Episode 011: Wait Until Dark (1967)

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Poster for Wait Until Dark. Three rectangular images of Audrey Hepburn’s head are stacked, slightly askew: the top shows just an eye; the middle shows her face down to her upper lip; the bottom shows her screaming. In each image, a flame flickers in front of her.
To the right, increasingly smaller descending text reads: “The blinds moving up and down…the squeaking shoes, and then the knife whistling past her ear…”
Beneath the images, text reads:
Audrey Hepburn, Alan Arkin, Richard Crenna
Wait Until Dark
Also-Starring Jack Weston and [in larger, all-caps, purple letters] Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.
Based on the play by Frederick Knott. Screenplay by Robert and Jane-Howard Carrington. Produced by Mel Ferrer. Directed by Terence Young. Music: Henry Mancini. Produced on the New York Stage by Fred Coe. Technicolor from Warner Bros.-Seven Arts

AnDread, Pastor Matt Rawlings, and Jackson of Father and Son Watch Horror Movies dive into Wait Until Dark (1967). We discuss self-reliance, victimization, and discovering abilities through trial. Also reviews of the Evolution of Horror Podcast and Philip K. Dick’s Ubik (1969).

SPOILER WARNING: This is a spoiler-filled discussion, although aside from the very end, the plot is hard to spoil as most information orienting viewers to the story comes at the beginning of the film.

Show Notes

  1. Intro
    • Matt and Jackson talk about Father and Son Watch Horror Movies podcast
    • Matt and Jackson’s general thoughts on disability in horror
  2. Wait Until Dark Overview and Discussion  26:34
    • Overview
      • 1967 home invasion thriller
      • Directed by Terence Young
      • Written by Robert Carrington and Jane-Howard Carrington
      • IMDb synopsis: A recently blinded woman is terrorized by a trio of thugs while they search for a heroin-stuffed doll they believe is in her apartment.
      • Audrey Hepburn as Susy Hendrix – nominated for Academy Award
      • Alan Arkin as Roat
      • Richard Crenna as Mike
      • Jack Weston as Carlino
      • Efrem Zimbalist Jr. as Sam Hendrix
      • Julie Herrod as Gloria
      • Adapted from a play by Frederick Knott, performed on Broadway in 1966 w/Lee Remick as Susy & Robert Duvall as Roat
      • Another production in 1998 starred Marisa Tomei as Susy, Quentin Tarantino as Roat, & Stephen Lang as Mike – did not get good reviews.
      • Misleading IMDb trivia: “In his non-fiction book Danse Macabre, Stephen King declared this to be the scariest movie of all time and that Alan Arkin’s performance ‘may be the greatest evocation of screen villainy ever.’” He does say that about Arkin’s performance but he doesn’t say the film is the scariest of all time; it’s simply listed as #1 in an unranked list of horror movies that in some way play on fear of the dark.
      • Genre classification: horror or thriller or horror/thriller?
      • Roat as psychopath – what made him that way?
    • Wait Until Dark as title
      • Plays upon fear of the dark
      • Reference to Susy’s blindness
      • Dark used as cover by both Susy and criminals
    • Susy’s character
      • Not overcoming disability – uses her strengths to her advantage
      • Uses other senses but not to a “supercrip” level
      • Smart – starts suspecting she is being manipulated/lied to early on
      • Exploitation of blindness vs. critique of ableism / underestimation of blind woman
        • Exploitation: Trope of pretty disabled woman terrorized by sadistic men – blindness does add to suspense
        • Blindness informs character, not just a device to add vulnerability
        • Susy rejects being “world’s champion blind lady” – resists others pushing an idealized standard of blindness on her
        • Self-reliance vs. support
          • Disabled people strive for independence but demands for self-reliance are normative, do not recognize functional limitations of disability
          • Doubts about capabilities can also stem from ableism
          • Theme: Growing confidence through trial; struggle to deal with doubts and limitations leads to self-discovery of capabilities
          • Susy after events of movie? Traumatized? More confident? Less?
          • Doesn’t see herself as victimizer but as someone seeking acceptance, love
    • Performances strong among all actors in the movie – makes us believe what’s happening and overlook implausible aspects
    • Soundtrack is progressive, subtle, uses contrast of silence and sound like lighting uses contrast of dark and light
    • Some moments of exposition clunky – Susy’s blindness introduced in heavy-handed manner
    • George C. Scott and Rod Steiger were considered for Roat – hard to imagine over Arkin
    • Guest plugs
  3. Psycho Sounds  2:24:42
  4. Freaky Fic  2:33:09
    • Philip K. Dick, Ubik (1969)
    • PREMISE: The story is set in a future 1992 where psychic powers are utilized in corporate espionage, while cryogenic technology allows recently deceased people to be maintained in a lengthy state of hibernation. It follows Joe Chip, a technician at a psychic agency who, after an assassination attempt, begins to experience strange alterations in reality that can be temporarily reversed by a mysterious store-bought substance called Ubik.
    • RECOMMENDED FOR FANS OF: Trippy sci-fi leaning towards thriller and horror.
  5. Plugs and Wrap-Up  2:42:00

There will be a transcript for this show in the future. Please contact freaksandpsychospodcast@gmail.com for any accessibility concerns.

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