25 year-old john cassavetes breaks into a house, holds a family hostage, steals the husband's bathrobe, and goes to sleep in the couple's bed, and this family has the AUDACITY to be mad about it??? i'm sorry i cannot relate to these people

i only watched this for john cassavetes and he never disappoints

You know a kidnapping/ransom movie is a real stinker when the most riveting scenes are them showing how the old timey telephone tracing worked with all these little old men running around a giant room of pistons and wires in order to get even one of the numbers that they then have to hobble all the way back to the other side of the room to yell out to the young guy to get the operator on the line so they can call the police station who has to call the headquarters. RIVETING. 

The acting in this isn’t even bad, shout out to young and evil Cassavetes, but it’s such a hokey story with dramatic voice over narration so that the whole thing feels more like a weird after school special than a movie.

Okay so this isn't exactly "good" but consider this: i love it

Reckless, fear mongering, and judgmental. Such is the nature of the "it could happen to you" subgenre of the 1950s. Be afraid! Trust no one!

But still, The Night Holds Terror is legitimately tense with a lot of hyper-authentic procedural elements. I could make a meal out of that stuff. You have a young John Cassavetes delivering the goods for some mid-grade studio schlock, and you can't help but wonder if he was already thinking about inventing the independent film industry in 1955. Vince Edwards does some good work too. He's stacking up his sociopath cred for Murder by Contract.

Chain Reaction Challenge
39/100

Feels only right to watch John Cassavetes' first film today on his birthday, especially since I watched Gena Rowlands' first just yesterday! Of course he's an evil intense little punk, but I do love to see him steal Jack Kelly's bathrobe and display other sadistic tendencies!

In spite of a seemingly minuscule budget, The Night Holds Terror doesn't look too bad and the acting is surprisingly okay? Personally I would not have cast 28-year-old Jack Kelly as a boring, white picket fence dad though. He was so much more fun when allowed to be slightly unscrupulous in Maverick.

"Those fellas are mean babies!" - said David Cross. No, not that one! The 50's actor playing one of the ruffians. You know, the one that kinda looks, but definitely sounds like David Schwimmer.

Look, The Night Holds Terror is a great title, and John Cassavetes acts decades ahead of anybody else here (which isn't that much of an accomplishment when almost everyone else feels like a cartoon, mind you), but besides some greatly enjoyable old-timey technology and a grounded representation of 50's police procedure (which feels almost like a documentary with that overbearing narration), there's just not much else going on here. And it ain't really a full-blown home invasion thriller, like the description would have you believe, either. Like most films from the era, there's a certain charm to it, I guess...

A gritty and suspenseful crime thriller that builds tension from its opening scene, right up until it ends. John Cassavetes, only in his mid-20s, gives an intense performance as one of the escaped convicts terrorizing the Courtier family.

Like most of the Stones thrillers, The Night Holds Terror benefits from their methodical style. The authenticity and location shooting makes the tension more felt. It is hold back some by non-descript acting, but it is a very solid piece of true crime.

okay I think I've found a new guilty pleasure because I am seriously not seeing why nobody liked this as much as I did, also John Cassavetes can make anything just a bit better (:

Okay so this isn't exactly "good" but consider this: i love it

Was really enjoying the film at first but it loses a lot of steam in the second half, John Cassavetes is great though.

Feels only right to watch John Cassavetes' first film today on his birthday, especially since I watched Gena Rowlands' first just yesterday! Of course he's an evil intense little punk, but I do love to see him steal Jack Kelly's bathrobe and display other sadistic tendencies!

In spite of a seemingly minuscule budget, The Night Holds Terror doesn't look too bad and the acting is surprisingly okay? Personally I would not have cast 28-year-old Jack Kelly as a boring, white picket fence dad though. He was so much more fun when allowed to be slightly unscrupulous in Maverick.

11/29/2020

Guy goes into another man’s home and puts on his silk gown and ascot tie. Hell of a bad guy.

You know a kidnapping/ransom movie is a real stinker when the most riveting scenes are them showing how the old timey telephone tracing worked with all these little old men running around a giant room of pistons and wires in order to get even one of the numbers that they then have to hobble all the way back to the other side of the room to yell out to the young guy to get the operator on the line so they can call the police station who has to call the headquarters. RIVETING. 

The acting in this isn’t even bad, shout out to young and evil Cassavetes, but it’s such a hokey story with dramatic voice over narration so that the whole thing feels more like a weird after school special than a movie.

Home invasion thriller turns into police procedural halfway through, because it's the 1950s and audiences need reassuring.

High Matinee.

25 year-old john cassavetes breaks into a house, holds a family hostage, steals the husband's bathrobe, and goes to sleep in the couple's bed, and this family has the AUDACITY to be mad about it??? i'm sorry i cannot relate to these people