Plot: What’s it about?
Wait Until Dark is one of the all-time scary movies. Granted, there are so many sub-genres of “scariness” these days; it’s hard to tell scary from stupid. However this film, based upon the play, was among the first to truly go where no movie did. Sure, the 60’s had movies like Psycho and The Manchurian Candidate that were more eerie than straight-out horror, but this is a movie that I’ve heard my parents talk about time and again as the scariest movie they’ve ever seen (or one of them, anyway). So, imagine my surprise when I watched the movie and it turned out they (my parents) were right?! It seems as I get older, they are “right” more and more. But anyway…the movie has all the elements of a stage production being translated to the big screen. Like Glengarry Glen Ross, it has a small cast and the characters are a bit more interesting than your “typical” movie. This movie might have given rise to the female protagonist who we might think is “helpless”, as well. Take a note, Clarice Starling…
The plot is actually relatively simple, much in the sense of Rear Window most of the movie takes place in Susy’s (Audrey Hepburn) apartment. Whereas all of the aforementioned movie takes place in one locale, this does have a bit of diversity to it. A certain doll is stuffed with heroin and when it’s owner is mysteriously, er, killed; three bad guys seem to want to get it back. Here we have Susy who is blind and seemingly helpless. The trio masquerade as police officers to search her place on a mission to find the doll with all the drugs. Alan Arkin plays no less than three roles in this and he might be remembered for portraying one of the best psycho’s the silver screen has ever seen. Coked and doped up through most of the film, he torments Susy like no one we’ve ever seen, this guy makes Hannibal Lecter look like a nice guy! Naturally, we don’t want to give away the ending, but let’s just say that this movie set new ground for what horror really is. Were my parents right? Is this the scariest movie ever made? I don’t think so, but as far as setting a landmark film goes, this is right up there. Possibly Hepburn’s finest performance and her last Oscar nomination.
Video: How does it look?
Wait Until Dark is presented in a 1.85:1 AVC encoded transfer that’s been given a new restoration by Warner. The film is now 50 years old and it’s amazing what modern technology can do. The majority of the film is dark (for obvious reasons) and it does play it off very nicely. For those on the “inside joke”, the last eight minutes is supposed to be “ … at the legal limit of darkness allowed by the movie theater … “ but as far as our home theater goes, it’s just like the rest of the movie. All kidding aside, a disclaimer was shown at the beginning of the movie when it came out saying that the theater would have the lights all the way off in order to increase suspense. Now you know what to expect and suffice it to say, this video portion of the review covers everything but the last eight minutes.
Audio: How does it sound?
Again, Warner has done a good job at taking the original mono soundtrack and creating a nice-sounding DTS Master 2.0 track. Like so many of the older movies out there, there isn’t a lot of bandwidth that we can work with the sound. The dual channel mix isn’t the best by any means, but it’s far from bad. Technically-speaking, it’s just limited by the time it was made. Vocals seem pure and sharp, the soundtrack does suffer a bit, but given the age of the film, I won’t dock it that much. It’s a nice, passable effort and at the very least it’s nice to see Warner giving such attention to their classic catalog titles.
Supplements: What are the extras?
- Take a Look in the Dark – Featuring some new interviews with Alan Arkin (circa 2003), we see how he reflects back on the movie. Though it’s not like the “standard” piece of fluff we see on so many movies these days, it’s more of a recollection and a breath of fresh air (as far as supplements are concerned).
- Theatrical Trailer
- Warning Trailer – The original “Warning” trailer is included as well, telling of the lights being turned off during the last eight minutes of the movie. A nice touch.
The Bottom Line
The film was loosely remade in 2016 as a film called Hush, though the woman was deaf instead of blind. However, this is a testament that “they don’t make them like they used to.” This is one of Audrey Hepburn’s defining roles and, even half a century later, still has what it takes to scare you. Warner’s new Blu-ray both looks and sounds better than its DVD counterpart, so for the fans out there – it’s a worthwhile addition.
