner of community theater rejects and hopeless amateur wannabes with him as he tries to make the movie at least watchable.
Serious pacing problems (naturally), crummy day-for-night photography, another guy in a gorilla suit pretending to be a monster as a special effect, and some really poor miking and sound design round out the package and make this a movie you can certainly afford to miss. I saw "Night Fright" as part of a public domain movie 50 Pack, and it easily ranks in the bottom third of what is already poor competition.
John Agar is in here, playing the county sheriff and using his best John Wayne mannerisms. He's the only real actor in the movie (well, Bill Thurman is a pro too, but he's just playing Monster Fodder), and it's very sad to watch him trying to carry the entire movie by himself, dragging all manner of community theater rejects and hopeless amateur wannabes with him as he tries to make the movie at least watchable.
Serious pacing problems (naturally), crummy day-for-night photography, another guy in a gorilla suit pretending to be a monster as a special effect, and some really poor miking and sound design round out the package and make this a movie you can certainly afford to miss. I saw "Night Fright" as part of a public domain movie 50 Pack, and it easily ranks in the bottom third of what is already poor competition.
oh dear
grnhair200129 June 2013
This is the exact plot of The Eye Creatures (aka Attack of The the Eye Creatures) except this makes that movie look pretty well-paced in comparison. John Agar, looking not too bad for his age, shines in comparison to his costars of unrealistic teens reading awful dialog woodenly and laughing unconvincingly at non-funny "jokes." I suppose you were supposed to be at a drive-in making out to this movie playing in the background, and there's certainly enough excess time in the slower woods scenes to impregnate several women and still have time to grab a vanilla Coke and cheese fries. There was a moment about 2/3 of the way through in which the scientist said something science-y and it was actually correct, and while I've blocked the statement (and soon will block it all, gods willing), it was the highlight of the movie. Everybody who you think will live lives and everybody who you think will die dies and the monster reveal is as bad as you feared and then it's all blessedly over.
It is almost bad enough to be good. I watched it alone and chuckled a few times, but if you watched it with three friends and riffed on it or invented a drinking game (maybe unlikely teen slang would be a good signal to drink), it could be fun.
It is almost bad enough to be good. I watched it alone and chuckled a few times, but if you watched it with three friends and riffed on it or invented a drinking game (maybe unlikely teen slang would be a good signal to drink), it could be fun.
''Night Fright'' [1967] TV movie.
oldschoolhero200630 June 2012
please disregard all the above ''critics'' who feel it's their 'mission' in life to ridicule classic cinema from the good old days! well, I'm here to set the record straight! NIGHT FRIGHT is a fun, interesting little movie with beautiful girls, a very cool monster & an excellent swinging 60s soundtrack by ''The WILDCATS''. I've watched it numerous times & it's like taking a time machine back to simpler, more enjoyable times. this film has what i call ''60's charm''. i can give it no higher praise than that. other movies that have ''60's charm'' are: HORROR of party beach [1964], FRANKENSTEIN meets the space monster[1965] & SANTA CLAUS conquers the martians[1964]. if you want to cozy up in your favorite chair with popcorn, soda & an open mind, this is a charming slice of a bygone era.
Soul-Crushingly Boring. A strong contender for most boring movie ever.
Idiot-Deluxe12 September 2016
Warning: Spoilers
Move over "Curse of Bigfoot", you have been usurped by a movie even more boring. Kneel and bow before it, all hail: Night Fright!
Talk about a lame and boring sorry excuse of a movie. Just dismal. 1985's "Fright Night" is a true work of genius compared to this.
The story was actually fairly interesting and had a lot of potential, about the NASA space prob and the animal mutations. However they didn't have the budget, the expertise, nor any of the necessary special effects for the 40 or so mentioned mutated animals or the spacecraft.
