Blind Terror (1971) - film review

Having lost her sight in a horse riding accident, a young woman named Sarah decides to spend a period of convalescence with her uncle, George Rexton, at his large country house.  Whilst Sarah is out amusing herself with her boyfriend, Steve, a strange man enters the house and kills the entire Rexton household.  Returning to the house alone, Sarah is surprised by her hosts’ absence.  The next morning, she discovers the fate that has befallen the Rextons, just as the killer makes a return visit...

A pretty respectable example of the psycho-thriller suspense film that was enormously popular in the late sixties and early seventies, Blind Terror achieves its thrilling effect through a combination of inspired camerawork and an unbeatable performance from Mia Farrow.  Low level and low angle shots are used effectively to build tension and convey a growing sense of menace from an unseen threat which Farrow’s convincing histrionics can only amplify, making this a genuinely harrowing, yet utterly compelling, viewer experience.

Presumably inspired by Wait Until Dark (1967), in which a sightless Audrey Hepburn is terrorised by a psychopathic maniac, Blind Terror completes a trilogy of suspense thrillers directed by Richard Fleischer – the other two being The Boston Strangler (1968) and 10 Rillington Place (1970).  These three films marked the highpoint of Fleischer’s career, which encompassed the sci-fi classics Fantastic Voyage (1966) and Soylent Green (1973), the Kirk Douglas historical romp The Vikings (1958), the memorable wartime drama Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) and the box office disaster that was Doctor Dolittle (1967).  Blind Terror was scripted Brian Clemens who was one of the most prolific and influential writers for British television, best known for creating the classic TV series The Avengers.

Whilst it adheres perhaps too closely to the (by then) well-worn formula of a helpless young woman in danger from a madman, Blind Terror still stands as one of the best examples of its genre for this era and is, at times, genuinely frightening.  After an impressive beginning in which the tension mounts to an almost iunbearable crescendo, the film suddenly loses some of its impact and momentum in its second half, as a succession of silly plot contrivances propel it towards a slightly unsatisfying conclusion.  The device of the anonymous killer, seen only by his cowboy boots, would be used to even greater effect by Steven Spielberg in his masterful suspense thriller, Duel (1971).

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