MovieChat Forums > Night Terror (1977) Discussion > Pretty tedious

Pretty tedious

posted 13 years ago by Gotensive
6 replies | jump to latest

Just finished watching this, and didn't care for it. There are some nice and suspenseful chase sequences done at night, but for a short 73 minute movie, this film has some pacing issues. Also, the killer wasn't particularly memorable or scary, so you don't really feel that much fear from him. You can see the influences of Spielberg's Duel in this movie, but this movie comes nowhere near the quality of Spielberg's film. I'd rate this film a generous 4/10.

Formally known as Coilector

[–] cowgoesmoo 13 years ago

Agreed. Maybe it was the desert, but I kept thinking of "Duel" as well.

I found Valerie Harper's character to be so annoying/abrasive(especially when she forces herself into the Indian couple's house) that I began rooting for the bad guy. Maybe its the writing? The Indian guy says that his son can drive her to the next town where there's a phone but she'll have to wait an hour for him to come in from the fields. Oh no, she says she can't wait that long, so she'll start walking (across the desert) and then the son can swing by and pick her up later. Huh??? So why bother walking? You won't get to the next town any faster by walking!!!

[–] JP2005 13 years ago

I didn't understand the coffee shop scene. You would figure a killer would want to keep a low profile. Instead he takes the coffee pot from the waitress and pours it all over the counter. If a cop were to question her if anything unusal happened, he'd be the first one she'd talk about.

[–] CatTales 13 years ago

just watched an old copy of the movie (not the HD channel), and agree it had some tedious moments; you can strive for realism and still make it visually interesting or suspenseful, but the closed Cafe scene and long take of Valerie trying to pump gas dragged on.
I felt bad for the "killer;" even though he was well armed, I dont think he set out to kill everyone he met. Perhaps he was a professional killer; there's his mysterious phone call, but he seemed abit inept for being a killer.
We dont know if he was a Vietnam Vet (as was typical for film psychos at that time), had his voice box screwed up at war, an accident, or at birth, but we can assume it contributed to his antisocial behavior.
It's definitely above average; 6/10.

[–] saneman1 13 years ago

I agree. Characters were annoying. And the capper was the ridiculously amateurishly written and directed final scene where the husband still seems clueless about what happened and the terrible acting by Valerie Harper where she looks at him "doncha wish you were in my shoes".

[–] claudenorth 12 years ago

For me, the moment this movie lost all credibility was when the killer blasts the highway cop right in front of Valerie Harper. There's no way he could not have known she was there, considering that she was beeping her horn and yelling to the cop. Besides, as another poster mentioned, a professional killer would keep a low profile, so he wouldn't speed and risk being stopped by the police in the first place.

[–] jlam888 (643) 7 years ago

Duel on valium.