The House Where Evil Dwells

From reading all of the comments posted here on IMDb, this movie seems to get ragged on a lot, but I didn't think it was THAT bad. I've seen much worse, actually.

"The House Where Evil Dwells" is a ghost story about a husband and his wife, Ted and Laura Fletcher, and their daughter, Amy, who move into an old house in Japan. Little do they know, a Japanese ninja brutally murdered his wife and her lover, and then killed himself 100 years earlier with a samurai sword. As strange things happen in the house, the ghosts of the previous residents begin to possess the bodies of the living, and plan on re-enacting the bloody murder that took place 100 years back.

I saw this movie and decided to give it a chance, from the cover it looked like a decent ghost story. It was routine, and it was corny, but I've seen worse in my day. The ghost sequences were a little over-done, we get to see the translucent blue-tinted figures randomly pop up randomly around the family, and take over their bodies. To be honest, the ghosts in this movie kind of reminded me of the ghosts in the Haunted Mansion ride at Disneyland. I may be mistaken, but after watching this, it seemed to me that the Japanese horror film "Ju-On: The Grudge" and the American remake of that film ripped this off a little. The old Japanese home where a brutal murder took place, ghostly activity, curses put on the home, etc. But I may be wrong.

To sum it up, this is a pretty corny ghost story. Don't go out of your way to see it, but if you like this kind of thing and it happens to come on TV you can give it a shot. 4/10.

Director Kevin Connor telegraphs every element of the simple plot: a ghost love triangle from 1840 Kyoto is doomed to remain at the house where husband killed his wife, her lover and himself. New tenants Ted (Edward Albert), an American photo-journalist in Japan plus his wife Laura (Susan George) and daughter Amy (Amy Barrett) fall prey to the pesky ghosts, who ultimately involve family friend Alex (Doug McClure) in a sexy and bloody reprise of the triangle.

Otami (Mako Hattori), the original adulterous wife, set everything in motion by stealing an ivory-carved fetish from a witch, that Laura finds in the house and keeps as a talisman.

Pic plods along, with the transparent, double-exposure ghosts periodically moving into and possessing the leads' bodies, while causing typically unsettling phenomena in the nondescript house. Only scare occurs when Amy and a femme friend are subjected one night to a plague of insects and large "possessed" crabs, a throwback to the cute rubber beasties Connor previously spotlighted in his series of Doug McClure sci-fiers such as "The Land That Time Forgot".

Contrived final reel is quite funny, with a local Zen monk performing a "house exorcism" on cue, but Ted disobeying orders and letting Alex in, allowing the ghosts to scurry back into the house. At first the ghosts act as a rooting section for the brawling Americans, but then possess their bodies to turn the fight into a karate match and ultimately a bloodbath.

Cast is earnest in this silly assignment, with George delivering a convincing U. S. accent and shedding her clothes ably (along with the other leads) for okay softcore sex scenes. Studio work (at Toei) and views of Japan are mundane. Malevolent "House" titles in the horror genre remain a durable format, with pic falling in the realm of Dan Curtis's "Burnt Offerings" and Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining" plus a nod to all those Nipponese ghost pictures such as "Kwaidan".

My review was written in May 1982 after a Midtown Manhattan screening.

This movie seems to still get no respect, so let me chip in and say give it a look. The movie has some real atmosphere which really matters in a ghost story. A big part of this is the sound which features constant bug noises whenever at the house and the other aspect of the effective sound is a very good score by Ken Thorne. It's a scary score, I'd say Thorne's best and the sound design of the film uses it well and also uses Japanese language screams and grunts effectively. The scares are here and if a few times the scare is followed by something that gets a bit silly, you have to say it gets you.

The film is also part travelogue of Japan and it does this well too. The ghosts are fairly authentic to Japanese culture--including the face in the soup ghost that others have thought silly. What's interesting about the ghosts in this film, that is pretty unique, is that we the audience see the ghosts but for the most part the characters in the film don't. I can't think of another ghost story that has done this. The movie moves pretty quickly though in the middle it loses a bit of steam and it's also in the middle that the ghosts get a bit silly, but most of this can be forgiven with the uncompromising and memorable ending toping it all off. Also there is nudity and sexual elements and the female Japanese ghost is genuinely creepy as is the dialog free opening of the film.

Must be said that the existing DVD of the film has a soft looking 16 by 9 image, if you watch the full frame version the image is sharper and you see more image top and bottom, so the widescreen is just a slightly sloppy blow up of the same video master. The trailer to the film also 16 by 9 looks much better than the movie! But it's still worth watching.

Director Connor does one of his best jobs here, it's too bad that in the middle part of the film he has the ghosts run around in scooby Doo fashion, but it's a relatively short lapse in his effective film. George bugs her eyes out one too many times but otherwise gives a good performance as do the 2 male leads. The daughter character is fairly poorly written and acted but that's a smallish part of the film.

It's a unique ghost story it's got exploitation elements to keep you going as well. Hey at least it makes sense, which is more than you can say for THE GRUDGE. Those 2 films pretty much stand alone, well along with THE MANSTER for genre films made by Westerners in Japan.

Chock full of 70's B-television staples, House Where Evil Dwells is the perfect movie to watch while getting drunk with a bunch of friends. It's hard to beat ghosts who must open and close doors to get in and out of the house they're haunting (silly Susan George opens the door after a monk exorcises the house and lets them all back in!) and giant attacking crabs muttering in Japanese. And not to be missed is the last scene in which out-of-shape Doug McClure is possessed by the ghost of a Samurai and awkwardly kicks and chops at MOW stud Edward Albert (oh, Trampas!) High camp that is sure to please.

Director Kevin Connor and wannabe action-hero / romantic lead Doug McClure, re-team in this ghost story set in Japan. They had been moderately successful together in the 1970's, with the likes of 'The Land that Time Forgot' (1975), 'At the Earth's Core' (1976) etc. Without plastic monsters to carry the narrative along though, the results are shabby and derivative in the most corny way.

The film begins with a prologue set in the 19th Century, with a samurai husband killing his wife and her lover before committing suicide. A move forward to the present introduces married couple Ted & Laura, visiting Japan and moving in to the house where the tragedy took place.

No surprises as to what happens next, with the spirits of the dead starting to take over the new inhabitants with family friend Alex (McClure) assuming the role of the wife's lover.

Everything rumbles clumsily along with the elegance and grace of a charging elephant, to an inevitable ( but surprisingly downbeat ) conclusion. Main points of interest are two feeble decapitations ( 'The Omen' has a lot to answer for in promoting this as a standard horror set-piece ), and the love-making scenes featuring the doe-eyed but extremely kinky Susan George. The first is a long 'Don't Look Now' inspired piece with her hubby, complete with piano music; the second a much shorter (probably at her insistence) entanglement with McClure, both looking pretty uncomfortable. Anyway, every cloud has a silver lining and both scenes show of her fantastic knockers so all is not lost.

Overall I can't decide whether 'The House where Evil Dwells' is rubbish, watchable rubbish, or entertaining in a masochistic kind of way. If you're not into the genre there is nothing here at all, but for horror fans there is probably enough to provoke the odd rye smile and appreciative nod of respect for effort.

BEST SCENE - in any other film the big, black, tree-climbing, Japanese-muttering mechanical crabs would have stolen the show. They are eclipsed though by the legendary family meal scene, where a ghostly head appears in the daughters soup. On seeing this apparition she asks what kind of soup it is (!!!!), to be told beef and vegetable, before uttering the immortal line "Ugh - there's an awful face in my soup". If this wasn't enough the reply is "C'mon, eat your soup for Daddy." Laurel & Hardy rest in piece.