And Soon the Darkness

Two English nurses, Jane and Cathy, are cycling through France on holiday. One afternoon they argue, Cathy stays behind, and when Jane rides on and then comes back her friend is gone. Nobody speaks English, the gendarmerie is uninterested, and there is an unsolved murder in the area from three years ago. Robert Fuest shot almost the whole film by daylight, outdoors, in the sun, so the fear comes not from darkness but from there being nobody to ask for help. The empty road, the long line of trees and a country whose language you do not speak are the actual threat. Pamela Franklin leads. The screenplay is by two writers from The Avengers and builds tension with an economy learned in television. Who it is for: viewers who like seventies British thrillers and horror in daylight. Who it is not for: anyone wanting pace.