And Soon the Darkness is a 1970 British movie directed by Robert Fuest and starring Pamela Franklin, Michelle Dotrice and Sandor Eles.
The story is about two young British nurses, Cathy (Dotrice) and Jane (Franklin) who are having a cycling vacation through the north of France, one of whom goes missing after they briefly separate and leaves the other in fear for her on for her own safety, while she catches sightings of a mysterious man named Paul (Eles).
It was remade in 2010, with the leads becoming two American girls played by Odette Annable as Ellie (the Cathy analogue) and Amber Heard as Stephanie (the Jane analogue) and the setting switched to Argentina.
The 1970 film provides examples of:
- Bilingual Bonus: The French in the movie is unsubtitled, but if you speak the language you might catch references to the fact that the road is considered a "mauvaise route" (bad road) and something horrible happened before.
- Conveniently Timed Attack from Behind: How Paul saves Jane at the end.
- Extremely Short Time Span: The whole movie takes place in less than a day, beginning in the morning and ending in late afternoon.
- Hair-Contrast Duo: Jane is a sensible brunette while Cathy is an impulsive blonde.
- Nothing Is Scarier: The film leaves the murderer's crimes, including Cathy's murder, off screen.
- Peek-a-Boo Corpse: The gendarme put Cathy's body in the closet where Jane hides from Paul.
- Police Are Useless: It's no use to call the gendarme for help because he's the killer.
- Shadow Archetype: The gendarme for Paul. Both are police officers, but while Paul is obsessed with the killer, the gendarme is the killer.
- Sex Equals Death: Cathy keeps talking about how much she wants to meet men and has an instant crush on Paul. She's kidnapped and murdered.
- Soundtrack Dissonance: The main theme
sounds like it belongs in a cheery comedy movie.
The 2010 remake:
- Spared by the Adaptation: Ellie, the Cathy equivalent is rescued by Stephanie, the Jane equivalent, in the remake. Subverted when she ends up dead anyway while escaping from the kidnappers.
