This House Possessed

When this film begins, Parker Stevenson (Frank from "The Hardy Boys") is performing some rock-n-roll song, as he's apparently some big music star. However, he soon collapses...a victim of exhaustion from his demanding lifestyle. Soon he awakens in the hospital where he's taken care of by a very pretty nurse (Lisa Eilbacher). When he's able to leave the hospital, he asks this nurse to accompany him as his own private nurse and...well...who knows--she sure doesn't! He then very impulsively buys a smart house--one loaded with cameras and gadgets. But after a while, it becomes apparent that his house has a mind of its own...as if it's possessed. And then...bad things happen!

If this sounds familiar, much of the film is like the made for Disney Channel movie "Smart House" (1999) but with a more malevolent house and an emphasis on spookiness as well as the relationship between the two leads. "Smart House" was fun and for the kids..."This House Possessed" is certainly more adult and not exactly fun. Plus, the nurse has a bizarre back story that comes out late in the film that left me feeling a bit annoyed as it sounded very contrived. So, apart from this and Stevenson's singing, did I like the film? Well, I didn't hate it...but that's probably it. It's gotten 'time-passer' written all over it with nothing all that interesting about it other than seeing Joan Bennett in a small role.

Considering it's both a TV movie and a haunted house movie, it has to be said that This House Possessed really is rather good; although only on its own terms. The plot follows the story of a burnt out writer and singer of awful pop songs as he moves into a modern computerised house with his live-in nurse and later girlfriend. It's not long before strange things start happening in the house and the nurse comes to believe she may have some connection with it. One problem this film has is the plotting; the first half of the movie is basically a soap opera and while it's not especially uninteresting; it's not really what I tuned in for and it takes a while for the movie to finally get going. The first half of the film does, however, set the characters up, which benefits the film well later on. Naturally, owing to the fact that this is a TV movie, there's no gore and little violence; but there's a few death scenes and most of them are pretty decent. It all boils down to a twist that is made so obvious that I'm not really sure if it's actually supposed to be a twist at all. The idea of the house taking 'revenge' on it's inhabitants is hardly original and even the computer idea had been done previously in 'Demon Seed', but the film generally plays on it's central ideas well and it is at least an interesting film. The film has apparently become quite rare and I wouldn't say it's worth a lot of trouble to track down but if you can find a copy, it is at least worth a look.

I haven't seen "This House Possessed" in almost twenty years, but it definitely made an impact on me. Along with the movie "The Entity", the imagery from this film made its way into my subconscious pre-teen mind and lingered in my nightmares for quite some time as one of the truly scariest films I'd ever seen. If horror means "gore" to you, then you probably won't care for this film. But if horror means "capturing the imagination in truly frightening ways" to you, then (as with me) this is your kind of film. Like I said before, it has been a while since I saw it, so I don't remember many of the details clearly, but I will never forget the shower scene. The whole movie made me look at my house in frightening new ways, and it made me glad that we were the house's first occupants. Then I saw "Poltergeist" and everything changed. ;)

I haven't seen it in years, but I saw it at least twice on television. I don't know how it would stand up to time, but I loved it! The house was so cool and modern then - and it was so scary!

Right up there with "The House That Would Not Die"!

Will they ever release these TV movies on video?

A nice 1981 b-horror movie starring the late Joan Bennett and Slim Pickens about a burnt-out pop singer moving with a nurse to a high-tech-house to find out that his new building has an evil intelligence and no regrets to kill its habitants.

This TV production is a b-movie flick with a good horror atmosphere, similar to the late Hammer Horror TV shows and several Twilight Zone episodes, and an eerie Theremin-like mystery sound track. Unfortunately the film lacks of good actors, thrills and good special effects.

In fact, this movie was just made twelve years before "Jurassic Park" but shows primitive special effects like suddenly opening doors or some flame overdubs to suggest a heavy fire that were even better produced in the 1933 version of "King Kong".

"This House Possessed" is not good enough to become a horror classic and also not weird enough to become a classic entry in Michael Weldon's "Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film". At least it's thrilling and great fun to watch after midnight with a bag of crisps and a can of lager beer.