lavendertraveler

I can see faint traces of Poltergeist and Stepford Wives in Invitation to Hell. However the title bares no resemblance to the actual telemovie.

I would think this picture was slapped together to capitalize on the daytime soap opera popularity of Susan Lucci. However rather than launch Lucci into prime time, this dud aborted her career. Lucci's acting could only be described as a lame attempt at camp that failed miserably. Even she cannot keep a straight face while delivering her lines in this lame script.

A five year old could have created better visual effects.

The costumes were straight out of a Halloween bargain sale.

Invitation to Waste your Time would have been a more honest title.

Guest in the House is the most predictable Film Noir of them all. Within the first two minutes you figure out the entire plot, including every twist and turn that is about to unfold. A blind man could see what was coming.

Reviews at the time of release in 1944 blame the stars, Ralph Bellamy and Ann Baxter. Bellamy tried as hard as he could to be a charming leading man, but with that face he was only suited to being a character actor, or second banana. Scorn was also piled atop Ann Baxter, but she was only following the script. It was the written word that betrayed Guest in the House.

The title pretty much reveals the whole premise, the entire movie revolves around Ann Baxter's character coming for a visit.

The one bright spot is Aline MacMahon as Aunt Martha who was nominated for an Academy Award for best supporting actress that same year for her role in Dragon Seed.

Guest In The House was retitled Satan in Skirts, and cut to make it more cohesive, but nothing helped. Not even sinister posters that implied a demonic influence not supported in the movie in any way, shape or form. Ann Baxter wasn't possessed, she was just a pain in the ass.

Guest In The House was released in Latin America as Semilla de Odio, "Seed of Hate" in Spanish.

One thing stuck me as a peculiarity, the song Liebenstraume by Franz Liszt. It played a prominent role in this production, and six years hence in another Hollywood feature starring Ms. Baxter: All About Eve.

There was an animated Elmer Fudd/Daffy Duck spoof of Guest In The House called Pest In The House in 1947.

You can watch Guest In The House on YouTube.