Delusion

Slow-moving and pseudo-intellectual horror/thriller that never at one point measures up to its glorious title – the alternate VHS box title that is – "The House Where Death Lives". I honestly hesitated to stop watching the film several times during the first half hour already because it's so boring and absolutely nothing indicates that it might get better anytime soon. The story handles about a young and attractive nurse who moves into the mansion of a wealthy but crippled elderly man (one of the final roles of horror legend Joseph Cotton of "Baron Blood" and "The Abominable Dr. Phibes") to look after him. The man recently lost his son and unwillingly obtained custody over his estranged 16-year-old suspiciously behaving grandson Gabriel. Then there's also three other servants living in the mansion and one mentally unbalanced son that lives locked away in a remote bedroom. One giant big happy family, in other words! The mishmash of personalities soon causes tensions in the house and people start turning up dead. Seriously, the title ought to be changed to "The house where you are bored to death" or something, as this is really one of the most uninteresting and substantially void horror movies I've seen in my entire life. The nurse character is dull and damp (even her sexual hallucinations are tedious) whilst all the other characters are plain and simply irritating. You possibly can't bring yourself to feel sympathy for any of them and you actually just hope they all die quick and gruesomely. There's not a trace of suspense, the supposedly ingenious twist-ending is hugely derivative and the murders are uninspired and bloodless. Bloodless, damned! What's the point of an early 80's horror movie when the set up is dull and the deaths are gore-free? I've seen episodes of my mother's daily soap opera that were more exciting than this turkey. One to avoid at all costs, unless of course you suffers from a bad case of insomnia. Where all medication fails, this movie is guaranteed to put you asleep.

An attractive nurse named Meredith moves to the Langrock estate to take care of her patient:a crippled old man.She falls in love with sixteen year old grandson of Langrock named Gabriel,who returned from some kind of desert commune.A series of brutal murders in the gloom of the night is set in motion...Slow-moving but well-made and competent psycho slasher that often drags.The death scenes mostly involve head bashings and are pretty bloodless.I liked the main performance of Patricia Pearcy as I remembered her from Jeff Lieberman's "Squirm"."Delusion" is worth checking out for completists of 80's US independent horror.6 out of 10.

"Delusion" is a slasher film...and I rarely choose this sort of movie to watch. It's not totally mindless, keeps you guessing and isn't altogether awful!

When the film begins, Meredith (Patricia Pearcy) arrives at a mansion to become the new nurse for an elderly invalid (Joseph Cotten). The job seems pretty easy and she fits in well. However, when the old man's weird grandson arrives, things start dying...starting with the family dog but not stopping there! Who's behind all this...and are the confusing plot elements going to make sense by the end of the picture?

The film suffers a bit from Pearcy's zombie-like performance during much of the film. It also occasionally makes little sense...such as why the police aren't more alarmed with all these deaths. But it does offer plenty of false leads, dead ends and twists and so if you like this sort of film, it will fit the bill. I respect what they did with this picture, though I wasn't especially thrilled with seeing it.

It's very difficult to put into words just how poor & tedious this film is to watch. It was a chore to sit through such a dire, tiresome and insultingly substandard cinematic effort - I want to claim back the time it took to watch this, and the small amount of cash I bought it for. (Even though I think i picked it up for £1:99)

A young nurse named Meredith accepts a job looking after an ageing millionaire in his secluded country home. Almost as soon as she arrives strange events begin occuring. It then becomes apparent that someone is murdering all the occupants of the house and making their deaths look like bizarre accidents. It's left up to Meredith to try and reveal the killer's identity before she ends up next on his list.

Firstly don't be disillusioned by the back of the video blurb that would lead you to believe that DELUSION is 'a chiller in the mould of THE OMEN or REPULSION.' This is pure whodunit? owing more of a knowing nod towards Christie than Carpenter. Although saying that, slasher fans will find the odd thrill here, including one or two decent edge of your seat jolts and a couple of brutal slayings. It looks pretty well budgeted, cleverly shot and the cast do their jobs efficiently. The flicks main problem lies in the fact that it seems to drag far too much in between murders and it began to get a little too tedious towards the end. It's nicely directed and genuinely well acted but lacks the cheese that made most of it's hack and slash counterparts from that era so loveable.

Smart in places, but hardly memorable enough to ever be watched more than once. HOUSE ON SORORITY ROW is a much better effort, rent that instead.