Night Terror (1977)

Redundant and unnecessary.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Night Drive is one of my favourite movies. For a start, I find Valerie Harper to be a really great actress who brings a real vibe to whatever role she is in. Richard Romanus plays the killer who is unable to speak with an electric device, is creepy and very unsettling as he stalk Harper after she sees him kill a highway patrol officer.There is added stress as her son sick in hospital and she is trying to drive home to see him. This and being chased by a crazed killer just ramps it all up to eleven. The thing I really enjoy though is watching Harper become more and more resourceful as she is chased across the desert with no help. She is terrified but keeps her head enough to be able to elude the killer. The ending of the movie made me chuckle as her husband treats her like a child even though she has managed to not only survive, but incapacitate a dangerous man. This movie would also pass the Bechdel test which is nice considering the time the film was made in, 1977 when there not many brave, resourceful female characters.All in all, a strong, tense movie that will keep you on the edge of your seat and have you cheering for heroine.

Night Terror (1977) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Fairly suspenseful made-for-TV thriller about a woman (Valerie Harper) who must drive through the night alone so that she can reach her son who is in the hospital. Along the way she sees that a cop has another driver (Richard Romanus) pulled over and when she pulls up to talk to the cop he's shot in the back. Now the woman must race in her car to try and find help while this psycho is stalking and trying to kill her. A movie like this would never sit well in today's times for a couple reasons. For starters, today we'd just pick up our cell phone and call for help but that's a luxury not available here. Another major plot point deals with the woman running out of gas and since there's not any 24-hour stations this here is a big problem and leads to one of the most suspenseful scenes in the film as she stops as a rundown gas station, which is closed and she must try and find a key to the pump. I think what makes this film work so well is that director E.W. Swackhamer really makes you feel as if this woman is alone in the world with no one to help here and she has no where to turn. I think the isolation really leads to some nice atmosphere as the woman frantically searching for help that seemingly never comes. Another strong part is that Romanus is so good as the killer. We never figure out what this guy's problem is but that just adds to the fun and the mystery. He uses a voice box, which we get to hear a couple times in the film and the eerie sound just adds to the drama. I think there are some perfectly built up scenes including the before mentioned gas station and another is when the drivers get caught in a rain storm and briefly take shelter. I won't ruin what happens but it's a pretty well-directed sequence. At just 73-minutes the film doesn't have any filler and instead we're just taken on this drive and for the most part everything works. The one major flaw I had was with Harper's performance, which was just way too over-the-top and jumpy for my liking. I also thought her character was incredibly annoying and some of the dumb things she did will get on your nerves. With that said, with such a short running time it's nearly impossible not to recommend this film. Yes, it's clearly influenced by Steven Spielberg's DUEL but there's enough going for it to make it worth viewing.

Night Terror is a simple thriller that tells the story of a woman driving across country by herself. The drive turns into what might be classed as a REALLY bad day, and the film effectively charts her run of bad luck which reaches it's most frightening when a psychopathic creep starts to follow her.I used the term "simple" not as a criticism. The film achieves what it sets out to do, charting a frightening journey for a lone traveller out in the middle of nowhere. Valerie Harper is superb as the central character Carol, and for a lot of the running time she carries the whole movie single handedly. What impressed me about the film was that all the experiences are portrayed convincingly. Carol initially just runs low on gas, but from this, she stumbles from one stressful situation to another, each worse than the last, yet she handles each challenge with realistic ingenuity. I really liked her resourcefulness as more and more danger is thrown at her.The film starts quite slowly as Carol leaves her family for a long drive, but it gets going soon enough and the middle third is the best as night falls and the real drama of Carol's ordeal is played out. Night Terror is actually a fitting title, as the movie lives up to it in this middle section. The story ends satisfyingly, although without all the loose ends tied up, but I really enjoyed it.Only available on rental VHS from years ago, it's very unlikely that many people will see this now, which is a shame. I'm glad I did, as it's another little gem of 70's made-for-TV-movie fun.

I agree with Kirk; I saw this when I was nine, and never forgot it! It provided a special twist to your typical, melodramatic woman-alone-on-the-road story, so common for an age where were just getting over the idea of women being "helpless." But this killer should never have messed with Rhoda!The production values weren't bad for the 70s-made-for-TV genre, either. Really kind of a breath of fresh air, when all the other made-for-TVs were going for the "creepy-crawly thing of the week" motif.Valerie Harper plays a mother who is traveling across the country to see her son, who has just had an ear operation. On the way, she witnesses a policeman being murdered. What's worse, the murderer witnesses HER. Then the chase is on!The killer only speaks through a vibrating larynx box, which makes his words, considering their nature, sound even more sinister and mechanical, when we hear him speak at all (really only at the beginning).I'm not sure where this movie can be rented...the best hope is to wait for your local television station to play it as a late-night feature or a Sunday matinee. Try and catch it if you can. Watch especially for the clever climax and turnabout, as Val turns the tables on the killer!