no director have be imitate more than alfred hitchcock and and still of the night be yet another in a seemingly endless line of homage to the master work . after the gory excess of suspense movie like dress to kill and it be quite nice to get back to a style of thriller making that be comparatively subtle . still of the night doesn not particularly rely on bucket of blood and graphic violence yet and thanks to skillful direction and atmospheric music and clever writing and it be genuinely jumpy from start to finish . robert benton and fresh from his best director oscar for kramer v kramer and have fashion a very effective thriller in which a few loose end in the plotting be paper over with an air of sustained tension . psychiatrist sam rice ( roy scheider ) be go through a mid life crisis and really only have his work to cling to in order to maintain a semblance of normality . among sam patient be a guy name george bynum ( josef sommer ) and an antiques dealer and and it be the gruesome murder of george that plunge sam into a life threaten mystery . shortly after the kill george neurotic mistress brooke reynolds ( meryl streep ) turn up at sam practice seek psychiatric help . with his own emotion hardly at their sharp and sam quickly find himself draw to his new patient . but be he play a dangerous game with his own life . sam mother and grace ( jessica tandy ) and warn him that he should not trust this alluring stranger . the detective investigate the early murder and joe vitucci ( joe grifasi ) and point up evidence that may indicate brooke be actually the killer . sam be convince that she be innocent and but a the mystery unravels he find himself in increasingly perilous danger . a in any good suspense movie and the solution be keep well disguise until the very end . benton delight in lead his audience up various blind alley and add layer to the mystery and generate constant tension about what will happen next . the actor be uniformly excellent represent scheider convincing a the weary shrink and streep twitchy and suspicious a a potential killer and grifasi likably plod a the detective on the case and and tandy brilliant ( a always ) a the hero worry mother . the film be shoot in grey and dull colour that link very nicely with the dreary dead end state that scheider character have reach in his life . this low key approach also heighten the film suspense and place the frighten event into an everyday context that everyone in the audience can relate to . with it 87 minute run time and the film stick closely to what be necessary and doesn not get lose amidst ton of extraneous detail . the lapse in logic prevent still of the night from be a truly outstanding movie and but on the whole it remain a solid and very commendable thriller . those who like these kind of movie will and i be sure and thoroughly enjoy this one .