brando647 The 1960s were a simpler time when a rampaging space gorilla was enough to enthrall audiences. Or maybe not. I've got no idea how well NIGHT FRIGHT did financially but I can't imagine it did all that great. It's another piece of generic drive-in fodder but, if I'm being honest, this one almost managed to keep my attention. It doesn't help that the copy I watched was horribly degraded from the poorest of transfers and at least half of the movie was incomprehensively dark. I suppose it could've been just poor cinematography but I'm going to give the filmmakers a little bit of credit and assume this was a lot easier to follow when it was originally released in 1967. NIGHT FRIGHT is a creature feature set in a small American town where a space rocket crash lands in the wilderness and unleashes a murderous space gorilla monster on the unsuspecting local populace. This film is a by-the-numbers monster movie that plays out exactly as you expect with the local sheriff leading the charge against the extraterrestrial ape and the town's "teenage" population refusing to see the inherent danger in the situation, allowing them to throw themselves into harm's way. What gives NIGHT FRIGHT a slight edge against the competition is a reasonably decent performance from John Agar as our hero (Sheriff Clint Crawford), the inclusion of Bill Thurman (the one good part to come from 1969 TV movie "It's Alive!") as one of the deputies, and the space ape.I was legitimately surprised to see someone making a decent effort at performing in one of these movies but I guess I underestimated (and had never heard of) John Agar. NIGHT FRIGHT is a movie where it wouldn't surprise me to learn 99% of the cast didn't read the script until right before cameras rolled (and who could blame them) and Agar's Sheriff Crawford feels all the more natural when put in a scene with any of them. He's a stern sheriff with a level head and a desire to keep the community safe. He's aggravated when the Feds roll in to town and refuse him access to the crash site in his own jurisdiction. He mourns for the dead, organizes the final assault against the monster, and even ends the movie as the only person to have gone solo against the beast and walked away alive. Good for him. Bill Thurman is hanging around in the background in the first half of the film as one the handful of deputies under Crawford. While Thurman would go on to bring the fun with his double performance in "It's Alive!" two years after NIGHT FRIGHT, he's toned down to near non-existence here. I almost didn't recognize him without his crazy face, and NIGHT FRIGHT could've used some of his insane cackling. Instead he's generic police force with a future in monkey chow. I sort of wish he'd gotten the role of Sheriff Crawford purely for the fun that could be had in a final battle where he battles a mutant ape. Why not? Go nuts.Anyone else of note in this movie? No, not really. NIGHT FRIGHT has a fun 60's vibe with the town's teenagers (played by no one younger than 25, I'd bet) spouting off the lingo of the era and gathering at the lake for a dance party despite warnings from the police. No, these "kids" aren't going to let the Man get them down. They want to go out to the lake for a groovy time and no one's going to stop them. That dance party, man…we're treated to extensive footage of these "kids" dancing to some generic 60's melody (no money for song rights, I guess) for what feels like forever. We just keep cutting back to the same day-for-night footage of these people twisting and whatnot, probably because the director wanted a reason to keep cutting back to a close-up of one particular girl's butt that we see repeatedly. Groovy? Anyways, the ape: I think it was cool but I have no way of knowing because the footage is so dark that I can hardly make out any details. It truly looks like a costume borrowed from the original "Star Trek"; it's some sort of gorilla with what appears to be a bald head and maybe some ridges? I bet it looked cool in the daylight but we're never lucky enough to find out. Whatever it might be, it loves the taste of teenage flesh and it will require all the strength this little town's police force can muster to bring it down.

Rainey Dawn Why did they put this one in the Pure Terror 50 Movie Pack? - WHY? This one is not creepy. It's not even funny enough to make fun of - it's just dull, boring and completely awful.The acting is so bad in this it hurts to watch. I've seen better creature costumes in the cheap costume departments at Halloween. The story is bland - not nearly as good as it sounds like it would be. The first 45 minutes to an hour of the film drags and drags - the last 15 to 20 minutes is barely watchable.I like bad B-films - but this is triple "Z". It's to bad this film is terrible - I was hoping to find another "hidden gem" but, alas, this one is my IMDb list named "garbage collection".1/10

danzeisen John Agar is always fun to watch, here he has the only really strong role in the movie. A weak script, lots of hokey dialog, and some characters seem so weak they are really almost ONE dimensional. So why rate this as a 5?Simple, this is a fun movie that makes no pretense at serious cinema. There are some really pretty young ladies, and the 60s hairstyles are really fun to look at. There are also some really cool cars in the movie- 1966 Olds Toronado, '67 Pontiac Firebird convertible, '65 Chevy convertible, '67 Ford Galaxie convertible,and a first generation Riviera briefly seen. Don't expect too much, and just relax and have some fun. Don't think too much, but the monster really looked pretty decent, especially considering the whole budget was listed as $18,000 !!!

MartinHafer I am a fan of bad horror films of the 1950s and 60s--films so ridiculous and silly that they are good for a laugh. So, because of this it's natural that I'd choose this film--especially because with John Agar in it, it was practically guaranteed to be bad. Sadly, while it was a bad film, it was the worst type of bad film--dull beyond belief and unfunny. At least with stupid and over-the-top bad films, you can laugh at the atrocious monsters and terrible direction and acting. Here, you never really see that much of the monster (mostly due to the darkness of the print) and the acting, while bad, is more low energy bad...listless and dull.The film begins with some young adults going to Satan's Hollow to neck. Well, considering the name of the place, it's not surprising when they are later found chewed to pieces! Duh...don't go necking at Satan's Hollow!! Well, there are reports of some sort of crashing object from the sky, so what do the teens go? Yep, throw a dance party--a very, very, very slow dance party where the kids almost dance in slow motion. So it's up to the Sheriff (Agar) and his men to ensure that the teens can dance in peace without fear of mastication.As for the monster, it's some guy in a gorilla suit with a silly mask--a bit like the monster in ROBOT MONSTER. Not exactly original and not exactly high tech. To make it worse, it makes snorting noises and moves very, very slowly--so slow that even the most corpulent teen could easily outrun it! How it manages to kill repeatedly is beyond me.Overall, too dull to like--even if you are a fan of lousy cinema.