La muerte incierta

In India, during the colonial era, wealthy but arrogant plantation owner Clive Dawson has a steamy affair with a local beauty, but he abruptly breaks it off to return to Britain and marry the lovely upper-class Brenda. The native girl - Shaheen - doesn't deal well with rejection and speaks out a curse to Clive and the entire estate. When he returns with his bride Brenda, Shaheen allegedly committed suicide, but he firmly believes her wrathful spirit is still around. While Clive is too busy getting paranoid and convinced his ex-mistress turned into a tiger, his freaky son Rupert - from his first marriage - becomes rather friendly with Brenda.

Is it me, or does the plot summary sounds like it's coming from a sappy TV-soap opera, rather than from an early 70s euro-exploitation flick? The 1930s colonial setting is intriguing, but the plot is rather dull, and the horror elements really don't come to the surface. Still, though, there's something very ominous about the atmosphere, and the leading ladies (Mary Maude, Yelena Samarina and Rosalba Neri) are gorgeous.

I'm an admirer of writer/director José Ramón Larraz, for sure! Perhaps he's not as productive as his contemporary compatriot Jésus Franco, but he made two dozen of worthwhile horror films that between 1970 and 1990. "The Uncertain Death" is, together with "Symptoms" and "The House that Vanished", rather average. For his masterpiece, check out "Vampyres". For his most entertaining outings, look for the 80s trash-slashers "Edge of the Axe" and "Rest in Pieces".

In India in 1930 colonial cad Clive Dawson jilts his Indian bit on the side Shaheen, who promptly curses him. Returning from England to his Indian jungle mansion with a new bride he finds that Shaheen has committed suicide. When strange events start to occur Dawson starts to believe that Shaheen is still alive - and to crown it all there's a noisy tiger prowling around outside. This 1971 Spanish/Italian feature film (shot in India and Barcelona) is one of Spanish director Jose R. Larraz's rarer films, and deservedly so, being a macabre and rather forced and stagey family melodrama. It's also a 'psychological horror film', being about a guilt wracked, haunted man, and his struggle with the ghosts of his family's past, as he tries to keep creeping madness at bay (symbolised by that confounded beast outside). As with better Larraz films the psychological themes are tied to (and reflections of) the settings to create (in this case rather forced) atmosphere. But the story by Larraz is all rather turgid and theatrical.

Quite exotic Spanish horror movie we have here.A planter who lives with his son in a remote area of India has an affair with a native girl.On a trip to England he remarries and the native girl commits suicide.On his return he is seized by a superstitious fear and his wife and son become attracted to each other."La Muerte Incierta" is along with "Emma,Puertas Oscuras"(1974)one of the most obscure horror movies made by Jose Ramon Larraz.It's quite boring and unexciting ghost story with a little bit of gore and absolutely no nudity.Still it's nice to see lovely Mary Maude who was extremely memorable as a sadistic schoolgirl in Chicho Ibanez Serrador's "La Residencia"(1969).Plus the scenes of tiger attack are quite gruesome.6 out of 10.

India 1930: When white plantation owner Clive Dawson casts his Indian mistress aside, she puts a curse on the place and kills herself but the place was cursed with insanity long before that...

An older man, his young bride, his handsome son... something bad was bound to happen in the tropical heat but is it supernatural or inherited? Eurotrash goddess Rosealba Neri (a sultry cross between Ava Gardner and Nefertiti) plays the discarded concubine in a haunting, deliberately paced tale of white mischief in the jungle with nice period detail and an evocative score. Well done, Larraz. I was surprised to see the MGM logo of all things introducing the subtitled, letterboxed film.

British aristocrat Clive Dawson (Antonio Molino Rojo) returns to 1930s India with his new bride Brenda (Mary Maude). News of his marriage has forced his paramour Shaheen (Rosalba Neri) to commit suicide, but not before putting a curse on their stately mansion. Filmed the year before VAMPYRES, this is an attempt at a ghost story set in India. I'm sure the closest they got to India was the local curry restaurant in Spain as most of the India footage is stock footage. While the set up offers some promise, it isn't exploited to its full potential at all. Larraz can be accused of slow pacing in his films, but this might be the biggest offender. Literally nothing happens for the first hour. When it finally does, you only have 25 minutes left and, sadly, it isn't that thrilling.