El cuarto cerrado

Even though I was tremendously looking forward to "The Shuttered Room", for a variety of reasons, it pains me to say the film never at one point surpasses the level of mediocrity.

Here are a few reasons why I eagerly anticipated the film: #1 - the source material. The script is adapted from a short story by none other than H. P. Lovecraft. He's one of the greatest authors who ever lived, and his bleak tales always guarantee horrifying denouements. #2 - The cast. Next to the unearthly beautiful Carol Lynley ("Bunny Lake is Missing", "The Poseidon Adventure") and the reliable veteran Flora Robson ("The Sea Hawk", "Wuthering Heights"), the film stars the downright brilliant Oliver Reed in the role that suits him best, namely the brutal and perverted village thug. #3 - the location and set pieces. Although filmed in England, "The Shuttered Room" takes place in New England (= Lovecraft Country), more particularly on a remote little island community. And you know, in horror movies, small islands and their inhabitants are always ominous!

As you see, all the ingredients for a splendid horror-cocktail are there, but regrettably the script is severely lacking. Lovecraft's "The Shuttered Room" is a SHORT story, and maybe that's what went wrong here. Quite obviously, there is something evil in the attic of the old mill, which links back to the childhood trauma of Susanna Whately and the family curse auntie Agatha keeps raving about, but the script prefers to conceal this vital aspect until the climax. Instead, it's a sort of "Straw Dogs" with Lynley and her elderly husband (Gig Young) being pursued and terrorized by the village yokels led by Oliver Reed. Interestingly, "Straw Dogs" only came out four years later and became a massive cult hit. And besides, even when "The Shuttered Room" reaches its long-overdue finale, it's still a massive letdown.

As stated by several other folks here, I watched this movie with my twin sister when I was about 10 years old on the local station horror movie hour and was terrified by it. I remember it even now, how eerie the whole atmosphere of the movie was and the feeling of Carol Lynley's character being watched by some unseen but evil being, it really scared me as a child and I would love to watch it now to see if it would have the same impact. Probably not, but if you ever get the chance to see this film, I would encourage you to do so. Kind of weird too, Gig Young, who played the husband, went on to murder his wife in real life and then kill himself. Pretty weird.

I saw this film years ago when it used to air on independent TV stations in the afternoon & haven't seen it since. Pity because this is a good film. Unfortunately, it never made it to video.

In the early years of Reed's career he did mostly horror films where he was the "true Phantom Menace". He had a distintive glare that became his trademark. Well, he shows all that & then some in this film. This story centers around insanity, murder & family skeletons in the closet or in this case, in the shuttered room.

If you like "Jane Eyre", I think you will like this one.

I mirror the comments of the plethora of those before me. Saw this as a 9-year-old on the telly and it stayed with me for a long time. The suffocatingly Gothic overtones, lovingly twisted POV camera-work, evocative jazz score and wonderfully creepy, dilapidated locations still spiral through my brain from time to time. Perhaps most memorable are Oliver Reed's warped, leering eyes staring at a helpless Carol Lynley through the dollhouse window, which has to be one of the more simultaneously terrifying and arty shots from any horror movie of the past 30 years.

This is a flick where the sum of the parts may not quite match the individual moments, but what a bunch of moments they are. The extended cat and mouse stalking of Lynley, the bizarre and frightening secret in the basement, Gig Young and Oliver Reed's spot-on hammy genre acting, the moody cinematography; it all adds up to a movie any fan of Gothic or horror will definitely want to check out. Surprisingly tense and graphic given the era; easily one of the more suggestively violent movies I ever saw on local channels during daylight hours in the 1970s, and considerably more graphic than PSYCHO but clearly owing a debt to it. Quintessential movie for Oliver Reed and Carol Lynley fans; among their best, most interesting work on celluloid.

weird hearing Sutherland's voice coming out of Zebulon odd casting two Brits in film as well as location Australian, Americans double for Young how'd she get bra back on? cool ending with aunt and 'thing' "The Shuttered Room" is a very good horror movie. It's consistently creepy and offered a few surprises.

The film is difficult to place. While some of the cast are Americans and the countryside looks a bit American (especially with the American car which is prominently seen throughout the film). But, the film also features some Brits and at least on Aussie--giving the film a rather strange pedigree. But, this is a minor concern.

"The Shuttered Room" begins in the past. Some weird creature is living in a house and has escaped--and Dad rushes off to return it to its attic lair. Now the film jumps ahead about 20 years. The young child in the beginning of the film has grown (now played by Carol Lynley) and has returned to this weird village after having been removed and raised in New York soon after the initial scene. She has now returned with her husband (Gig Young) to reclaim her home--one that apparently has sat gathering dust during this intervening period. But the family matriarch (Flora Robson) warns them not to enter the home...it's cursed! While you know that they will eventually move in to the home, in the meantime another evil force is afoot. The lady's cousin (Oliver Reed) is a bit of a sociopath and he and his friends seem bent on rape and/or murder--all for 'kicks'! So who should the couple fear--the cousin, the 'thing that is in the attic' or both?

Overall, the film does a great job of setting a creepy mood and providing lots of terror for the couple. The acting isn't bad, though the idea of Young playing an action hero seemed a bit silly--as did the bad use of a double in his fight scenes (it's so obviously NOT him). Howver, the good easily outweighs the bad and it's well worth your time if you like creepy movies...and I do.

By the way, early in the film it was rather disconcerting to hear Zebulon speak, as it clearly was NOT his voice but Donald Sutherland's! I am not sure why they had him dub this man, but he is listed in the IMDb credits for this.