The direction and overall execution of this b-flick are woefully terrible and the end result is just another lame monster movie, that is a complete and utter bore to sit through. Most especially in the case of the movies patently lame finale, where we're treated to the thrills of watching several anonymous people who are waiting for the monster to appear; which adds up to -several minutes- worth of people, (I.E. characters you don't care about) sitting in complete silence, staring into the woods at night. The monster is lured into a trap of sorts, with a mannequin which is used as bait and is then blown-up by dynamite. Possibly the least exciting explosion ever caught on film, covered very economically by a single camera angle (blink and you miss it) and there, that's the climax of the movie. In the immediate aftermath, moments later they couldn't even muster up some smoldering monster chunks, instead we see just a small scrap of hair that's not even the slightest bit singed - despite being dynamited one minute earlier.
This movie offers no real visuals (except a guy in a gorilla suit and a latex mask), nor generates, at any time, any energy or excitement to speak of. You'll just have to be content with b-list actors briefly describing things to you and several aimless, seemingly under-lit scenes of the monster trudging through the woods at night. Not to forget the "red hot parking action". I'm talking about those scenes that show someone parking their car, getting out and walking to the front door of a house, all in real time, with no editing. One of the staple shots, frequently used in bad movies to pad out their run time and this movie has several such scenes. Ultimately just a profoundly boring and mundane way to tack on extra 20 seconds (or more) to an already crappy movie, all this makes for some truly riveting cinema.
How they depict the monster is actually quite amusing (from a page right out of the Hanna-Barbara playbook!), because it has a VERY strong Scooby-Doo-esque sensibility to it, why it's practically tangible. Really, how? Because the monster does nothing, except aimlessly runs through the woods and clearings, with it's arms in the air, while constantly making "scary noises" (just like the monster's in Scooby-Doo cartoons) clearly the mutation it underwent in space didn't increase it's intelligence. Laughable yes, but also repetitive, lame and entirely pointless. Also there's several teen-age beach party and malt shop scenes, which also falls right in line with the well-known formula seen in ANY given Scooby-Doo episode. Further adding credence to the "Scooby-Doo connection".
Here's a thought. This movie actually predates Scooby by 1 or 2 years, so just maybe this was seen by the Hanna-Barbara crew and they were somehow miraculously inspired by it, took some notes and ran with it and an iconic cartoon was born; with inspiration born from the bumbling, sub-par effort known as Night Fright.
To watch this movie just once, is to watch it too much and too often.
And for the record I like and have always liked Scooby-Doo.
Talk about a lame and boring sorry excuse of a movie. Just dismal. 1985's "Fright Night" is a true work of genius compared to this.
The story was actually fairly interesting and had a lot of potential, about the NASA space prob and the animal mutations. However they didn't have the budget, the expertise, nor any of the necessary special effects for the 40 or so mentioned mutated animals or the spacecraft.
The direction and overall execution of this b-flick are woefully terrible and the end result is just another lame monster movie, that is a complete and utter bore to sit through. Most especially in the case of the movies patently lame finale, where we're treated to the thrills of watching several anonymous people who are waiting for the monster to appear; which adds up to -several minutes- worth of people, (I.E. characters you don't care about) sitting in complete silence, staring into the woods at night. The monster is lured into a trap of sorts, with a mannequin which is used as bait and is then blown-up by dynamite. Possibly the least exciting explosion ever caught on film, covered very economically by a single camera angle (blink and you miss it) and there, that's the climax of the movie. In the immediate aftermath, moments later they couldn't even muster up some smoldering monster chunks, instead we see just a small scrap of hair that's not even the slightest bit singed - despite being dynamited one minute earlier.
This movie offers no real visuals (except a guy in a gorilla suit and a latex mask), nor generates, at any time, any energy or excitement to speak of. You'll just have to be content with b-list actors briefly describing things to you and several aimless, seemingly under-lit scenes of the monster trudging through the woods at night. Not to forget the "red hot parking action". I'm talking about those scenes that show someone parking their car, getting out and walking to the front door of a house, all in real time, with no editing. One of the staple shots, frequently used in bad movies to pad out their run time and this movie has several such scenes. Ultimately just a profoundly boring and mundane way to tack on extra 20 seconds (or more) to an already crappy movie, all this makes for some truly riveting cinema.
