Scream... and Die!

Spanish director José Ramón Larraz made a couple of excellent UK-based chillers with Symptoms and Vampyres, this psychological horror film was another such film from this director but it is definitely less impressive. Its about a woman who witnesses a murder in a house and then forgets where the house is - how absent-minded! The killer then starts stalking her and it all goes a bit pear-shaped. This is both run-of-the-mill and completely improbable. One particular memorable sequence has the protagonist tell her friends about witnessing the violent murder and the fact that the killer is now after her, they deal with it like the whole situation is a bit of a thundering nuisance but basically relatively trivial. Thanks pals.

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?

Despite all the bad things I'd heard about this film, I decided to go right ahead and watch it anyway as both the titles (Scream and Die, and even better, The House That Vanished) sounded interesting and director José Ramón Larraz did make one of the best lesbian vampire movies of all time with the excellent Vampyres. I have to admit that the film isn't quite as bad as I was expecting; there's a good atmosphere and a few decent moments of tension; but overall I have to go with the majority opinion here and say that the film is very dull on the whole and is mostly riddled with genre clichés. The film gets off to a promising start as a young couple stumble upon an old house in the woods. Being a thief, the boyfriend decides that they should loot it. However, instead of valuable items; the couple find a murder. The girl flees the house and the boyfriend vanishes. Naturally she tells people what she's seen upon returning to society, but her attempts to find the house again fail - the house has...errr...vanished. Anyway, she finds another bloke but the murderer is still out there...

The film features the cheap looking and very cheap sounding British style that many seventies British horror films feature. José Ramón Larraz photographs the film well and gives it a thick and foreboding atmosphere that does benefit it; although it must be quite difficult to make a film about an old house and not have some sort of atmosphere. The plot is the biggest problem with this film as it is really boring and not much of interest happens. There's a murder sequence that sees a naked woman get sliced that's well done and it's one of the few highlights. José Ramón Larraz does make an attempt to make up for the lack of plot with plenty of naked women, most of which are quite beautiful so that was nice of him. There's not a great deal of gore in the film, though it does seem to want to incorporate as much of the Giallo style into the film as possible. The characters in this film are pretty stupid and make daft decisions, and this stretches all the way to the ending which is completely obvious and can be seen coming a mile off. Overall, I can't say that I enjoyed this film much and I can't recommend it either.

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.