Inn of the Damned + Night of Fear Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.5

Inn of the Damned + Night of Fear Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown June 26, 2025

Ya gotta love a good double feature... though pairing the perfect films is no easy task. If one outshines and the other falters, the double feature comes apart, spoiling the whole experience. Perhaps then it's best to recommend approaching this Terry Bourke duo -- Inn of the Damned (1975) and Night of Fear (1973) -- with caution and intent, as it makes for a rickety, uneven double feature where one film is far and away the better of the two. The clear standout, Night of Fear, is a mean(ish), lean(ish), dialogue-free descent into hell that hit a full year before Tobe Hooper's Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which I'd argue has Night of Fear baked somewhere in its DNA. (It's not better than TCM, not by a longshot, but visual and tonal similarities are undeniable.) Sadly, Inn of the Damned is little more than a western spook story, hinging on murder most foul. It drags. Not bad exactly, just the clear lesser of the two, especially if you're itching for a grindhouse horror double feature.

I couldn't get The Happiness of the Katakuris out of my head while watching Inn of the Damned. Take that as you will, but the genre- bending Takashi Miike film is what found its way into my Blu-ray player in the hours after Inn rolled its credits. I digress. Set in 19th century Victoria, the film introduces murderous, nuptially bound Caroline (Judith Anderson) and Lazar (Joseph Furst), star-crossed serial killers who own and operate an inn where they lure travelers to certain doom. Murder is on the menu. There's hope, though, that their killing spree will be brought to an end with the arrival of unsuspecting bounty hunter Cal Kincaid, who becomes the couple's next target. A sharp-eyed gunslinger, Kincaid begins to sense something is off with his hosts...

Inn of the Damned has potential but, good God, does it take its sweet, sinister time getting to the goods. Performances are broad and melodramatic, save Anderson, who underplays to convincing ends, and the script is bare, which becomes particularly apparent when writer/director Terry Bourke goes digging for character motivation and tragedy-born trauma. It almost comes together in the end, but even then we're treated to a protracted showdown that lacks the bite and ferocity of a proper western thriller. As horror goes, there's little to leave you shaking or shivering, even when the full extent of Caroline and Lazar's crimes are laid bare, and the tale has all the electricity of an episode of '70s television. (A scene of incest remains one of the only jarring sequences.)

Now Night of Fear? That made me sit up and pay attention. Aside from a bit of silliness with rats, the film is a tight, tense shocker that, believe it or not, was shot as a television pilot for a dark Twilight Zone-inspired series called Fright. How Bourke or anyone involved ever thought it would seriously sneak past TV censors of the day is laughable. Ambitious. Bold even. But laughable. Night of Fear, without a word of dialogue (minus a line heard over a CB) quickly and efficiently introduces a young, nameless woman (Carla Hoogeveen, who also appeared in Inn of the Damned) that stumbles into a road trap set by a deranged lunatic (Norman Yemm). On the run, then trapped in the madman's cabin, the young woman fights for her life over the course of a night from hell.

Yes, Night of Fear's editing is a bit wooden. Yes, Hoogeveen is sometimes just as wooden. And yes, the rats the killer so adores aren't quite as convincing on screen as they're meant to be. But buried within Night of Fear is a slick little survival horror story that uses mounting dread to its advantage. Yemm's silent stalker is easily the scariest thing in the double feature, and the fact that no words are spoken make his relentless pursuit of Hoogeveen, whether tromping through the woods or creeping through his home, that much more disturbing. (Think of the complete lack of motive in a film like The Strangers.) By the time he drapes a naked, unconscious Hoogeveen on a silk-topped table and slithers his way up and along her body, you'll be peering at the screen through your fingers. It's perhaps too bleak a film -- definitely so when compared to Inn of the Damned -- but it'll certainly increase your pulse and satisfy your hunger pangs for horror.

Inn of the Damned + Night of Fear Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Minor print damage is the only thing that hinders Inn of the Damned and Night of Fear's 1.85:1 1080p/AVC-encoded transfers, although the slight wear and tear arguably heightens the films' grindhouse aesthetic and appeal. Your mileage may vary. Color and contrast are greatly improved from the set's DVD counterpart, as is black depth, shadow delineation and overall detail. Skintones are warmly saturated and quite lifelike (barring some ruddy faces in Inn of the Damned). Grain is present but unobtrusive. Edges are clean and well-defined. Fine textures are nicely resolved, even as optical softness is apparent at times in either picture. And the Australian vistas are striking to say the least. Better still, I didn't notice any signs of notable banding, compression artifacts or other encoding issues.

Inn of the Damned + Night of Fear Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Both Inn of the Damned and Night of Fear are presented with somewhat dated, problematic DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono mixes that could use more remastering work. The shortcomings aren't nearly as evident in Night of Fear simply because there's no dialogue. Inn of the Damned, though, struggles with clarity and prioritization, with several lines sounding under-supported or poorly reproduced. Faint air hiss and mic pops aren't entirely uncommon, particularly in exterior chase sequences in Night of Fear, and sound effects tend to be a bit canned. Score cues sound quite good for the era and budgets, fortunately, so no complaints there.

Inn of the Damned + Night of Fear Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentaries - Two audio commentaries are included: Night of Fear features a Mark Hartley-led track with producer/editor Rod Hay and actress Carla Hoogeveen, while Inn of the Damned features a track with Hay and actor Tony Bonner. Both tracks were originally recorded for DVD, in 2005.

• Interview Segments (HD, 47 minutes) - A series of interviews shot for "Not Quite Hollywood" are also made available, featuring Hay, Hoogeveen, Norman Yemm and Briony Behets. There's great info and anecdotes here, and very little overlap with the commentaries.

• The D.W. Griffith of Ozploitation (HD, 18 minutes) - Edited and directed by filmmaker Mark Hartley (who moderated the set's first commentary), this visual essay of the career of rebel director Terry Bourke is hosted by film critic Paul Harris. Archival photos are out in force, with little in the way of video interviews, but the overview is still an excellent one.

• The Raiders (SD, 49 minutes) - An episode of the hit Australian TV series Spyforce directed by Bourke.

• The Raiders Introduction (HD, 2 minutes) - by director Jack Thompson.

• Terry Bourke Trailer Reel (HD, 27 minutes) - A gluttonous helping of grindhouse trailers for Sampan, Inn of the Damned, Plugg, Night of Fear, Noon Sunday, Little Boy Lost and Lady Stay Dead.

• Stills and Poster Galleries (HD, 10 minutes) - Each film gets a montage of stills and posters.

• Theatrical Trailers (HD, 6 minutes) - Trailers for Night of Fear and Inn of the Damned.

Inn of the Damned + Night of Fear Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Double feature money on the table. Inn of the Damned simply isn't as thrilling or harrowing as Night of Fear. Perhaps I'd have responded more positively had the two not been paired, but then again, you run that risk when billing a double feature. Thankfully, Umbrella's Blu-ray release is laudable, with two strong remastered presentations and a host of extras. The films' lossless audio tracks could use a bit more work but they get the job done well enough.