Dear Dead Delilah

1972's "Dear Dead Delilah" was a popular title during the television rounds of the late 70's, a regular on both Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater and Cleveland's Hoolihan and Big Chuck. Remembered chiefly as Agnes Moorehead's last feature film (though she had some TV roles plus a voice in 1973's "Charlotte's Web"), the former co-star of Bette Davis in 1964's "Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte" gets her own starring vehicle in a similar vein, but on a lower budget. Whereas the death of Bruce Dern in that film was shocking for its time, the violence in this 1972 follow up is far bloodier and more disturbing, a fitting finale for a decade of aging actresses in modern horrors. Like the Bette Davis characters in both "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" and "Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte," the Agnes Moorehead character, Delilah Charles, has lived her entire life in the service of her late father, in this case running a plantation in Tennessee called South Hall (shot on location by legendary Nashville songwriter Jack Clement, who never produced another feature). The eldest in a family of four siblings, Delilah has seemingly been at death's door for some time, and has gathered the rest of the clan for a reading of her will. Will Geer plays cousin Ray Jurroe, who almost married Delilah years before, Michael Ansara plays brother Morgan, a gambler about to be imprisoned on a $40,000 debt, Dennis Patrick plays brother Alonzo, a pathetic doctor who has also fallen on hard times, and Anne Meacham plays alcoholic equestrian sister Grace, who freely carries on with Richard (Robert Gentry) behind the back of his wife Ellen (Elizabeth Eis), Delilah's niece and trusted nurse for the past three years. Richard has been supplying heroin for sadly addicted Alonzo, and is also responsible for bringing in a reformed ax murderess, Luddy Dublin (Patricia Carmichael), who had served 30 years in an asylum after chopping up her abusive mother. While the family objects to Delilah's decision to leave the house and grounds to the state, they are especially mystified by her revelation that Poppa's mythical $600,000 not only exists, but is available for whoever finds it. One by one, the cast is killed off, occasionally in extremely gruesome fashion, and its always Luddy cleaning things up afterward, so no one among the household is even aware that there's a murderer in their midst (manservant Marshall simply disappears from the film). Noted horror author John Farris has very few movie credits, such as "When Michael Calls," a 1972 TV movie, and Brian De Palma's "The Fury," so it's something of a surprise that he would undertake to both write and direct this feature (the only one he ever directed), but his sharp dialogue, expertly delivered by a superb cast, makes the rather talky first half a real joy to watch. Agnes Moorehead delivers a wonderful performance confined to a wheelchair, a real tour de force of regal Southern hospitality, and her bitter confrontations with various family members are laced with sly humor. Dismissed in its time as a cheap Bette David knockoff, and further under appreciated today as just plain boring, the film's reputation is unlikely to improve with today's fast paced audiences. It aired four times on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater, first on Nov 12 1977 (followed by second feature 1932's "The Mummy"), then solo appearances on Mar 1 1980, Feb 14 1981 (Happy Valentine's Day!), and July 24 1982.

I thought the acting in this movie was great. Much better than your normal B-horror movies. Moorehead had a full sculpted character with perfect facial expressions, southern accent and dry, humorless yet honest remarks. I couldn't decide if I liked her or hated her, which is probably what she was trying to do.

The character of Luddy was unique, as well. She had an eerie presence to her, probably because of all the eye makeup she was in. Her character gave the movie more intrigue because you don't really understand what her purpose is. The young Luddy was interesting looking with her bad eye. I wonder why they didn't incorporate the bad eye into the older Luddy..??

I even liked Buffy and her line, "That's a big incompatibility between us because I could NEVER imagine drinking a martini without an olive!!" This is the angriest we see her, and it does a great job showing her optimistic, happy-go-lucky spirit amongst the white, spoiled, snobby people she's with. The disgusted glare she gets from Delilah when she puffs on a cigar was one of my favorite parts.

Even the characters of Grace and Marshall were well acted and unique. And Robert Gentry is pretty hot!

The acting and interesting characters make this movie more of drama than a horror. HOWEVER, these immensely gory scenes seem to come out of nowhere just to shake you up. I like this style! It's like a classy AND campy horror movie. Not that pure white-bred, rich, plantation owners in the south are really classy, but it gives you that illusion, anyway.

Rent this if you want to see a horror movie that strays from the usual b-horror path.

'Dear Dead Delilah' is a twisted low-budget whodunnit horror exploitation flick blended with gothic melodrama and a dose of giallo elements thrown into the mix, creating a rather fun ride. The movie boasts some wonderfully gory death scenes, hammy acting and a macabre sense of humour. But what holds it back from being great is the lack of visual style and the sluggish pace where it takes an awfully long time to find its sense of rhythm, but once it gets there then it becomes a lot more entertaining.

The plot = An elderly southern matriarch Delilah Charles (Agnes Moorhead) invites her family to her Plantation estate to search for the money her late father left to her on her property, but soon enough someone starts killing off the family members one by one.

The movie has a rather quirky charm to it and a gritty gothic atmosphere with some enjoyable soap opera elements, effective red herrings and plenty of colourful characters. However, there are quite a few problems with this flick, for starters the clear lack of direction as the movie seems to amble from one scene to the next without any real structure and it takes way too long for something to happen, but once the murders happen, it does almost make up for the long boring dialogue scenes and lack of plot development. This feels more like an acquired taste sort of film that you got to be in the right kind of mood for, I found it okay though, not something I'd seek out to own or watch again though.

The cast here is rather decent with Agnes Moorehead in her final film role delivering an delightful and entertaining performance as the over the top matriarch Delilah, she clearly had fun with the role and so did the audience. Patricia Carmichael was also fun as the housekeeper Luddy with a murderous past and delivers a decent performance. Anne Meacham also delivers a standout and perfectly hammy performance as the erratic drunk Grace.

Overall 'Dear Dead Delilah' is a fine 70's low budget oddity that doesn't quite rank as a lost classic, but there's just enough entertainment value to it.

I found that the plot was rather unique, no one in the story is completely perfect. with the main character being a former convict. It would be interesting to see a modern day remake of it! The southern plantation is a little cliche but the gore and the classiness of the movie makes up for that. The acting is wonderfully good especially from a b-movie.

Story of a heavily dysfunctional Southern family. They've all gathered at the mansion of the head of the family Delilah (Agnes Moorehead). She's dying and has hidden a large amount of money somewhere on the estate but won't say where. Someone starts killing off family members with an axe. Who's doing it and where is the money?

Pretty good movie. It's very low budget and was only previously available in edited prints in lousy shape. It's just been remastered and looks great. The script is interesting and the acting is very good--especially by Moorehead in her last theatrical film. As for blood and gore--there's not much but what is there is pretty strong. So--a good drive-in movie from the 1970s. It's great to see it uncut and remastered.