And Soon the Darkness

source: And Soon the Darkness

In spite of its continental setting and feel, And Soon The Darkness is a superior British horror chiller that gradually builds tension and suspense, cleverly pointing the finger of suspicion at most of the cast in a subtle and stylish way, one of whom may be a serial murderer. That is if it can be proved that someone has actually died... The story concerns two female holidaymakers cycling through the French countryside, one of whom disappears after her companion leaves her following an argument. Three years earlier a tourist was murdered in the exact spot where she vanished, and her companion begins a desperate search while growing increasingly wary of a scooter-riding police inspector who offers his help. Pamela Franklin and Michelle Dotrice give realistic and believable performances as the two travellers, and Sandor Eles (who ended up for many years in the British tea-time soap Crossroads!) is the darkly mysterious stranger who takes up with Franklin and may have something to hide. Along the way she meets various inhabitants of the surrounding landscape, both bizarre and matter of fact. And the viewer is fully pulled in to the character's sense of weird displacement, as if she has stepped into a nightmare at noontime. Director Robert Fuest captures the eeriness of the French countryside brilliantly, and an ordinary stretch of road takes on a haunting and menacing aspect - even though the film takes place in broad daylight and bright sunshine. Brian Clemens' story keeps you guessing to the very end,when all is revealed in a wonderful shock moment. A bunch of decrepit caravans play a part in the climax, and Fuest makes astonishing use of them, cranking the sense of dread up to the fabled eleven. This is not a film of blood and gore, but very much in the style of Hitchcock or Val Lewton. Perhaps a shade too long, it nevertheless tells its simple story with verve and imagination. Highly recommended.

Two English girls on a biking holiday ride through a rural portion of France, populated exclusively by sinister people. Somewhat too cleverly plotted film, with a huge red herring: one of the main characters acts in a completely irrational way simply to create confusion for the audience and lead into a kind of trick ending. Perhaps Cathy's extreme reticence is meant to be typical British reserve, but she eventually seems too self-possessed to be credible. And why bother to move the victim, when the entire location is so remote? Granted, it's well-directed and suspenseful throughout, but once it's over, the irrationalities undercut the accomplishment.

This is an interesting little British thriller. The story is rather slow and its development a bit on the routine side. That said, however, a very pleasurable suspense is built up, thanks in part, I think, to the action's taking place mainly along a short stretch of lonely road. A number of effective shock moments (one made me shout!) and good acting don't do any harm either. Recommended - this one requires a bit of patience, but it's worth the trouble.

This is one of the first films i remember seeing on TV as a child back in the 70's. It scared me to death and I have never forgotten it - I have never seen it since and am not sure I should in case its eerieness has been lost over time.

Petite, adorable, doe-eyed early 70's brunette scream queen Pamela ("The Legend of Hell House," "The Food of the Gods") Franklin and buxom, voluptuous blonde Michele ("Blood on Satan's Claw") Dotrice make for highly charming and appealing fair damsels in distress as a pair of spunky young nurses enjoying a merry bicycling jaunt across the lush, peaceful, ripely verdant French countryside who wind up being stalked and terrorized by a murderous sexual psychopath. Directed in unusually plain, spare, stripped-down fashion by the often quite stylish and baroque Robert Fuest (who also helmed the wickedly enjoyable "Dr. Phibes" films and the gloriously ghastly all-star abortion "The Devil's Rain"), written in a briskly efficacious manner by esteemed "The Avengers" scribe Brian Clemens, and potently brooding with a clammy, spine-shivering, ultimately quite stifling and suffocatingly claustrophobic mood, "And Soon the Darkness" most certainly does the trick as an effectively creepy and gripping women-in-jeopardy thriller. The beauteous rustic setting, sparsely populated by gruff, unfriendly, intimidating local yokels and vaguely sinister cops, comes across as a very eerie and unsettling remote rural region, due largely to Fuest's cunning marked emphasis on tight close-ups, the ingenious decision to have the whole movie occur in bright daylight, and the notable absence of wide angle panoramic shots. In fact, said hinterland area evokes an unnervingly palpable sense of dread, isolation, vulnerability and, most frighteningly, utter helplessness throughout. The twist ending in particular is a real gut-ripping corker. Overall, this top-drawer chiller diller is scary and upsetting enough to turn even the hardiest fright film fan into a stay firmly locked behind closed doors paranoid agoraphobic shut-in.

