I decided for the next seven days I would review seven of some my favorite (non franchise) horror movies. It’s not a countdown to number one, as much as it is to showcase seven great horror movies that I don’t think gets the attention it deserves. We will start with Wait Until Dark (1967) starring Audrey Hepburn, Alan Arkin, and Richard Crenna.

What is Wait Until Dark?

After a flight back home, Sam Hendrix returns with a doll he innocently acquired along the way. As it turns out, the doll is actually stuffed with heroin, and a group of criminals led by the ruthless Roat has followed Hendrix back to his place to retrieve it. When Hendrix leaves for business, the crooks make their move and find his blind wife, Susy, alone in the apartment. Soon, a life-threatening game begins between Susy and the crooks.

Why do I recommend it?

I only first seen Wait Until Dark this past February for the first time, (I even have it recorded down on the blog) but it has already become a new horror favorite of mines. The funny thing is though I only saw Wait Until Dark by chance. It was on television one night and I decided to watch it without knowing the plot for one reason and one reason only, Audrey Hepburn. I have sorta made it my mission to watch all if not most of all of Audrey Hepburn’s discography and it just so happened I had a chance to knock one movie off her discography this one night and I took it. I would have never seen Wait Until Dark if it weren’t for my totally completely healthy love for Audrey Hepburn and that’s truly scares me.

Wait Until Dark is a masterclass of suspense. It’s run-time is only a hour and 48 minutes and with that run-time it mostly builds suspense that culminates in tense conclusion. It’s not like modern horror movies where there is a scare after few minutes. Wait Until Dark makes you wait and earn it’s tense and final confrontation in the last 15 minutes of the movie that has one of the scariest jump scares I have ever seen on film. It’s a dialogue-driven film, and that not some people’s thing I get, but the dialogue is what plays into the tense psychological effects the movie has on us, the audience. It’s a both uneasy and frightening film that makes the most out of it’s limited setting and small cast. It’s worth spending a hour and 48 minutes watching, but preferably in the dark.