House of the Living Dead (1976)

the audience applauded

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Shot in South Africa, the location of this film lends a unique air of mystery to am otherwise fairly typical early 70's British thriller. While the story plays it safe, the scenery and camera work shines. the inside of the Bradley house is both chilling and gorgeous, and the beautiful lanscapes create an odd contrast to both the dark mansion, and the frightening plot. While it isn't the most innovative film, I can't help but feel that much of the negative reviews and ratings to cloud this film's online presence are the result of disappointment over the misleading film title.

As I watched this one I felt something was odd about it. While the cast seemed to all be English, the terrain and deep blue sky seemed somewhat foreign, so I was interested to learn afterwards that this is a South African production. It's a pretty rare thing to find a horror movie from that country, and this was probably the most interesting thing about this one. It's another costume horror, of which there were many back at the time this was released. Set in the 19th century, it centres on a young woman who travels to the plantation home of her fiancé, whose family has a grim history. The mother tries to encourage her to leave, while the other brother is an unseen lunatic in the attic. As is so often the way, a series of murders start happening. But are they a result of voodoo? Is it mad science at work? Or is this the work of…a horse!? All, is eventually revealed.The combination of a hokey mad scientist plot-line with traditional voodoo is slightly unusual. As is the way that animals are sometimes presented, with a major character being what can only be described as a so-called devil horse which the locals actually believe could be roaming around in the dead of night committing all the killings. The science bit is covered by the not entirely interesting idea of human soul transferal. So the story has quite a few disparate ideas kicking about and there is undoubtedly some potential in the set-up but the presentation is often quite meandering and uneventful. But it's overall actually not bad really, as there is some atmosphere generated in some of the night scenes depicting strange goings on and there is a quite well executed chase scene involving a hooded villain too. The South African setting adds something new as well which definitely elevates the material by itself. As I say, it doesn't always maximise its ideas and it is a bit messy but it does also have a lively ending to round things off. All things considered, despite a few faults, this one is definitely better than its reputation would suggest.

Right off the bat, I previously had no idea that South Africa made any horror films, so, simply in that, I learned something.Over a long career (1968-99), this was one of only three cinematic works that director Austin made (all in the early 70's)--usually he did TV work--and in fact, production value-wise, it seemed like made-for-TV fare. Basically a vineyard/plantation with black, witchcraft-practicing slaves, and the owner harbouring a dark secret: A genius twin brother, who was discredited in the medical community to begin with, and then, since an almost-fatal brain injury suffered in an accident a year ago, basically insane and confined to the mansion's attic.It was decently made and, as late-night fare, perfectly acceptable. It could have been made a lot better in more capable hands. The underlying ideas were very interesting, though only decently carried out, and the climax was completely predictable, though no less enjoyable. I got my copy very cheaply, in Mill Creek's 50-pack 'Nightmare Worlds', and it's watchable, no better, no less.

Mad scientist Dr. Breckinridge Brattling (robustly overplayed with eye-rolling histrionic glee by Mark Burns) who resides in a colonial vineyard in South Africa plots to steal people's souls and puts them in jars. Brattling embarks on a bloody murderous rampage in order to achieve his nefarious goal.While director Roy Austin manages to create a decent amount of reasonably spooky atmosphere and makes nice use of the desolate South African countryside, this movie nonetheless proves to be a pretty tedious chore to sit through due to the sluggish pace, a meandering narrative, Lionel Friedberg's flat cinematography, and the overly talky script by Marc Marais. Fortunately, the solid acting from a competent cast keeps this picture watchable, with especially praiseworthy work from Shirley Anne Field as the sweet Mary Anne Carew, Margaret Inglis as stern matriarch Lady Brattling, Dia Sydow as timid servant Lina, and, in an especially lively turn, Lynn Maree as creepy old hag Annie. Moreover, this film does finally come to exciting life during the thrilling climax, but it's a classic example of too little too late. An okay diversion.