A thriller classic that Stephen King famously calls "the scariest movie ever made", 1967's WAIT UNTIL DARK still delivers incredible suspense 50+ years after its release.
Audrey Hepburn is Susy, recently blinded in a car accident and adapting to independence in her NYC apartment.
When her photographer boyfriend is approached by a mysterious, beautiful blonde woman at JFK who asks him to hold a doll for her so she can surprise her niece, trouble begins.
Her boyfriend Sam (Efrem Zimbalist Jr from the TV Classic "The FBI") has no idea that the doll is full of heroin, but we do from the film's opening moments.
Soon, a trip of bad guys arrive in search of the doll.
Richard Crenna (Body Heat, First Blood) is Mike, posing as an old friend of Sam's. Jack Weston (Gator, The Four Seasons) is his bumbling sidekick masquerading as a police detective and Alan Arkin is Roat, the most dangerous of them all.
This dangerous threesome floats in and out of Susie's apartment after managing to divert Sam far away on an assignment. But they aren't prepared for Susy's resourceful determination.
Audrey Hepburn received her final Oscar nomination as Susy and she deserved it, playing a resourceful woman whose lost sight has heightened every one of her other senses.
She'll need them.
Director Terence Young (From Russia With Love, Dr. No) brings Frederick Knott's hit Broadway play to life for the screen, keeping the action fairly focused on the apartment but never feeling stagebound.
Henry Mancini adds a good score and a hopelessly sixties theme song over the end credits that's retro perfect.
The last thirty minutes will keep you on the edge of your seat and the film has one of the most legendary jump scares in movie history.
Heroin and a heroine have never blended quite this perfectly. WAIT UNTIL DARK gets a terrific A.
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