Dehydrator
01-06-2002, 02:34 PM
The most boring haunted-house flick I've seen this year. That doesn't say much but it's not a good start.
The Story is your typical dumb "oh-so-happy-family-gets-to-inherit-oh-so-haunted-house". In this case, it's presented with the hook that there is an old woman living upstairs and that the family is supposed to take care of her, while they are staying at the house.
Soon, weird shit starts to happen, like you didn't guess.
The problem here is that the writers loose every sense of logical plot about halfway through and instead of bringing forth the "old-woman" thing, throw in lots of really dumb and unlikely stuff. One completely useless scene involves a discussion of Mom ( Karen Black ) and Dad ( Oliver Reed ) about having or not-having sex. What about the crap with this annyoing kid trying to swim at a swimming pool who's running amok for no reason other than giving the movie an equally nonsenscial dramatic scene. The pieces just don't fit here, and in the end, everything makes zero sense anyway.
Not to mention that this movie could go down within 45 minutes and runs unbelievable 116 minutes. Unneccessery dialogue, hopelessy boring "spooky" stuff and all that moving at slug-speed without any real payoff. The subplot with the hearsedriver is sort of interesting but goes nowhere. If the house wants to keep the family, why does it do everything to scare the crap out of them? What is this final frame supposed to mean? It's basically the same as THE SHINING but with no purpose at all.
The finale ( a hopeless ripoff of PSYCHO )is kind of worthwhile, if you can let the fact go that it ( as much of the movie ) doesn't make any kind of sense. I know this is a horror movie and isn't supposed to make much sense but it doesn't do much as a horrorfilm either. It's not scary in the least and bores the viewer with endless buildup that has no purpose in the end at all.
The acting is uneven: Oliver Reed I found to be pretty unsympathic. He looks like he's gonna bash someone for most of the movie. And his attempts of looking scared don't work either. Karen Black does good as always ( or, mostely always ). The kid (Lee Montgomery ) makes zero impression and is rather annoying than anything else. The only one who seems to have fun with his role is the guy in the hearse. Bette Davis isn't bad as the disposable aunt either.
All in all, not recommended. A few good scenes and ideas in this mess but other than that, boring and unrewarding. See THE HAUNTING instead!
4/10
The Story is your typical dumb "oh-so-happy-family-gets-to-inherit-oh-so-haunted-house". In this case, it's presented with the hook that there is an old woman living upstairs and that the family is supposed to take care of her, while they are staying at the house.
Soon, weird shit starts to happen, like you didn't guess.
The problem here is that the writers loose every sense of logical plot about halfway through and instead of bringing forth the "old-woman" thing, throw in lots of really dumb and unlikely stuff. One completely useless scene involves a discussion of Mom ( Karen Black ) and Dad ( Oliver Reed ) about having or not-having sex. What about the crap with this annyoing kid trying to swim at a swimming pool who's running amok for no reason other than giving the movie an equally nonsenscial dramatic scene. The pieces just don't fit here, and in the end, everything makes zero sense anyway.
Not to mention that this movie could go down within 45 minutes and runs unbelievable 116 minutes. Unneccessery dialogue, hopelessy boring "spooky" stuff and all that moving at slug-speed without any real payoff. The subplot with the hearsedriver is sort of interesting but goes nowhere. If the house wants to keep the family, why does it do everything to scare the crap out of them? What is this final frame supposed to mean? It's basically the same as THE SHINING but with no purpose at all.
The finale ( a hopeless ripoff of PSYCHO )is kind of worthwhile, if you can let the fact go that it ( as much of the movie ) doesn't make any kind of sense. I know this is a horror movie and isn't supposed to make much sense but it doesn't do much as a horrorfilm either. It's not scary in the least and bores the viewer with endless buildup that has no purpose in the end at all.
The acting is uneven: Oliver Reed I found to be pretty unsympathic. He looks like he's gonna bash someone for most of the movie. And his attempts of looking scared don't work either. Karen Black does good as always ( or, mostely always ). The kid (Lee Montgomery ) makes zero impression and is rather annoying than anything else. The only one who seems to have fun with his role is the guy in the hearse. Bette Davis isn't bad as the disposable aunt either.
All in all, not recommended. A few good scenes and ideas in this mess but other than that, boring and unrewarding. See THE HAUNTING instead!
4/10