Peril & Distress: And Soon the Darkness / Sudden Terror 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		0.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

Peril & Distress: And Soon the Darkness / Sudden Terror 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov October 17, 2024

John Hough's "Sudden Terror" a.k.a. "Eyewitness" (1970) and Robert Fuest's "And Soon the Darkness" (1970) arrive on 4K Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the release include recent audio commentaries and vintage trailers. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

SUDDEN TERROR

John Hough’s directorial debut, Sudden Terror, is set in a place that is never identified. It is some exotic island with a heavy military presence and plenty of Englishmen who are calling it home. A former colony? Maybe. But in the grand scheme of things, it actually does not matter.

In the midst of a big parade, 11-year-old Ziggy (Mark Lester) becomes intrigued by a man in a police uniform who abruptly abandons his post and enters an old building. After he quietly follows him inside, Ziggy then accidentally witnesses how the man kills a visiting African dignitary with a long-range rifle, and while trying to exit the building overwhelmed by fear for his life attracts his attention. The man with the rifle is then joined by another man (Peter Bowles) in a police uniform, and together they go after Ziggy.

In the ensuing chaos, Ziggy finds a way to confuse the ‘policemen’ and send them in the wrong direction, and shortly after reunites with his angry older sister, Pippa (Susan George), and her new friend, Tom (Tony Bonner). However, when he attempts to explain that he has evaded a pair of fake policemen because he has witnessed the assassination of the prominent African visitor that the failed parade was organized for, Pippa threatens to punish him for trying to impress with yet another outrageous lie. While trying to remain fair, Tom, who does not know that the boy has a long history of manufacturing exotic stories and pulling off pranks, agrees to hear a quick description of his adventure.

The three eventually reach an old mansion by the sea, where Grandpa (Lionel Jeffries) and his trusted housekeeper (Betty Marsden) are awaiting them for dinner. Ziggy gets a second chance to tell his story, but much to his disappointment, once again fails to convince that he has become a target and the two ‘policemen’ that were chasing him most likely want him dead. A few hours later, however, all hell breaks loose.

Sudden Terror reminds of another film that emerged in 1970, Figures in a Landscape, which was directed by Joseph Losey. In it, a pair of fugitives are running for their lives in an unnamed country where the local army has been mobilized to get them, but the nature of the chase remains quite ambiguous because the focus of attention is entirely on its maddening atmosphere. Indeed, the film completely ignores the identities of the fugitives, the events behind the initiation of their escape, and the logic of their plan to get to the ‘other side’ where freedom awaits them. This allows the film to pull its audience right in the middle of the chase and experience the same rush that the fugitives do. Hough’s film attempts to do the same, but only after Ziggy, Pippa, Tom, and Grandpa finally realize that for once the little boy is actually telling the truth, but there isn’t enough time to build the same heavy atmosphere that defines Losey’s film. Also, Hough’s film actually does spend a good deal of time on the evolving relationships between its characters and even allows quite a bit of light humor to strengthen them. So, the concept behind the film is pretty similar, but the shift where the rush becomes the narrative occurs only after the action gets going in the second half.

Hough’s inexperience behind the camera easily shows, and this will likely be the main reason why plenty of viewers will find the film too dated. However, it is not its appearance that makes it look so; rather, it is the mismanagement of numerous sequences where Hough leaves histrionic behavior to flourish in random ways that end up eroding the credibility of crucial situations. Simply put, the right type of drama that is supposed to shape up the film’s identity never materializes.

Vaughn and Jeffries impress the most, though the ways in which they embrace their characters could not be any more different.

The soundtrack features music from cult progressive/psychedelic rock bands Van der Graaf Generator and Fairfield Parlour.

AND SOON THE DARKNESS

Genre films like And Soon the Darkness are impossible to praise and very difficult to criticize because they are too small and work with too predictable material to impress. They could do just about everything right and still look underwhelming. Something else that hurts them is that they are usually modeled after bigger genre films, so even if they attempt to do some things differently, they tend to create the impression that their imagination is limited.

For me, the most attractive aspect of And Soon to Darkness is its association with Brian Clemens, the creator of one of my favorite TV shows, The Professionals, and Terry Nation, who contributed to the classic Doctor Who and The Avengers TV shows. Clemens and Nation co-wrote and handed an original screenplay to director Robert Fuest, who turned it into a low-budget film in 1970. After that, the producers of And Soon to Darkness most likely negotiated with as many international distributors as possible and struck as many deals as possible to maximize their profits, which is its most consequential flaw. Before I explain why, here is a quick summation of its plot:

British visitors Jane (Pamela Franklin) and Cathy (Michele Dotrice) are cycling through the French countryside. Following a disagreement, instigated by a stranger (Sandor Eles) who captivates Cathy’s imagination, Jane continues the trip alone. Soon after, Cathy is raped and murdered, while Jane begins looking for her but becomes a target for the predator, too. A local police captain (John Nettleton) shows willingness to help Jane, but the descriptions of her friend and the possible trouble she is in quickly frustrate him.

Clemens and Nation’s screenplay does not provide Fuest with enough quality material to genuinely excite, so more than half of And Soon the Darkness is essentially a predictable cat-and-mouse game that prepares for an equally predictable twist. This would have been perfectly fine if Fuest had managed to transform And Soon the Darkness into an atmospheric film, similar to the classic Italian giallo, which appears to have been its blueprint. But Fuest does not because he was not given a proper budget. In other words, the most consequential flaw of And Soon the Darkness is that it does what it must to be a coherent film, but not what is needed to be at least a fine atmospheric genre film.

