One of several low-budget mellers directed by scriptwriter
Maxwell Shane,
Fear in the Night was based on the short story -Nightmare by
William Irish (pseudonym for
Cornell Woolrich). In his first starring role,
DeForest Kelley plays Vince Grayson, a young man who has a terrible nightmare wherein he sees himself killing someone. When he awakens, Vince finds a couple of pieces of evidence indicating that his dream was no dream. Detective Cliff Herlihy (
Paul Kelly) doesn't believe that Vince has killed anyone, but agrees to investigate. While taking shelter from a storm in a remote mansion, the detective and the young man stumble upon a mirrored room -- just like the one in Vince's dream. The frenzied Vince is nearly driven to suicide, but Detective Herlihy deduces that his friend's nightmare was the handiwork of Lewis Belnap (
Robert Emmett Keane), the mansion's owner, who is a dabbler in hypnosis.
Fear in the Night was remade in 1956 as
Nightmare, with
Kevin McCarthy and
Edward G. Robinson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide