Scream... and Die!

"The House that Vanished" (alternately known as "Scream... and Die!" follows a London fashion model Valerie Jennings who accompanies her boyfriend to an abandoned house in the middle of the woods for reasons unknown to her; he claims there is something he needs to find there. The two end up witnessing a murder, and while Valerie manages to escape, her boyfriend-and the house-seem to vanish.

Directed by Jose Ramon Larraz, who directed the fantastically atmospheric "Symptoms" directly after this, "The House that Vanished" is an underrated and overlooked giallo-inspired horror effort that exudes atmosphere extremely well. The well-known American title of the film, "The House that Vanished," is weirdly alluring, and part of what drew me into obtaining the film in the first place. Sounds fascinating, right? It is, at least for the majority. The first forty minutes or so of the film truly leave the viewer itching for what is going to happen next, and the apparent disappearance of the house itself creates an ample mystery to be solved.

When the film wraps itself into a conclusion in the last act, things do feel somewhat anticlimactic; the surprise somewhat falls apart as the inevitable conclusion comes into sight, but that aside, I still found this film remarkably entertaining and well-made. The dimly-lit interiors of the titular house are ominous and cold, contrasting well with Valerie's' proper London flat. The cinematography is also effective, and the shots of the killer, appearing only as hands, feet, or weapon, are reminiscent of many a giallo. It's clear Larraz took his cues from the Italian cinema of the time.

All in all, "The House that Vanished" is an effective and atmospheric effort, enhanced greatly by its moody visuals and a relatively engaging mystery at its core. Though not quite as chilling as "Symptoms," it is one of Larraz's better films, and also unfortunately one of his lesser-known. 7/10.

SCREAM...AND DIE! (or "The house that vanished" (1973))is the unknown piece of horror and sex that the master José Ramón Larraz did in England in the seventees. It's an erotic thriller with psychopatic murderer (Karl Lanchbury) perfomed by a beautiful model called Valerie (terrific Andrea Allan)involved in a haunting mistery and sadistic murders occurred in a isolated manor in the forest at midnights. Scream and die has an excellent and very particular quality in images and atmosferes. The movie is slow, yes, but this thing is normal in Larraz's movies: the story is very slow and predictable, but it's too sexy (the love scenes are really good and erotic) and brutal sometimes, and has the mark from the director of masterpieces as "Vampyres" and "Symptoms", both from 1974. The fog, tne night, the sounds of the killer walking with his black gloves following Valerie, the anguish in her face in her firsts shots, the slowly music give to the film a personal sight. The first murder seen by the hidden Valerie and husband as intimate witnesses and the escape from the manor are a classic composition of horror shots, wonderfully executed by the "voyeurisitic filmmaker" with a rare and genuine talent. It's a really brutal moment of sophisticated murder and "naïve" sex. Scream and die has the very personal "touch" of the catalanian director, all the constants that are in the most part of his baroque, sensual and horrific world (Emma puertas oscuras,La muerte incierta,Vampyres, Symptoms,Estigma,Whirpool, Deviation or Deadly manor) are present in here. The spiral of terror and tension grows very slowly -step by step- describing the world of this sexy model for fashion photographers in a continuated state of danger. Larraz creates a really personal style in a very traditional thriller that must be remembered by the tension,the british locations in Kent in winter,the quiet and dead moments of inusually fascination, the use of the photography, the artistic colors and the incredible dark shots of nights, the typical "english" fog, the horror moments and the clever sex that impressed me a lot in my adolescence. Scream and die has a kind of elegance in the horror genre that others horror thrillers hasn't. All the personal obsessions of José Larraz are here in a fine lesson of cinematography in his best period of his career, the british period. The fans of José Larraz need to know his firsts features, as "Whirpool" (1970) and "Deviation" (1971)-nobody has said anything more specific about these movies? (Please: more information and reviews in IMDB or other places,webs, etc.) and his last contribution tot the terror lately in "Deadly manor"(Savage lust, 1990)produced by his old british friend Brian Smedley-Aston. When the fans of José Ramón Larraz, Brian Smedley-Aston (editor of "Performance" ,etc.), his actresses and his horrific world will have a web or a personal page about the director? Where are the fans of this spanish/british filmmaker?. Goodbye!

Decent and intriguing movie in the great Giallo tradition including horrible murders . A terror film with a twist dealing with a beginner fashion model called Valerie, in search of adventure, is invited by her boyfriend on his expedition to some empty mansion, at a lonely English country house , hoping to take some money there . The estate, however, isn't quite what it seems and things go wrong when strange events start happening . Suddenly , the girl discovers that they are not alone in the house . But the owners are not going to notice the uninvited guests while making love passionately . That's just ending their caresses that a man brutally kills his partner. In horror, she runs out of the house, losing a thief friend on the way. When the fear passed the next morning, she decides to go back to the place of the strange incident, but there was no mansion there. But her search leads to an acquaintance with Paul , a suspicious young man , passionate about classical music and the secular manners of the last century. Is it too soon to talk about '72...that time Paul and Valerie fell in love at first sight and began searching for a place to have an affair -- and they kept searching until they found... Are You Planning an Affair? We Can Give You 7 Good Reasons Not to Have Your Next Affair at "The House That Vanished"-And They're All Dead !! 1. George 2. Marsha 3. Ted 4. Linda 5. Ronnie 6. Alice 7. Larry 8 . If You Have Ever Lived Alone, You Will Never Forget..