Ultimately, And Soon the Darkness should appeal only to folks who have an inexorable urge to spend a night with one or a couple of low-budget genre films of the kind that decades ago drive-in cinemas regularly showed. At best, it is a modest nostalgia fix.

Peril & Distress: And Soon the Darkness / Sudden Terror 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Kino Lorber's 4K Blu-ray release presents Sudden Terror and And Soon the Darkness on 4K Blu-ray only. There are no 1080p presentations of these films on Blu-ray.

Sudden Terror and And Soon the Darkness made their high-definition debut at the same time in 2019. Both Blu-ray releases were sourced from the same 4K masters that were used to prepare this double-feature 4K Blu-ray release.

In native 4K, these films cannot be viewed with Dolby Vision or HDR grades. So, how do they look in native 4K? And should you consider an upgrade if you already have the previous Blu-ray releases?

I think that both films look quite good in native 4K because the 4K makeovers that were prepared for them are quite good. But they are not perfect. For example, on Sudden Terror there is room for small and smaller cosmetic improvements that could have addressed a few areas with minor color fading. Also, there are noticeable density fluctuations, but I don't think that they are distracting. In some areas, you will simply see that with the density fluctuations there are other smaller surface imperfections that could have been addressed. The rest is fine. Color balance is convincing. In native 4K, many areas boast wonderful delineation and depth, too. Are these visuals significantly better than the ones the Blu-ray produces? I do not think so. Even on a larger screen, delineation, depth, and clarity remain practically identical. The superior encoding helps strengthens some of the more prominent density fluctuations, but regardless of whether you choose to view the film in native 4K or 1080p, your enjoyment of it will be the same.

My take on the native 4K presentation of And Soon the Darkness is practically the same, but with one important clarification. It quickly becomes obvious that the original elements for this film were in better condition because they do not have the same traces of color fading. Indeed, they produce slightly healthier and significantly more consistent visuals, so there is a lot of material that looks marginally better. In a few spots, primary blue could have been slightly more prominent, but there are no serious anomalies to report. Image stability is very good. My score for both presentations is 4.25/5.00.

Peril & Distress: And Soon the Darkness / Sudden Terror 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Both films are presented with English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 tracks. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided as well. On And Soon the Darkness, there are a few lines of French that are subtitled in English as well.

Both audio tracks are very healthy, so even if you turn the volume of your system a lot, you will not hear age-related anomalies in their upper registers. However, both films have soundtracks with modest ranges of dynamic nuances. I think that the soundtrack that was prepared for Sudden Terror is better because it has some interesting music from cult progressive/psychedelic rock bands Van der Graaf Generator and Fairfield Parlour, but this is not the type of memorable music Tangerine Dream created.

Peril & Distress: And Soon the Darkness / Sudden Terror 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

SUDDEN TERROR

• Commentary One - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by critics Nathaniel Thompson and Howard S. Berger. If you purchase many of Kino Lorber's releases then you probably already know the type of commentaries these two gentlemen deliver -- they always have plenty of interesting information to share about the era in which the film that they are commenting on was made, its production history and values, its tone and atmosphere, and the careers of the people that made it. I enjoy their work a lot, and this new commentary for Sudden Terror was again a winner. Well done.

• Commentary Two - this audio commentary was recorded by director John Hough and uncredited writer/executive producer Bryan Forber. There is a lot of technical information here about the production history of the film, the exact locations that were chosen for various sequences, the editing of the film, the atmosphere and drama of the main story, etc.

• Trailer One - an original U.S. trailer for the film that uses the Sudden Terror title. In English, not subtitled. (4 min).

• Trailer Two - an original UK trailer for the film that uses the Eye Witness title. In English, not subtitled. (4 min).

AND SOON THE DARKNESS

• Commentary One - this archival audio commentary was recorded by director Robert Fuest and co-writer/co-producer Brian Clemens, and is moderated by journalist Jonathan Sothcott. The commentary, which was recorded years ago for the DVD release of And Soon the Darkness, is full of interesting information about the conception of the film, which apparently was quite spontaneous, and its association with the various people that were involved with The Avengers and The Professionals. Also, there are some pretty interesting comments about the style of the film and whether nudity may or may not have been appropriate for it, as well as the twist that resets its narrative.

• Commentary Two - this audio commentary was recorded by critics Howard S. Berger and Nathaniel Thompson. This commentary also offers plenty of good information about the production of And Soon the Darkness and the careers of the people that made it.

• Trailer - an original trailer for And Soon the Darkness. In Engish, not subtitled. (3 min).

• Radio Spots - a few vintage radio spots for And Soon the Darkness. In Engish, not subtitled. (2 min).

Peril & Distress: And Soon the Darkness / Sudden Terror 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

My suspicion that John Hough was much more comfortable shooting action footage than directing his cast was confirmed in a recent interview recorded by Mark Lester. (Sadly, this interview is not included on this release). However, I was not surprised that it was so because there is quite a bit of material where Hough allows histrionic behavior to flourish in pretty random ways. This is the main weakness of Sudden Terror, but I still enjoyed it quite a bit because it has a nice period atmosphere and the action from the second half is as good as advertised. And Soon the Darkness does not have a similar atmosphere and is not as enjoyable, but it makes a decent companion piece, which is likely why the two films are presented on the same release. These films already received individual Blu-ray releases, which I think are very nice. Their native 4K presentations on this 4K Blu-ray release are very nice too, but you should probably consider upgrading other Blu-ray releases of bigger films that have been on your wish list for a long time. RECOMMENDED.