Two young English girls Jane and Cathy enjoy a cycling trip across France . Stopping at a secluded spot the two girls get in to an argument leading Jane to leave Cathy alone . After hearing from the manageress of a nearby café that the road is dangerous Jane returns only to find Cathy has disappeared This is one of these movies that you remember seeing years ago for the very first time thinking it's a great movie only to be disappointed after seeing it again . The obvious reason for this is because it builds up an air of mystery as to what's happened to Cathy then when it is revealed you're left thinking who the bad guy behind it is . Co-written by Brian Clemens who turned THE AVENGERS from straight laced thriller in to psychedelic insanity and Terry Nation who gave the Universe Daleks , Davros and BLAKES 7 you might expect the story to have a bit more flourish or excitement but this isn't the thinking behind it and does work very well because of this Let me explain this by stating there's no monsters in the Universe apart from the very human ones that inhabit this planet . It would be all too easy for the production team to put a lot of action and excitement in to but everything plays out in a very realistic manner . Cathy finding herself alone in a lonely secluded spot and knowing there is an unseen and mortal menace a few feet away in the bushes is more chilling than most films featuring werewolves or alien spaceships and it's this melding of menace and the mundane that makes this movie stick in the memory Another interesting point is that Jane can speak some French but it's the kind of phrasebook French that is required for ordering a drink in the café but not enough to hold abstract conversations such as " Excuse miss but this stretch of road is full of dangers and it's a very bad idea if your friend is sunbathing and she's drying her underwear on a bush " and it makes a nice change that people suddenly don't speak English because of plot contrivances . Interesting too that you can't accuse the film of Little Englander xenophobia since apart from Jane and Cathy the only other English character is a schoolmistress who comes across as a blatant lesbian who is every bit as creepy as the French male characters One rather distasteful point about the film that might make it rather dated is that the two English girls are very skimply dressed . Of course this might not mean anything at all but one wonders how many men would misinterpreted this as meaning " they're up for it " and it's not a film you would recommend to feminists , not unless you're reinforcing the opinion that all men are rapists and there doesn't seem to be any irony to the sexually provocative - unconscious or otherwise - mannerism of the two young women Despite this flaw AND SOON THE DARKNESS is a tense and exciting mystery thriller made on the cheap but made so well it's very compelling first time you see it . The downside to all this is that it's a film that's only produced to be seen once by the audience . But how many expensive Hollywood blockbusters have you seen that don't even deserve to be seen once ?

Very menacing atmosphere throughout. The two girls, Franklin and Dotrice look wonderfully vulnerable and add a sexual frisson to the film. The pace is leisurely and the lack of subtitles deliberately enhances the confusion and sheer terror that is building up in Jane's mind. Sadly unavailable on this side of the world but thank God for Region 1 DVDs. 7/10

Pamela Franklin and Michele Dotrice are British nurses on a cycling holiday in France. The two women have a disagreement and Franklin splits, while Dotrice stays behind. When Franklin returns a few minutes later to the spot where she left her friend, she discovers that the woman has mysteriously vanished. As if that weren't distressing enough, she learns from the local people that the site where her friend disappeared from is the same place where a lady tourist was found murdered a few years before. Moody, suspenseful British thriller with good performances, particularly by Franklin as the worried heroine.

"And Soon the Darkness" is a slow-moving,but still surprisingly spooky horror film about a pair of women bicycling through rural France who run into a vicious rape-killer.Most of the movie is set on a sunny road,but the settings provide a claustrophobic atmosphere.The acting is okay,and Robert Fuest("The Abominable Dr.Phibes")directs with a sure hand.It's nice to see also horror regular Sandor Eles in the cast.8 out of 10.Recommended.