Cry Terror! (1958)
Directed by Andrew L. Stone

Film Review

It is something of a cliché to describe a film as a roller-coaster but it is hard to think of a term that is more fitting for Andrew L. Stone's relentlessly compelling thriller Cry Terror!, a more than respectable follow-up to his previous thriller masterpiece Julie (1956).  The film starts at a brisk pace and thereafter the tension is remorselessly cranked up and up so that, twenty minutes into it, it is totally impossible for the spectator to tear himself from its vicelike thrall.  Whatever faults there are (unnecessary use of first person voiceover narration and some worrying plot holes) are easily overlooked as the film grabs hold of you and drags you along like a thundering, unstoppable juggernaut pounding towards its truly heart-stopping climax.

Andrew L. Stone was particularly renowned for the hard-edged realism he brought to his films and Cry Terror! exemplifies the director's mania for gritty authenticity, both in its convincingly drawn characterisation and in its almost exclusive use of real locations.  Two sequences stand out as being particularly accomplished for the era in which the film was made - Inger Stevens's frantic car journey back to the villains' hideout after she has picked up the ransom money and James Mason's death-defying bid for freedom by climbing down an elevator shaft.  Both sequences would be comparatively easy to film today with modern, lightweight camera equipment and computer-aided trickery but they must have presented an extraordinary challenge for Stone and his technical crew back in the late 1950s.  The other notable sequence is the climactic confrontation in the New York subway, in which the stars of the film and some of the crew were very nearly asphyxiated by carbon monoxide.  Luckily, no actors died in the making of this film (as far as we know).

Stone's masterful direction is complemented by some remarkably fluid camerawork and gripping performances from an unbeatable cast.  Rod Steiger is as superb as the quietly menacing villain as Mason is as the resilient and resourceful everyman hero, although both are outshone and outperformed by a magnificent Inger Stevens.  The fear and anxiety that Stevens projects (as a young mother terrified for the safety of her child and herself) are so convincing that her scenes are the most unbearably tense the film has to offer - not only her car ride ordeal (which must rate as one of the most nerve-racking cinema experiences of all time) but also her strained and sweaty close encounters with a drug-addicted rapist (played with just a little too much relish by Neville Brand).  It is a relief when the credits roll and the film releases us from its spell, but you just know you wouldn't have missed it for the world.  Cry Terror! is suspense thriller at its most merciless and mesmeric - a totally addictive pulse-racing excursion into sheer terror. After this, you are inclined to check out Andrew L. Stone's other films, which include the sublime jazz fest Stormy Weather (1943).

Film Synopsis

Electronics expert Jim Molner has his world turned upside down when he becomes unwittingly implicated in an extortion racket which might, literally, have explosive consequences.  It was Molner who designed the timer for a powerful bomb which criminal mastermind Paul Hoplin plans to detonate on board an airliner unless his demand for half a million dollars is paid.  Molner's nightmare begins when Paul and his gang of vicious thugs turn up at his house and take him, his wife Joan and young daughter prisoner.  Unless Joan agrees to collect the ransom money, her daughter will be sliced up by Paul's sadistic accomplice Kelly.  Meanwhile, FBI agents are frantically working to identify the criminals, but time and luck do not appear to be on their side...