Wait Until Dark

Great little gem that -for the most part- stands the test of time very well!

Audrey Hepburn is cast beautifully as the blind woman victimized by three deviants. Alan Arkin is truly terrifying as the leader and his performance here ranks as one of the all-time-great screen villians.

Director Young handles the pace masterfully. No sequence really goes on longer than it should. Henry Mancini uses a nice, quiet score that creates appropriate tension as the film builds to its classic showdown.

My favorite thing about the film is, I think, the use of lighting in the final sequence. Charles Lang uses a creepy, dimly-glowing, red-orange light to illuminate the apartment after Suzie has smashed every other bulb. The effect has a shadowy, nightmarish quality and the scene looks like it was filmed yesterday.

When you think about David Fincher reworking the original concept here for PANIC ROOM, it really is a flattering comment to WAIT UNTIL DARK and its power in still being able to chill. It's also funny to think that with all that impressive photography and filmmaking, the film didn't have nearly half the tension of this 1967 classic.