Deadly Manor

I'm trying to understand what would possess a bunch of people to say "hey, let's break into this creepy house because it's about to rain. Even if someone lives there, I'm sure they won't mind." Was this a thing people used to do or was it always something that only ever happened in bad B-movies?

Other than that, Deadly Manor also happens to be one of the most boring movies I've ever seen in my life.

A group of friends headed to a lake for a little weekend fun pick up a dangerous hitchhiker and then they stop off at a seemingly deserted mansion instead of sleeping in their car when it gets dark. Little do they know that the house is inhabited by a psychotic killer who will spend the rest of the evening dispatching of them in the most boring ways imaginable.

Deadly Manor's plotting is so nonsensical it sometimes feel like watching someone else's dream. People pick up and believe random hitchhikers, they walk into creepy mansions that don't belong to them to sleep, they go off and investigate strange noises in the night, etc. The acting is about as good as this story deserves, which is to say that it's equally as uninteresting. Nothing about this movie makes any sense and, even worse, it's pretty boring and doesn't even have a few stylish death scenes to make up for it.

A bunch of idiots break down and decide to break into a mansion they don't own that's in the middle of the woods. Obviously, someone who lives there isn't thrilled and kills them in uninspired ways.

Deadly Manor is one of the worst movies I've ever been unfortunate enough to view. The plot is non-existent, the characters are idiotic, and the kills aren't gory or interesting enough to make up for it. It does have a great central location, but that's about all I can recommend about it.

Some friends break down and don't want to stay in the car as it thunderstorms, so they hike to an abandoned house, let themselves in, and are surprised when a masked killer does away with them for breaking into their house.

Nothing about Deadly Manor makes any sense. Even the premise itself is silly. What rational group of people would all nod their heads and say "yes" to the idea of breaking into a creepy looking mansion in the middle of nowhere just so they won't have to stay in their car as it rains? Even at under 90 minutes, the film drags because we can't relate to any of these people why they're doing what they're doing. You'd think that, knowing their premise was inept, they'd at least try to spice it up with some clever kills here and there, but I can't remember a single kill in this movie and I watched it last night.

"Deadly Manor" was José Ramón Larraz's final stab at the slasher movie following 1988's "Edge of the Axe," and this offering has a different flavor to it, and is perhaps more bizarre. It follows a group of young people who, for no legitimate reason, decide to stay the night at an abandoned mansion in the woods. Outside is a wrecked car converted into a shrine, and photos of a beautiful woman are pasted on the walls throughout the house. Of course, they start to die one by one as the night rolls on.

As is the case with most Larraz's films, "Deadly Manor" is more an exercise in atmosphere than it is anything else. The bare bones of the plot are standard and fairly unremarkable, though the finer details of it all--including the killer and motives--are a bit offbeat. The film is at its most effective when it lingers on these details, and the recurrent shots of the woman's photographs that adorn the walls are off-putting and at times notably creepy; while she is not onscreen, it instills a menacing presence.

Where the film is a bit weak is in its pacing; the film seems to lag in the middle, and works its way toward setting up a red herring that proves meaningless before the kids are hacked and slashed in a rapid-fire succession. The film does surprise in that it subverts expectation of who the hero or heroes are going to be, but the last 10 minutes ultimately feel a bit anticlimactic.

Overall, "Deadly Manor" makes for an enjoyable watch due to its atmospheric backdrop, accentuated by some very good cinematography. The film is fairly run-of-the-mill in most regards, and much less offbeat than "Edge of the Axe," but just weird enough to keep you on your toes. Especially worthwhile for fans of late '80s aesthetics. 6/10.