Sadly Over-hyped

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

The late 60's in the US produced some unforgettable TV-movies. 1967 had "Games" with Simon Signoret, 1969 gave us the strangely forgotten prize-winning "Male of the Species" with Anna Calder-Marshall & Sir Paul Scofield, and 1969 the erotic thriller "Fear No Evil". The casting was perfect, the writing intelligent, the direction impeccable. These were shows that didn't condescend to a TV audience nor pander to the lowest common denominator - all of these (note the latter 2 of the 3 sadly unavailable to date, and the former available as a used VHS at exorbitant prices) were examples of television that had the best of cinema, provoking, haunting, memorable, risk-taking, trail-blazing. In some ways the eroticism of these 3 TV shows was more daring than the X-rated "Midnight Cowboy". Hard to imagine network television today producing anything of comparable caliber, or to imagine people reminiscing and seeking out copies of the pap we are fed today 30-40 years from now. I would love to get my hands on these last 2, very different but equally entertaining and memorable shows, if only to explain to my offspring that once upon a time there was network television - and it was good. Bradford Dillman and Louis Jourdan were perfect opposites, both seductively charming opposite the virginal blonde beauty Lynda Day (later George), I can't imagine any other actors before or since taking this supernatural horror premise and making it so plausible. Excellent work by all -- so where is the DVD??? (an aside, did Louis Jourdan play Count Dracula before or after Fear No Evil? God, even RENFIELD was sexy in that one, in one memorable scene at least - although Frank Langella was also a honey - and the female star also played Claire in Zeffirelli's "Brother Sun Sister Moon". Must have been later, as he looked a lot older, and I had already left the States when it aired and didn't get to see it until the 80's)

When first aired in 1969, this TV production was a ratings powerhouse for NBC. Starring the infrequently used Louis Jourdan as David Sorell, an L.A. psychiatrist with an interest in the occult, the film tells the story of a mirror that holds a demon that possesses the soul of newlywed Bradford Dillman. Lynda Day (the future wife of actor Christopher George) plays Dillman's hapless wife who herself is to be the next victim of the mirror's machinations. A pre-Archie Bunker Carroll O'Connor is on hand as Dillman's friend that's hiding a sinister secret. Veteran actress Marsha Hunt is very good as Dillman's adoring and devoted mother. English stalwart Wilfred Hyde-White plays Jourdan's apparent mentor in things that go bump in the night.The film has a nicely creepy feel, befitting the studio (Universal) that brought the world so many classic horror films during the 30's.Also, the score by Billy Goldenberg is effectively spooky, especially the scene wherein the entranced George descends from the stairs to be "rejoined" with her deceased husband."Fear No Evil" yielded a sequel a year later, the somewhat weaker "Ritual of Evil" with Jourdan returning in the lead role.

I have a taped copy of this movie ...... somewhere. It is quite special, so I was surprised to find it unlisted in guidebooks such as Mauldin's. An important element involves a demonic force trying to seduce a young woman when she gazes into a mirror. Maybe it's just me, but the idea of an evil force from inside a mirror trying to distort your view of reality and control you seems particularly frightening --- of course one thinks of Dead of Night (1945), the old classic horror film. Also, the scenes where the demon is being summoned are quite disturbing --- the makers of the film seem to have had some special insight into demonology. Bradford Dillman is already dead for most of the movie, but he plays a great haunted spirit on both sides of the grave, and Louis Jourdan is good as the calm, rational psychiatrist trying to help the woman by any means possible, including unorthodox ones.

FEAR NO EVIL is a sophisticated blend of suggested horror and surprising sexual content for its time ('69) and place (tv). I haven't seen this movie since it was first broadcast, and I wish it were available on video so I could reconfirm my impressions about it. The opening scene, at a party, in which Louis Jourdan intrigues and frightens his friends about the contents of a box in his possession, sets the tone for the film and is a masterfully edited sequence of the unknown and unseen that scares the viewer without resorting to gore or cheap shocks.The plot of the picture, dealing with passion from beyond the grave, is exceptionally well done and quite daring and bold for a late-sixties tv movie. Again, I wish I had the opportunity to re-view the movie to re-experience the pleasure it gave me, so that the story would be fresher in my mind and I could do it more justice here.