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 Lectar 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 anamorphic aspect ratio. The film is now 35 years old and it’s amazing what modern technology can do. The print seems to have suffered a bit, as parts are light and others seem “normal”, but it seems to re-create the atmosphere quite nicely. 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?
The audio is mono and we really can’t expect much from it. Like so many of the older movies out there, there isn’t a lot of bandwidth that we can work with the sound. The sound comes out of the center channel only and as such, we get a rather jumbled sound throughout. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that we can’t understand the words, but if you were Audrey Hepburn’s character, you’d say “ … that movie is from the 60’s …”. Ok, maybe you wouldn’t. Still, it’s not bad audio, it just doesn’t stand out as being great.
Supplements: What are the extras?
There are a few supplements associated with the movie, the most robust being a featurette that runs eight minutes. Featuring some new interviews with Alan Arkin, 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). 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 original theatrical trailer is included as well as some brief cast and crew bios.
