Without doubt her unforgettable performance as the justifiably paranoid and fearful expectant mother Rosemary Woodhouse in Roman Polanski's 1968 film classic
Rosemary's Baby turned the gifted and attractive Mia Farrow, then still in her early twenties, into a fully fledged star. In the years that followed
Rosemary's Baby it turned out that Farrow possessed enough talent to avoid the pitfall of typecasting which has, over the years, befell many an actress who rose to prominence via a successful horror film, Linda Blair being the one name which springs immediately to mind. However, only a few years after her memorable performance in
Rosemary's Baby, Farrow would return once more to the horror and thriller subgenre when she took the lead role in the British made suspense picture
Blind Terror.
Released in 1971,
Blind Terror was directed by veteran American filmmaker Richard Fleischer and written by esteemed British television and film writer Brian Clemens, who is perhaps best known for his work on television series' such as
The Avengers,
The Professionals and
Hammer House Of Mystery And Suspense, as well as feature films such as the underrated Hammer Horror effort
Dr Jekyll And Sister Hyde (1971). For Fleischer
Blind Terror represented something of a low-key, back to basics change in direction, as in previous years he had been synonymous with directing much larger scale productions such as
20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (1954),
The Vikings (1958),
Fantastic Voyage (1966) and
Dr Dolittle (1967), although he had also directed a couple of worthy, well-received thrillers in the shape of
The Boston Strangler (1968) and
10 Rillington Place (1971). Released under the alternative title
See No Evil in the United States,
Blind Terror has well received by critics with Farrow's central performance receiving particular praise, but that only translated to modest success of both sides of the Atlantic. However, in the years since
Blind Terror has been reclaimed as something of a cult film by aficionado's of horror and suspense cinema. In addition it is also perhaps fair to say that with its plot (possibly derived in part from that of Terence Young's classic 1968 thriller
Wait Until Dark starring Audrey Hepburn) in which a young blind girl is pitted against an unidentified psychotic killer who has already murdered several of her relatives,
Blind Terror foreshadowed the phenomenon of the North American slasher movie boom by almost a full decade.
Blind Terror begins with attractive yet shy young Sarah, who has recently been blinded as a result of a horse-riding accident, arriving to stay with her wealthy uncle George Rexton, his wife Betty and his precocious teenage daughter Sandy at their grandiose country estate. Sarah is using the trip[ to relax, recuperate and adjust to the permanent loss of her eyesight, whilst also resuming her relationship with handsome, generous local horse-breeder Steve with whom she was romantically involved at the time of her accident.
However, as Sarah begins to rediscover some of the happiness she knew before her blindness, little does she realise that terror is waiting to strike! Shortly before her arrival at the Rexton estate George had, whilst driving, accidentally splashed a man with mud then drove off without realising. Unfortunately the recipient of the impromptu mud bath just happens to be a violently inclined psychopath who takes a horrific revenge by turning up a short time later at the Rexton estate, while Sarah is out for the afternoon with Steve, and brutally murdering George, Betty and Sandy.
Later that same day Sarah returns to the estate and initially believes that her relatives have simply gone out for the evening. However, eventually she does discover the horrible truth that her uncle and his family have been violently slaughtered. However, her terror soon escalates when she discovers the Rexton's loyal groundskeeper Barker who is himself mortally wounded and on the brink of death. Right before he dies Barker informs Sarah that the killer has in fact left an incriminating personal effect behind in the house and will no doubt be returning in order to reclaim it. Sure enough Sarah is duly plunged into peril when the killer returns to the estate intent on retrieving his property, resulting in a deadly game of cat and house between the sightless Sarah and the killer, who is determined to destroy any evidence of his crimes including Sarah herself.
An effective and entertaining exercise in pure simplicity,
Blind Terror is the kind of film that sets out with no agenda whatsoever beyond putting its audience's nerves through the wringer. Indeed,
Blind Terror is essentially no more than a film that spends (roughly) half of its relatively brisk running length establishing an implausible yet frightening scenario in which a disadvantaged, vulnerable female is left alone at the mercy of a psychotic killer, then spends the other half paying that scenario off. However, the films simplicity ultimately works to its advantage.
Undoubtedly central to the films success is the excellent, intensely sympathetic performance of Mia Farrow as its fragile, sightless central female protagonist Sarah. Likeable from the very moment she is first introduced, the viewer instantly identifies with Sarah as a shy, sweet-natured young woman who is obviously devastated both physically and psychologically by the recent loss of her sight, but is too stubbornly independent and kind-hearted to have her family fussing over her. Clemens' script goes to great lengths during the early stages of
Blind Terror to subtly establish the effect that her newfound blindness has had upon Sarah's life, from the manner in which it physically impedes her when going about mundane day to day activities right through to her readily apparent self-consciousness about "burdening" herself on others, as shown through her tentative, nervous romance with her dashing horse-breeder suitor Steve. This realistic and commendably sensitive attention to detail as regards to the effect Sarah's disability has upon her day to day life without doubt is of great benefit to
Blind Terror, especially when we eventually get to the films later stages where the matter of whether Sarah is able to overcome these difficulties becomes, quite literally, a matter of life or death.
