NIGHT FRIGHT (1967)

NIGHT FRIGHT (1967)

Tagline: Nope.

(Sci-Fi, Teenager Dancing, Launching Animals into Space) [PG]

Note: The movie wasn’t given an MPAA rating, but it if was it likely would have landed a PG just due to the nature of some of the descriptions of mayhem in the movie. It was re-released in Great Britain under the title of "E.T.N.: The Extraterrestrial Nasty" during the Video Nasty era.

No, you listen! Nobody invited you and little Miss Sunday School out here. This is our private blast and if you don't dig it, split!

In this one, the government is studying the effects of radiation on animal life when they launch them into space. The vessel crashes outside a remote town leaving only a few of the animals alive but they are extremely mutated. Most were torn apart by a large grotesque ape that is now killing at will in the countryside. Can Sheriff Clint Crawford get things under control and kill the beast before some unruly teens are shredded by science gone mad?

First off, after reviewing every 1950s sci-fi movie I could get my hands on, this was the one from the 60s I was always intrigued by. I freakin love John Agar so seeing that he was playing the Sheriff in this got my attention right away. Agar is best known for 1950s sci-fi films like TARANTULA and ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE, but when it got into the 60s he didn’t really stop doing sci-fi at all and this was part of the new batch of films he got involved in. 

Let it be noted John Agar is not the problem here. I think the issue was that they had a script idea and probably $14.00 bucks and really wanted to make a movie. Only when it came to the script no one really thought it out so there isn’t really a story in this outside of “mutated ape kills everyone”. They clearly wanted a teen audience so they through some teens in this thing. There is even a shot dance party scene that would have been the perfect video for Deee-Lite’s, “Groove Is In The Heart”. Don’t believe me, watch this thing and turn off the sound during the dance scene. Then crank up “Groove Is In The Heart” and tell me I’m lying. 

When it comes to the cast outside of John, I actually did like Ralph Baker Jr. in this as Chris Jordan. I am not sure what happened after this movie, but this is the only film he was ever in. Opposite Ralph as his girlfriend Judy is Dorothy Davis and I thought she was pretty decent in this as well. She would continue acting through 1994 but wasn’t in anything I have seen aside from this. We also had Carol Gilley who played Nurse Joan Scott and was pretty solid as well. She was also in ZONTAR: THE THING FROM VENUS with John Agar as was Bill Thurman who plays Deputy Ben Whitfield in this. Thurman doesn’t get a ton of screen time, but liked him a lot better in this movie than in IT’S ALIVE!.

When it comes to the pacing this flick is just really slow and there is a lot of running around in the dark which makes it really hard to even get a good look at this ape creature for large portions of the movie. At just a 75-minute run time, they did a great job of making this thing feel like it was 3 hours long. As much as I loved the cast, any scene those I mentioned were not directly involved in, is like watching paint dry. The dance scene was pretty comical, but it’s only maybe 3 minutes of the entire film. We also got a score that was pretty rough, but having a better one might have helped a bit.

Overall this is a bad movie even with the few parts I liked. I wish we had gotten to see more of this mutated creature clearly. 

NIGHT FRIGHT fails to live up to my expectations. This one gets a 3 out of 7, but for a lot of people, it’s going to be a 2.
 

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF WALLACE CLYCE JR. AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY.