SCREAM YOUR ENTHUSIASM (11)
By:
November 7, 2024
One in a series of 25 enthusiastic posts, contributed by 25 HILOBROW friends and regulars, on the topic of favorite horror movies. Series edited by Heather Quinlan.
WAIT UNTIL DARK | d. TERENCE YOUNG | 1967
At first, the audience doesn’t see Audrey Hepburn — playing the blind, beautiful Susy Hendrix. Instead, Wait Until Dark opens with Henry Mancini’s timebomb-ticking score underpinning the bad guys’ perspectives.
First, Lisa (Samantha Jones) watches an elderly tailor stitch a heroin cache inside the satin center of an old-fashioned doll. Taking the doll with her to the airport, Lisa freaks upon seeing the icily terrifying, black-jacketed Harry Roat (Alan Arkin). Throughout the film, Roat’s sunglasses mask many a villainous intention.
Lisa knows he wants the heroin-stuffed doll, so she hands it off to unsuspecting Efrem Zimbalist Jr., tanned and distinguished as Sam Hendrix, Susy’s husband. The scene then shifts to Roat’s henchmen — seemingly mild-mannered Mike (Richard Crenna) and blustery Carlino (Jack Weston), walking down a shady street searching for the address where Lisa told them she would be. It’s actually Sam and Susy Hendrix’s apartment.
The blandly ordinary set design — it all takes place in a home filled with white cupboards, shutters and a white refrigerator — heighten the threat of harm just moments away. And the plot’s complexity keeps ratcheting up as the suspense intensifies. Layer by layer, the puzzle unfurls. Two bodies fall before it’s revealed that Roat and Susy are equal adversaries in intelligence and intensity. As the suspense peaks, there’s a scary foreshadowing moment when Susy finally hands the doll to Roat, saying, “You said you wouldn’t hurt me.” His glib response: “Did I? I must have had my fingers crossed.”
During the film’s 1967 release, entire theaters doused all their lighting when Susy turns off all the lights in her apartment. Theater staff warned audiences to stay seated for their own safety. Upon the blackened screen, there are only shuffling noises, making the audience wonder who will be alive when the lights return. Then, Roat discovers a way to light up the room.
Still, it seems Susy may win after she stabs Roat in the midsection. But when he jumps out at her seconds later, it’s one of the best jump scares ever (#10 on Bravo’s 100 Scariest Movie Moments).
Audrey Hepburn was nominated for an Academy Award for Wait Until Dark. Alan Arkin was not. “You don’t get nominated for torturing Audrey Hepburn,” he reasoned. Stephen King declared Wait Until Dark the scariest movie ever. After filming Charade, Cary Grant said, “All I want for Christmas is to make another movie with Audrey Hepburn.” After watching Wait Until Dark, with its mix of terror and the quintessential heroine, you will say, “I want more Audrey Hepburn, too.”
SCREAM YOUR ENTHUSIASM: INTRODUCTION by Heather Quinlan | Crockett Doob on THE SHINING | Dean Haspiel on TOURIST TRAP | Fran Pado on M3GAN | Erin M. Routson on THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT | Adam McGovern on THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER | Michele Carlo on THE EXORCIST | Tony Pacitti on JAWS | Josh Glenn on INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1978) | Kathy Biehl on HALLOWEEN | Annie Nocenti on ROSEMARY’S BABY | Carolyn Campbell on WAIT UNTIL DARK | Marc Weidenbaum on DAWN OF THE DEAD | Amy Keyishian on SHAUN OF THE DEAD | Gabriela Pedranti on [•REC] | Mariane Cara on PARANORMAL ACTIVITY | Trav SD on FRANKENSTEIN: THE TRUE STORY | Colin Campbell on EVIL DEAD (2013) | Lynn Peril on NIGHT GALLERY | Heather Quinlan on THE CHANGELING | Kenny Simek on REPO! THE GENETIC OPERA | Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons on IT (1990) | James Scott Maloy on CONTAGION | Nick Rumaczyk on THE BOY WHO CRIED WEREWOLF | Max Alvarez on THE INNOCENTS | Michael Campochiaro on BLACK CHRISTMAS.
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