For viewers of a slightly more impatient disposition,
Blind Terror, during its first half at least, may perhaps offer one saccharine scene too many of Sarah and Steve galloping around merrily on horseback during one of their several romantic afternoon's. However, once the murder of the Rexton family has been established,
Blind Terror quickly finds its feet in earnest and soon escalates into a superior, genuinely absorbing and for the most part tautly handled exercise in suspenseful horror. Arguably the films best scenes are those that immediately follow the murder of the Rexton's, in which Sarah returns to the house and, believing her three relatives are still out for the evening, unwittingly goes about her business then settles down for the night. Richard Fleischer's orchestration of these scenes is both masterful and ingenious as he expertly preys upon the fact that the viewer already realises what Sarah is wandering around oblivious to in order to sucker us into empathising with her chilling plight. Indeed, this tactic is stretched to a truly nerve-jangling, almost cruel extent at times, with the notable highlights proving to be the scene in which Sarah contentedly climbs into bed unaware that the naked corpse of her pretty young cousin Sandy lies just feet away on the bed next to her own, and another in which Sarah comes agonisingly close to treading on shards of broken glass on the kitchen floor.
Following Fleischer's teasingly protracted build-up, the eventual revelation when Sarah - quite literally - stumbles upon the horrific truth of her relatives' fate is pulled off beautifully. Of course much of the credit for this must, once again, go to Mia Farrow, who does a wonderful job of evoking Sarah's utter terror as the reality of her predicament dawns, and does so without resorting to excessive shrieking or hammy histrionics in the way a lesser actress perhaps might have done. By this point the viewer may feel that the expertly built suspense has reached a crescendo, but actually Sarah's discovery of the truth proves t be nothing of the sort. Indeed, messrs Fleischer and Clemens quickly proceed to tighten up the screws of tension even further as the killer returns to the house in search of an incriminating lost trinket. The subsequent cat and mouse scenes inside the vast house and its surrounding grounds which see Sarah, the odds obviously stacked against her, attempting to evade the killers clutches are riveting stuff nevertheless as Sarah is forced to use her hearing and knowledge of the buildings layout to save her skin. While these scenes are all too brief they are memorably effective, mainly thanks to imaginative cinematography courtesy of Gerry Fisher, who delivers several striking shots of the killers boot clad feet pacing into the frame while Farrow lies concealed in the foreground. Fleischer also throws in a truly wince-inducing moment in which a barefooted Sarah finally "discovers" the aforementioned broken glass on the kitchen floor with predictably painful results.
Unfortunately however, once the plot of
Blind Terror sees the action leave the confines of the Rexton family estate, the film, it must be said, does begin to falter and lose its way somewhat. While scenes of Sarah struggling against the unfamiliar and muddy autumnal countryside terrain are certainly effective, Clemens' script unfortunately undercuts the tension which
Blind Terror has built up to this point by adding a completely unnecessary plethora of supporting characters to the proceedings. Indeed, the concluding third of
Blind Terror would have no doubt proved far more absorbing if the script that simply maintained its focus squarely upon the one-sided game of cat and mouse between Sarah and her psychotic pursuer. As it stands the films rather lacklustre final act simply serves to dilute the effectiveness of the film as a whole, which is a shame. To compound the problem further, the eventual revelation of the killers true identity in the films closing scenes simply falls flat and the final denouement in which the threat of said killer - who, lest we forget, earlier slaughtered four able-bodied people single-handed - is neutralised by just a few well placed punches is pretty anticlimactic to say the least.
On a personal note I also have to say that my enjoyment of
Blind Terror was also slightly curtailed by a couple of instances of silly, stereotypical characterisation. For instance the fact that the then unidentified killer is an unsavoury, dangerous character is established in the films opening scene, purely by the fact that he is seen departing from a sleazy double-bill at the local cinema. Also his surface motivation for slaughtering the Rexton's, namely the fact that George had accidentally splashed his platform cowboy boots (which look like something Randy Jones of The Village People might wear) with mud whilst driving past is really pretty hard to swallow at face value. On a similar note some of the films later scenes also, intentionally or otherwise, wind up reinforcing the negative assumption that gypsies are a dishonest, grubby and violent criminal underclass which leaves a rather nasty taste. Meanwhile on an unrelated note I think it is also fair to say that the fact
Blind Terror is essentially a one woman show for its most part, with everything revolving exclusively around Farrow's Sarah, while no bad thing in itself does mean that the film rather wastes a talented if not exactly star-studded British supporting cast which includes the likes of Robin Bailey, Paul Nicholas, Brian Rawlinson and an impossibly young looking Michael Elphick.
In conclusion
Blind Terror is a well made, mostly effective and refreshingly straightforward thriller cum horror film, which falls perhaps only a small distance short of justifiable classic status. While a rather anticlimactic final act, coupled with the added niggle of some dated and silly stereotyping harms the film to a degree,
Blind Terror still manages to shine thanks to a combination of its realistic portrayal of its central protagonists blindness, Mia Farrow's highly sympathetic performance and, in particular, the sterling job Fleischer does of cranking up the tension during its memorably nail-biting middle act. So while pickier viewers seeking something which features a lot in the way of either substance or gore may find it somewhat under whelming, for those after nothing more than a good, honest, old-fashioned suspense film,
Blind Terror makes for a fine evenings viewing that will no doubt have you riveted to your seat and on one or two occasions possibly hiding behind it too.
Recommended.
Blind Terror has been released on both UK region two and US region one DVD, the UK release from Columbia Tri-Star and the US release from Sony Pictures, although both present the film under its alternative US title
See No Evil. Columbia's UK DVD (which looks to be pretty much the same as its US counterpart) presents the film in a sharp, presentable 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen print, although the only extra is the films theatrical trailer. Unfortunately a quick check on Amazon suggests that both the aforementioned UK and US DVD's are now officially discontinued, although the UK disc can still be picked up relatively inexpensively online at present.
See No Evil (Columbia Tri-star - UK R2 DVD): amazon.co.uk
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