Le week-end de l'épouvante

When Uncle Gabriel dies, all his relatives are summoned to an old country mansion in the middle of nowhere to hear the reading of his will. Once there, tho, somebody starts murdering them one by one and the remaining group must solve the mystery or expect not to see the night out.

What a Carve Up! is adapted from Frank King's novel The Ghoul and stars Sid James, Kenneth Connor, Donald Pleasence, Shirley Eaton, Dennis Price, Esma Cannon and Michael Gough. Basically this fine and amusing film is a sort of British version of genre pieces like Scared Stiff, The Cat And The Canary and The Ghostbreakers, or a spoof of its source material if you like. All the elements are in place, a bunch of eccentric and odd characters land at a ghostly mansion, greeted by a limping scary looking Butler {Gough}, and they then promptly spend the night trying to stay alive. Set to a backdrop of a thunderstorm, creaking floorboards, revolving secret doors and "what was that?", did the eyes just move on that painting? There's nothing new here of course in terms of creepy house formula, it is however a premise that never grows old if it is done right. Either seriously or as a comedy. Thankfully, What a Carve Up! does everything it possibly can to make it work as a creepy house mystery spoof. The gags are excellently written by Cooney & Hilton, which in turn are delivered with comic agility from the cast. Who rightly are having a blast with the material to hand. The "who done it?" reveal is a good one after the red herrings have been and gone, and a nice cameo at the finale feeds Sid James another in a long line of fine gags within the piece.

Finally getting a DVD release in late 2008, this film has now started to pick up newcomers and the revisit crowd alike. Which is real nice to see. Because as long as you are a fan of the creepy house comedy mystery then you shouldn't be disappointed in this one. 8/10

I caught the second half of this on TV over Christmas and had to track down a copy to see how it all began.

"...Carve Up" is an odd and fairly unique clash of different styles of film: the cheap, crass, misfiring humour of the Carry On films but set in an older, classic Ealing-style story, with a creepy atmosphere more like The Cat and The Canary, The Ghost of St. Michaels, or The Old Dark House, which the Carry-On films never even bothered to try to capture.

More's the pity, since this film feels almost like a signpost to a more interesting and better quality future for those movies, which never came about.

Kenneth Connor is a little grating, and Sid James plays Sid James. Shirley Eaton is pretty and refined but gives a stilted performance. The rest of the supporting cast are quality, though, and mark it out above average. It's much too patchy to be a great film, or even a really good one, but it is a likeable one.

A good film that borrowed on the 'mousetrap' plot, & rather predictable. Acted out at a fast pace with great enthusiasm by all. Sid James was his usual brilliant self & Ken Connor too. Shirley Eaton played her part well. Dressed in a shift over a nylon slip for much of the film, strange how, when running from room to room, she'd continually hold her shift together in an attempt to stop it falling open thus giving us a glimpse of her slip underneath. Naively prudish of her, & ironic in that 2 yrs later she would appear in a Bond film wearing nothing but a coat of paint! At the time Ken Connor was one of the most sought after comedy film actors.

When I first saw this film one evening, I only watched it because I had nothing to do. By the time it had finished, I was left raging with myself for not videoing it. Although it's not really a horror movie, the atmosphere is tremendous. Right from the first scene, the viewer is drawn in, and simply cannot stop watching. Although the ending is somewhat predictable, the movie does not really suffer from this, but rather the viewer can look out for all the clues that he/she may have missed the first time.

All in all, a film to be watched over and over again.

I've finally managed to get my hands on a copy of this movie, after searching websites, video stores, and many a failed bid on eBay. And although it's a while since I last watched it, this movie is as good, if not better, than I remember.

Sid James gets the best lines, and delivers them with the consummate ease of a true professional. Kenneth Connor is a bit like his roles in the early Carry On's - but he was very good in them. Throw in a wonderfully sinister Donald Pleasance, the typically statuesque and beautiful Shirley Eaton, and a host of other suitable strange and quirky characters, all locked in a creepy mansion where the guests begin dropping like flies one by one. It all adds up to a marvelous romp - not so much scary as very creepy, very suspenseful, and very, very funny.