Each year Pigeon Shrine FrightFest finds a new crop of genre voices to blend in with the more established. One such newcomer to the festival is Warren Dudley, the writer and director of Fright. Whilst Dudley already has several directing credits on IMDB, this is the first one to capture the attention of FrightFest and, after viewing, it is easy to understand why.
Told in full black and white, Fright is set within an isolated country house during the year 1937. Inside the house resides soon-to-be eighteen year old Emily (Gwyneth Evans) and her overbearing mother (Jill Priest). Thanks to the stories told by her mother, Emily has become fearful of the outside and has spent most of her life within the walls of her home, struggling with crippling agoraphobia. Then on her eighteenth birthday, events cause Emily to face her fear head on; but will she be able to put aside a lifelong anxiety?
Fright opens with a stylish animation of a warped children’s story. As the opening credits begin, the story of dangers outside are recounted. There is a heavy The Babadook energy to the lilting rhyme and macabre imagery, and so Fright immediately demonstrates promise for the viewer. From this storybook opening comes a taut tale of tension and trauma that Hitchcock himself would be pleased with. Emily’s relationship with her mother is fraught, and the mystery surrounding her mother’s behaviour sucks the audience in right alongside Emily. Dudley is careful to keep Fright shrouded in secrecy for as long as possible. It is this intrigue that keeps the viewer invested.
Set within the walls of one building, Dudley has looked out with his choice of filming location. Not only does it effortlessly sell the time period, it is also big enough to buy into the idea that someone could live out years of their life within it. Emily’s isolation from the world is a key component of Fright. Having never really left the homestead, her learning of the world comes from her mother and an occasional conversation with the postman. It seems like a sorry existence, and those that remember the anguish of lockdown will feel an instant kinship to Emily. Whispers in the night heighten the fear factor, introducing a spooky atmosphere that envelopes the enigmatic story.
As Emily, Gwyneth Evans is brilliant. The film marks her debut as a lead in a feature film, and lead Fright she certainly does. Not only is Evans in every scene, she also has the arduous task of playing against nothing other than herself for big chunks. To make this even harder, her physical performance is accompanied by the narration of Emily’s diary and inner monologue. This means that much of her performance is based on Evans reacting to words she cannot hear. Her work is stunning, and even without dialogue she effortlessly portrays the unravelling of Emily as she becomes fixated on the secrets her mother hides. This loosening of Emily’s mind is reflected in her appearance. When first introduced Emily is an impeccably dressing and made-up beauty. As her nightmare endures however, she slowly becomes more dishevelled until she is barely recognisable from the young woman at the start.
With solid, Hitchcockian-esque storytelling and characters, Fright is a throwback to the psychological thrillers of the 40s and 50s. The use of monochrome encourages the audience to think of Fright as a film lost to the era rather than homaging it, and on the whole manages this task. Aided by a wonderfully engaging early lead performance from Gwyneth Evans, Warren Dudley has cooked up a film that will delight those with a yearning for a movie that encapsulates the magic of a golden era of genre cinema.
Fright
Summary
A Hitchcockian style coming of age story told within a house of secrets, Fright is a wonderful throwback to the silver scream era.
Fright was reviewed at Pigeon Shrine FrightFest 2024.
