House of the Living Dead

It starts out really good, with a lot of elements and characters laid out to build suspense and great atmosphere, but by halfway through it narrows itself down to characters seriously wondering if an escaped stallion is behind the murders. Yes, a horse. And it tries to achieve a feel of all Hell breaking loose at the end with some psychedelic lights and crazy acting which both miss the mark. Worth seeing once, but I consider it to be to period-piece Hammer horror films what Space Mutiny was to Star Wars.

Oh, and in a dinner scene about halfway through, our heroine wears an outfit that somehow achieves an insupportable cleavage-to-breast ratio. Science geeks may want to study this scene just to see if they can figure out what laws of physics her corset's breaking. Really. Seriously.

Recently bought this in the Nightmare Worlds DVD 50-pack. Not sure if it's gotten its own release.

"An insane scientist has been experimenting with the transfer of souls between human beings. The crazed doctor has conducted his nefarious deeds upon even his own family members, including the exchange of his own soul into his brother's body. With his soul now inhabiting a new body, the madman believes he can continue his experiments uninterrupted," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.

The title "House of the Living Dead" may be more an attempt to cash in on prior successful motion pictures than a reflection of what goes on in this movie. The story might have been above average, with the cast and crew involved; but, the execution is severely flawed. The lugubriously languid production picks up (slightly) in the last quarter. Leading man Mark Burns (as Michael and Breck) tries awfully hard; he maintains an long screaming scene remarkably well. Shirley Anne Field is a welcome attraction. But, the movie doesn't work.

You know, this had some potential. The plot is out of that Baskerville, Pyncheon mode, where a family has had a history of horrible personages who have died unnatural deaths. There seems to be an almost satanic element at work. In the old days they would have felt that there was a curse because of some ancestor's evil actions. A man who is "cursed" and has an evil brother, brings his young fiancée to his home. His mother tries to drive her away because she wants to see the lineage end. The brother is apparently deformed and mad and stares from the window upstairs. This sound like a lot of fun. The down side is a rambling, endless story that goes on and on. There are a number of chases that contribute little to the events. The young woman is continuously roaming the mansion and it takes two or three minutes to get to a destination. The upside is that there is lots of suspense and some excellent surprises (not that it hasn't been done before). See this. It's OK.

On a Victorian-era plantation in South Africa, the cursed Brattling family endures yet more misfortune. In spite of the warnings of Lady Brattling, Sir Michael (Mark Burns), welcomes his fiancee, Mary (Shirley anne Field), to visit the estate. Meanwhile, Sir Michael's insane brother appears to carry out bizarre experiments in his laboratory, when he's not playing spooky songs on the organ, or creeping about the place.

Several deaths, both animal and human, ensue.

The wildly misnamed, HOUSE OF THE LIVING DEAD plays like a costume drama / murder mystery with horror elements. Most of this is in the form of mad science and occult shenanigans. The plot is intriguing, and the ending is completely bonkers...

While the title isn't strictly a misnomer as some reviewers have remarked, it remains misleading - this isn't a zombie movie per se but concerns a wealthy scientist, demented following a brain injury caused by a fall from an apparently primeval steed, conducting experiments on creatures in an attempt to capture their soul and transplant it into other beings. His aristocratic family run a farm in South Africa where the other son (Burns) is set to marry his English lass (Field), much to the chagrin of his fiercely protective mother (Inglis). A series of strange murders and rituals force Field to re-consider her commitment, as the enigma of the demented brother (locked away in the upper floor of the family mansion), becomes too much for her to ignore.

It's pure tripe wasting Field's considerable talents, and those of supporting actor Oxley as a concerned doctor whom Field befriends on the journey from England. Initially an affable character, Burns quickly becomes an arrogant aristocrat and borderline Oedipus complex to mother Inglis, who plays the family matriarch with all the usual pomp you'd expect. It's a relatively small cast lacking depth and familiarity beyond the three leads (Burns, Field and Oxley).

While the twist ending might leave some surprised, the revelations are lost potential, poorly executed and lacking suspense or thrills. Austin's movie relies on old-fashioned motifs like the club footed nut jobs who only come out at night and play the pipe organ, witch-doctors proffering sinister incantations that no one believes and chemical experiments that involve dozens of test tubes filled with colourful, smoky potions that make monkeys go berserk. Worse than dull, it promises a great revelation, then fails to deliver.