House of the Living Dead

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.

I got this film in a twelve pack of films that are zombie themed. This one should not have been included as there is nothing about this film that is zombie oriented. It is more mystery, but that is not very true either as it is not very difficult to see where this film is going if one has seen more than a couple of horror films during their lifetime. It was somewhat interesting at first though as I was wondering what was going to be happening as I still held out hope there would be zombies or something within the film. Not so late in the film, though, it became apparently clear how it would end so I spent a good portion of the film continually looking at the clock counter on the DVD player hoping it would hurry up and finish. Suffice to say, it was worth one look so I could properly review, but not a film I would ever care to pop in the player again during my lifetime.

The story has a plantation in Africa experiencing some problems. It is occupied by a mother and her two sons. One of the sons seems to be experimenting on animals while the other tries to keep the plantation together as a couple of people end up dead. This brother also has a fiancé coming in from London and his mother does not approve at all. More strange things happens as the film races to its somewhat bizarre, but thoroughly predictable ending.

The movie was just dull, as I said it started out interestingly enough as a man works on a monkey, but then there are just a lot of dead scenes that really add nothing to the plot. As the movie progresses it becomes less and less interesting as it is so obvious what is going on so all you are waiting for at this point is the ending to pop up. Thankfully, it did finally come on screen and I was more than happy to eject it and put it away. That being said, it is not terrible as the acting is decent, just to dull and predictable a story for my tastes.

As I watched this one I felt something was odd about it. While the cast seemed to all be English, the terrain and deep blue sky seemed somewhat foreign, so I was interested to learn afterwards that this is a South African production. It's a pretty rare thing to find a horror movie from that country, and this was probably the most interesting thing about this one. It's another costume horror, of which there were many back at the time this was released. Set in the 19th century, it centres on a young woman who travels to the plantation home of her fiancé, whose family has a grim history. The mother tries to encourage her to leave, while the other brother is an unseen lunatic in the attic. As is so often the way, a series of murders start happening. But are they a result of voodoo? Is it mad science at work? Or is this the work of...a horse!? All, is eventually revealed.

The combination of a hokey mad scientist plot-line with traditional voodoo is slightly unusual. As is the way that animals are sometimes presented, with a major character being what can only be described as a so-called devil horse which the locals actually believe could be roaming around in the dead of night committing all the killings. The science bit is covered by the not entirely interesting idea of human soul transferal. So the story has quite a few disparate ideas kicking about and there is undoubtedly some potential in the set-up but the presentation is often quite meandering and uneventful. But it's overall actually not bad really, as there is some atmosphere generated in some of the night scenes depicting strange goings on and there is a quite well executed chase scene involving a hooded villain too. The South African setting adds something new as well which definitely elevates the material by itself. As I say, it doesn't always maximise its ideas and it is a bit messy but it does also have a lively ending to round things off. All things considered, despite a few faults, this one is definitely better than its reputation would suggest.

"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.

The title of this film is very misleading,because there are no zombies here.This South African horror deals with science and magic.The script is actually decent,but the film is really boring and dull,and there's no gore at all.To be fair,there are two or three suspenseful scenes,and the ending is quite exciting-this is enough for me to classify "House of the Living Dead" as a decent horror film,so I'll give it 5 out of 10.