Cry Terror

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Buy This Item Cry Terror by Lions Gate  Available from Amazon  $14.98  on 8-31-2008     a true classic to behold! i caught this the other day on tv and was utterly blown away you've got james mason and inger stevens as husband and wife for one thing! WOW! well, jimmy inadvertantly helps the bad guy (rod!) build a bomb; gets himself, wife and daughter kidnapped by said bad-guy and friends (jack klugman, angie dickinson!)as a consequence, and then things start to REALLY go HAYWIRE! a guaranteed action-packed AND SURPRISINGLY SUSPENSEFUL late fifties black and white gem for sure! also, kevin mcarthy stars as a detective; and only several years after the fantastic "the thing". in fact, the brisk dialogue is reminiscent of that great film! PLEASE DON'T MISS THIS BABY! if you see it available, SNAP IT UP! Reader Reviews "Cry Terror!" is a tremendously-entertaining flick, featuring an exceptional cast and an exciting script that might have you experiencing sweaty palms by the final act. A host of top Hollywood talent share the cast list for "Cry Terror!", including Rod Steiger, James Mason, Inger Stevens, Angie Dickinson, Neville Brand, and Jack Klugman. The twisting and turning plot involves extortion, kidnapping, murder threats, money, a bomb, a nerve-racking deadline, and electrocution. With all of this going on, this 96-minute film doesn't leave much room for a bathroom break while viewing it. Rod Steiger, age 33 here, is powerful and persuasive as the leading bad guy. Dickinson, Klugman, and Brand are all on Steiger's team of baddies. While Mason and Stevens are excellent as the victimized husband-and-wife couple. "Cry Terror!" was made in 1958, premiering in theaters on May 2nd of that year. It was filmed in black-and-white, and features a lot of outdoor scenes, including the grippingly-realistic segments showing a near-panic-stricken Inger Stevens frantically driving on the crowded New York streets as she attempts to meet the demands of the kidnappers with a satchel of cash in tow. No fake, simulated, in-a-studio "rear projection" footage here. This was all filmed right in the car and on the N.Y. city streets and highways. Very effective scene. This "car scene", with Inger driving, reminds me very much of an episode of "The Twilight Zone" starring Miss Stevens, which also involved a lot of automobile driving with Inger behind the wheel. That "TZ" episode ("The Hitch-Hiker"; 1960), like the "Cry Terror!" driving sequences, also relied on actual "camera in the car" filming, with much of this footage showing Inger only from behind as she negotiates the streets at high speed. Given the era that these two programs ("Terror!" and "Zone") were filmed, 1958 and 1960, and the somewhat heavier and bulkier camera equipment that was used back then, it's always seemed to me that this type of "on location" shooting of scenes within a moving vehicle was a bit ahead of its time. The much-smaller "mini-cams" were still years away from being introduced, making this type of action/car scene a much more difficult proposition. Or, at least, I certainly *think* it would have been a more tedious task back in the '50s and early '60s. This out-of-print VHS video was originally released by Lionsgate/Fox Home Video in June of 1989. If you somehow come across a copy -- give it to *me* post-haste, because I need one too! LOL! :-)

Cry Terror Available from Amazon Price: $14.98 Updated on 8-31-2008.

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