Fear in the Night

Maxwell Shane’s Fear in the Night is not a very good film, but it deserves to be watched because it’s weird and surreal and based on a Cornell Woolrich yarn, which makes it historically notable. It stars Star Trek‘s DeForest Kelley as a bank teller who wakes up one morning with blood on his wrist, choke marks on his neck, and a key in his pocket, having dreamed that he killed a man and stuffed his body in a closet in an octagonal, mirrored room. He tells his brother-in-law Cliff Herlihy (Paul Kelly), who joins him in an investigation of dream versus reality. The plot lacks integrity, the performances lack depth and the cinematography lacks imagination, but there’s something so earnest about the production that it holds a special place in the heart of many noir fans.