How they depict the monster is actually quite amusing (from a page right out of the Hanna-Barbara playbook!), because it has a VERY strong Scooby-Doo-esque sensibility to it, why it's practically tangible. Really, how? Because the monster does nothing, except aimlessly runs through the woods and clearings, with it's arms in the air, while constantly making "scary noises" (just like the monster's in Scooby-Doo cartoons) clearly the mutation it underwent in space didn't increase it's intelligence. Laughable yes, but also repetitive, lame and entirely pointless. Also there's several teen-age beach party and malt shop scenes, which also falls right in line with the well-known formula seen in ANY given Scooby-Doo episode. Further adding credence to the "Scooby-Doo connection".
Here's a thought. This movie actually predates Scooby by 1 or 2 years, so just maybe this was seen by the Hanna-Barbara crew and they were somehow miraculously inspired by it, took some notes and ran with it and an iconic cartoon was born; with inspiration born from the bumbling, sub-par effort known as Night Fright.
To watch this movie just once, is to watch it too much and too often.
And for the record I like and have always liked Scooby-Doo.
"The More People, The Crazier The Blast!"...
azathothpwiggins2 January 2019
An unidentified object crashes -off camera- to Earth, and a hideous creature is unleashed upon an unsuspecting, rural Texas population! When a young couple is found mutilated, Sheriff Clint Crawford (John Agar) is on the case. With help from his deputy and a local reporter, Crawford searches for clues, for what seems like a month. Luckily, monster tracks are found. Then, the exhausting search continues.
Meanwhile, the town "kids", led by troublemaker, Rex Bowers (Frank Jolly) have decided to have a "dance-in" down at the beach, in spite of Crawford's warning! There they go, dancing like the carefree, 30 year old "kids" they are!
Wasn't there supposed to be a monster of some sort in this movie?
More dancing commences.
Finally, the beast attacks in full, obscured sight! As the hairy horror approaches, the kids dance on.
NIGHT FRIGHT is a tedious affair, saving its big, monster-on-a-rampage "thrills" for the dance-free denouement. As usual, for Agar's later projects, he easily outshines the other "actors" involved.
EXTRA POINTS FOR: The very cool cars on display!...
Meanwhile, the town "kids", led by troublemaker, Rex Bowers (Frank Jolly) have decided to have a "dance-in" down at the beach, in spite of Crawford's warning! There they go, dancing like the carefree, 30 year old "kids" they are!
Wasn't there supposed to be a monster of some sort in this movie?
More dancing commences.
Finally, the beast attacks in full, obscured sight! As the hairy horror approaches, the kids dance on.
NIGHT FRIGHT is a tedious affair, saving its big, monster-on-a-rampage "thrills" for the dance-free denouement. As usual, for Agar's later projects, he easily outshines the other "actors" involved.
EXTRA POINTS FOR: The very cool cars on display!...
Horror movie? Supposedly. Teen trash? For sure.
mark.waltz18 October 2016
Warning: Spoilers
Dreadfully boring and beyond recommendation, this combination mutant monster movie and beach party movie without a beach is insipidness at its most absurd. It takes nearly an hour before the creature appears, and it ain't worth the wait. All that happens up until then is the partying rebellious teeny boppers being told to get out of a certain part of land where several teens have gone missing. They refuse, returning to dance, neck and ultimately be chased by a mutant ape like creature. The acting is beyond amateurish, and veteran actor John Agar seems plenty desperate for work to have accepted this piece of dreck. This is drive in schlock at its most yawn inducing, and one I'm glad I never have to venture to try to watch ever again.
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