The Nig​ht
    Visitor

THE NIGHT VISITOR is a folkloric and nightmarish parable about greed and revenge, where its sense of unreality is heightened in a town where half the people are seemingly Swedish and the other half are English (and much of the population is confined to a medieval castle-cum-asylum set by a frozen sea). Starring two actors who were at the time better known for their collaboration with Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, it can be seen as somewhat of an anti-thriller (at least in the first half). While events do occur, the pacing is deliberate, with Salem’s second escape shown in almost real time over about 15 minutes. Despite this, the film never feels dull, drawing viewers into its methodical unfolding and creating an almost hypnotic, slow-burning sense of unease. Those lacking patience for this type of storytelling (which was already slow even for the early 1970s) might find the pace too sluggish. However, viewers who stick with it will be rewarded with a clever thriller that gradually builds tension (so subtly you might not notice until it hits), and ends with a darkly humorous and beautifully ironic twist. It also gains a reputation as a proto-slasher in later scenes, where Salem confronts (and kills) one character in a garage with an axe and chases another.
 
THE NIGHT VISITOR had a shooting title SALEM COMES TO SUPPER, based on the original story by Sam Roecca. Exterior scenes were shot in Sweden, with some filming also taking place in Denmark, in early 1970. It was produced by former matinee idol Mel Ferrer, who appeared in many horror movies throughout the 1970s and 1980s, including two titled EATEN ALIVE (1976) and (1980). In a role originally coveted by Christopher Lee, Von Sydow, with his icy blue eyes, is perfect as the driven and haunted Salem. He never overplays his villainous role, but his performance remains chilling as a man who didn’t seem insane when he entered the asylum, but sure is now. Of course, he went on to play Father Merrin in the classic horror film THE EXORCIST (1973) a few years later. Fans of British ‘70s horror films will likely recognise Rupert Davies—here playing an ill-fated crooked lawyer—who later appeared in Pete Walker’s superb proto-slasher FRIGHTMARE (1974). THE NIGHT VISITOR was directed by Laslo Benedek, who is perhaps best known for the Marlon Brando film THE WILD ONE (1953).
 
In a sign of different times, this odd, slow-paced movie received a relatively wide theatrical release across North American screens by Florida-based Universal Marion Corporation (who also had a box office hit with the U.S. release of Dario Argento’s Giallo THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE (1970), with both films shown on a double bill. Gail Rock, writing in Women’s Wear Daily, called THE NIGHT VISITOR“A chilling, violent suspense thriller! It’s been so long since I’ve really been scared by a movie, I forgot how much fun it is!”The Toronto Star remarked, “… while it isn’t a first-rate thriller, it does work up a decent menace.” The critic in The Globe and Mail noted that, like PSYCHO (1960), this film was somewhat of a black comedy, and that it was “… bizarrely split between the bleak, lonely melancholia of Ingmar Bergman and playfully nerve-jangling of Alfred Hitchcock.” Gene Shalit, in Look Magazine, enthused, “If your flesh doesn’t crawl, it’s on too tight.” (A tagline, incidentally, was more or less co-opted for BLACK CHRISTMAS (1974)).
 
THE NIGHT VISITOR was re-released to theaters in 1981 by 21st Century Film Corporation under the title LUNATIC. The same company also distributed Romano Scavolini’s skeezy slasher NIGHTMARES IN A DAMAGED BRAIN the same year. That would have been an odd pairing, and it’s hard to say what the 42nd Street Grindhouse crowd thought of Laslo Benedek’s deliberately slow, esoteric folk horror film at the height of the slasher craze is lost to the mists of time.