Fear in the Night 4K (1972)

 

Studio Canal are releasing the last of Hammer’s B-movie psycho thrillers (most of which were originally made to form the bottom half of a double bill) on 4K. The collector’s edition will include the film on both UHD and Blu-ray, as well as a 64 page booklet with new writing and a couple of posters.

Peggy (Judy Geeson) believes she has been attacked by an unseen assailant with one arm. She goes with her teacher husband Robert (Ralph Bates) to his new job at a remote public school. It’s out of term time so the only other people there, aside from a groundsman we see in a couple of shots, are the one-armed (aha!) headmaster Michael Carmichael (Peter Cushing) and his wife Molly (Joan Collins busy developing the persona that would do well for her in 1980s soaps). 

Peggy is attacked again. She believes it’s the headmaster, whom she shoots with a shotgun conveniently left by Robert when he goes to a convention. But when Robert returns Peggy’s in a daze and there’s no sign of a body. What’s going on?

With only four principal cast members, two of whom have very little screen time, it’s not too difficult to work out what must be happening, as we’re in ‘are they mad or are they being driven mad’ territory once again here. While FEAR IN THE NIGHT isn’t one of Hammer's best, it does boast a terrific setting of an empty boys’ school where the classrooms and corridors have been rigged up with the sound of the pupils so the headmaster can wander around and feel it’s still term-time. It’s a concept that makes the film worth watching and pretty much saves this from being nothing but the most routine of Hammer’s psycho-thriller output.

Studio Canal’s disc has a new extra of Kim Newman talking about the film for 26 minutes. Other extras are archival, including Studio Canal’s own making of from 2017 made to accompany the original Blu-ray release. There are also two commentary tracks, one with producer, director and co-writer Jimmy Sangster moderated by Marcus Hearn, and another with Troy Howarth, plus the usual trailer and stills galleries.

FEAR IN THE NIGHT is out in 4K in a two disc (UHD and Blu-ray) collector’s set from Studio Canal on Monday 23rd March 2026