An interesting and terrifying movie with tension , thrills , chills, slashing suspense and predictable conclusion. It is an enjoyable film by taking parts here and there of other films , although , of course , inferior to the Italian Giallos that quickly established themselves as classics in its field and whose frames have been very imitated since , especially the series killer wearing gloves with which commits astonishingly bloody crimes . ¨The house that vanished¨ packs a chilling feeling of incipient madness that has seldom been realised with such imagination and skill , containing some creepy and surprising scenes . Larraz's direction is slow but deliberate , never missing a chance of jolting the audience with a sudden shock . This disturbing horror movie was such a critical and public success at the time , but unfortunately after being forgotten , and nowadays recuperated from obscurity and considered to be a cult movie . Acceptable acting from Andrea Allan who shows efficiently all the agony of a tormented mind in her eyes due to a continuous stalking . Also passable interpretation from a mostly unknown cast , such as : Karl Lanchbury , Maggie Walker , Peter Forbes-Robertson and Judy Matheson. Special mention for the thrilling and suspenseful musical score by Terry Warr.

The motion picture was professional and stylistically directed by Jose Ramón Larraz . Larraz was a much-loved 70s , 80s creator of shockers who deceased in 2013 ; he started in cinema world by casual way when he meets the famous director Josef Von Stenberg running a cinematographic course in Brussels . Larraz was a director of horror and erotic films and former comic book illustrator and fashion photographer . Worked in England as Joseph Larraz, and in Spain, using the pseudonym Joseph Braunstein . Larraz subsequently shot horror classics , cult obscurities , euro-trash , and even some sexploitation . As he filmed his first movies in England , plenty of terror , suspense and sex , such as ¨Whirlpool¨ (1970) , ¨Deviation¨(1971) , ¨La Muerte Incierta¨(1972) , ¨Scream or die¨(1973) and including ¨Symptoms¨ (1974) that owes a lot to ¨Polanski's Repulsion¨ and ¨Hitchcock's Psychosis¨, starred by Angela Pleasence and Peter Vaughan . He also shot soft-cores and then Jose Ramón returns Spain filming horror and semi-exploitative movies , such as ¨Estigma¨ , ¨Ritos Sexuales Del Diablo¨, ¨Al Filo del Hacha¨ and ¨Descanse en Piezas¨ , imitating the American Slashers of the 70s and 80s¨. His most successful film is this ¨Vampyres¨ about bloodsuckers who get victims to pull over hitchhiking , played by Playboy young models with sexy bodies , blending arty house , horror and erotic situations . Scream... and Die!, rating : 6/10. Decent terror movie . Most hardcore Euro horror fans will appreciate the kinkiness of this film as that is what gives it its distinctive flavour . A compelling movie that's a must for connoisseurs of the cinema's darker corners.

THE HOUSE THAT VANISHED is pretty good atmospheric psychological thriller. I had very little hope for it when I started watching this Larraz film. To make matters worse, the video transfer is very dark, grainy and the sound had some weird looping technical glitch. I quickly thought then that the movie flatlined from the get go, certainly during the scene with the woman undressing in front of the killer, which was a tad ridiculous. But when the movie ended, to my surprise, I actually enjoyed it. The film is not the greatest ever made and there are a lot of faults to it (pacing is one of them) but the atmosphere is very good and the story is more about the intertwining aspects of location and identity than horror or violence. THE HOUSE THAT VANISHED reminded me a lot of Mario Bava's HATCHET FOR THE HONEYMOON. It's like a twisted soap opera. This film deserves a better transfer, on video or DVD, than the one that's for sale on eBay (from Media), which I bought for 50 cents!!!

The throat-grabbingly monikered 'Scream and Die!' aka 'The House That Vanished' (1973) is another relatively obscure, José Ramón Larraz 70s horror excursion that is entirely undeserving of its current ignominious position of lost title. All the requisite, Larraz terror-traits are in abundance here, luridly libidinous, scantily clad buxom lovelies, creaky, dimly-lit, doom-laden domiciles with some elusive, sexually 'unusual' maniac enthusiastically slaying a series of shrieking, tantalizingly top-heavy females!

The Giallo-esque plot of some sordidly sinister, shadow-stalking, black-gloved killer rarely strays from convention, but where the estimable, Larraz succeeds, and many other genre filmmakers so often fail is that he manages to excitingly generate a palpably erotic and decadent tone amongst all the heavy-breathing, gleefully gory 'gash and slash'. Complementing the sublime plenitude of fecund, candle-lit décolletage, he also darkly infuses the admittedly generic premise with ominous oodles of genuinely unsettling Gothic motifs. After reading a few glibly dismissive reviews of 'Scream...and Die' I really wasn't expecting much, but contrary to low expectations, Larraz's warped, twist-headed thriller proved to be an uproariously entertaining terror flick with a scintillating series of deliciously sinister set pieces that managed to evoke a sweaty-palmed, Poe-like sepulchral chill. My positive opinion hasn't changed in 15 years, when in Samhain is this fine psycho-slasher going to be restored?