Horror

Mystery

Thriller

And Soon the Darkness

EMI Films

Associated British Productions (ABP)

France

United Kingdom

Français

English

Pamela Franklin

Michele Dotrice

Sandor Elès

John Nettleton

Clare Kelly

Hana Maria Pravda

John Franklyn

Claude Bertrand

Jean Carmet

Robert Fuest

Laurie Johnson

Terry Nation

Brian Clemens

Ian Wilson

Ann Chegwidden

Albert Fennell

Robert Lennard

Brian Cole

Ian MacGregor-Scott

Gerry Fletcher

Allan McKeown

Johnny Goodman

Serge Lebeau

Ken Baker

Alain Bonnot

Roger Christian

Stan Gale

Philip Harrison

Rex Hobbs

Eric Simon

Terry Allen

Bill Rowe

A.W. Lumkin

Peter Lennard

Godfrey A. Godar

Ted Hallows

George Courtney Ward

Tony Woodcock

Roy Ponting

Phillip Kenny

Mary Spain

David Ball

Daylight Dread.

Jane (Pamela Franklin) and Cathy (Michele Dotrice) are a couple of British nurses taking a bicycle vacation through rural France. When they have an argument, Jane storms off ahead leaving Cathy sunbathing on the grass. Later on Jane returns but can find no trace of Cathy, stuck in a foreign land and unable to speak the language, Jane soon finds herself in grave danger as she searches frantically for her lost friend.

The title is about the protagonist trying to resolve a mystery/terror situation before the darkness falls. Film is completely set in daylight time, with a very limited amount of characters, and no extended bouts of dialogue. Looking at it from the outside, you would not be thought of as ignorant for expecting this to not be frightening or thrilling, yet it is both. The isolation of the countryside is a foreboding presence here, which coupled with Jane’s isolation as a foreigner, makes for edgy atmospherics.

Director Robert Fuest is in no hurry what so ever to start turning the screws, so the first half of pic is very slow, but patience is rewarded once the girls argue and split up. Then Fuest starts introducing peripheral characters, and writers Brian Clemens and Terry Nation dangle bits of dark information into the plot, about the area and its history. The mystery element is amped up high, the perpetrator could quite easily be anyone who Jane meets, and then we lurch into paranoia and peril when all will be revealed in a wave of daylight dreadfulness. 

Critics were (are) very much divided about the picture, complaints ranging from it being nasty and distasteful, to it being too labourious for its own good. But it has a very good fan base, and it certainly does what it sets out to do by putting those wiling to invest fully in it on to the edge of their seats. Recommended on proviso you are prepared to bare with it for the first 45 minutes. 7/10

AND SOON THE DARKNESS 1970 MOVIE TRAILER.

Best Movies

And Soon the Darkness

Cast & Crew

Videos

Cast

Pamela Franklin

Michele Dotrice

Sandor Elès

John Nettleton

Clare Kelly

Hana Maria Pravda

John Franklyn

Claude Bertrand

Jean Carmet

Box office

More Like This

Ghost in the Machine

A Stranger Among Us

Serial Killers: The Real Life Hannibal Lecters

Chasing Ghosts

The Wreck

After Alice

Alone

Prom Night IV: Deliver Us from Evil