Dan! Dan! Dan! Dan! Dan! Dan!
This one is so obscure that the version I watched had ended up on YouTube after being uploaded from an MP4 while originally being recorded onto a VCR from an Italian TV station. Please note that sometimes these films stay obscure and are never cleaned up because it's not worth the bother. This is one of those films, although I do appreciate that it has been preserved in some form.
Set in 'Old Scotland', a bunch of Americans are heading for an old mansion (yep, it's one of those films) but not before stopping at a local inn. Surprised that they make omelette in Scotland as well as England, they then head of to find that they are not the only heirs to the estate of one Reginald Jenkins, who died of leprosy. Also, his assistant escaped from a mental institution and also has leprosy. And one of the guests is psychic and particularly afraid of a table.
After being told by the lawyer that they've got to wait until another heir arrives, everyone decides to waste time by having a séance (that's where that scary table comes in handy). After some lengthy table tapping and a woman shouting 'Dan!' over and over, a spirit warns them to go, so naturally they all stay.
The Gothic horror part of the films works quite well, but once the housekeeper is found hanged the film staggers through the giallo bit with little enthusiasm. I blame this purely on the killer's fixation with moving bodies around or posing them at pianos to scare people, hitting people on the head lightly, or kidnapping people when he should have been cutting down the cast a bit. He (or she? or maybe even the table?) gets caught because they spend a lot of time explaining things when they should be removing people's blood.
It's a short film, and not a total waste. There are subtitles on the YouTube upload that are pretty all over the place. Not that I could do any better. And watch out for those Scottish omelettes!
Set in 'Old Scotland', a bunch of Americans are heading for an old mansion (yep, it's one of those films) but not before stopping at a local inn. Surprised that they make omelette in Scotland as well as England, they then head of to find that they are not the only heirs to the estate of one Reginald Jenkins, who died of leprosy. Also, his assistant escaped from a mental institution and also has leprosy. And one of the guests is psychic and particularly afraid of a table.
After being told by the lawyer that they've got to wait until another heir arrives, everyone decides to waste time by having a séance (that's where that scary table comes in handy). After some lengthy table tapping and a woman shouting 'Dan!' over and over, a spirit warns them to go, so naturally they all stay.
The Gothic horror part of the films works quite well, but once the housekeeper is found hanged the film staggers through the giallo bit with little enthusiasm. I blame this purely on the killer's fixation with moving bodies around or posing them at pianos to scare people, hitting people on the head lightly, or kidnapping people when he should have been cutting down the cast a bit. He (or she? or maybe even the table?) gets caught because they spend a lot of time explaining things when they should be removing people's blood.
It's a short film, and not a total waste. There are subtitles on the YouTube upload that are pretty all over the place. Not that I could do any better. And watch out for those Scottish omelettes!
- Bezenby
- Apr 16, 2017