L'auberge de la terreur

terror house aka;terror at red wolf inn is a very strange black comedy about a college girl(Linda gillen)who gets a letter telling her she won a trip to red wolf inn.so she packs her bags and embarks on a little vacation at a country inn run by an elderly couple with a secret.the print i seen was rated pg most likely edited.but its still a gruesome little chiller and paved the way for Texas chainsaw massacre and last house on the left.the title red wolf inn made me think it was a British film,but its American and from the looks low budget,not a bad little film.i call it a gruesome comedy horror,the actress Linda gillen looks a lot like Allison Hannigan(American pie,Buffy the vampire slayer)6 out of 10.

Welcome to the Red Wolf Inn, where men are men and women are well-marbled!

If the cook at the Red Wolf tells patrons to eat more, it's only to make them bigger. And if the men at the Red Wolf ogle the attractive female guests, it's only to determine how much ham and rump roast they can get from their shapely haunches.

Healthy, young women are singled out and invited to the resort, where they are fattened (unknowingly) on the meat of previous guests. When they reach sufficient beefiness, they are harvested by the owners of the inn and served up to the current crop of guests. The unwary diners find the long pig most delicious, but with every bite, they're sealing their own fate.

Regina, the heroine of the story, is one of the guests at the inn. Will she end up like the others? Watch this weird, wacky movie and find out. Oh, and while you're at the Red Wolf, don't forget to try the drumsticks...they're fantastic!

I saw Terror House as it's called when living in New Jersey in the early 1980's on television. For some reason television in New York and New Jersey as I saw back then was more liberal and showed much more gore and nudity unlike what I have experienced while living here in California. When I first saw this movie it was called Terror at Red Wolf Inn. Even though it was a horror movie laced with comedic touches I found it gross and unsettling at the time. There was a scene in the movie that no longer exists in present prints and I don't understand why it was cut as I realize the movie was re-rated from R to PG later. This was an innocent scenario where the girls were weighed in the kitchen on what appeared to be a meat scale by the owner of the resort to see how much weight each had gained from their gluttonous feasts at the hotel. Another scene now missing was when Margaret Avery's character 'Edwina' after being drugged is carried into the walk-in meat locker and placed on a butcher's table. That's as far as I go with that description. Arthur Space and Mary Jackson I had known before as veterans of movies and television. I now realize that the movie was much more violent than as shown now and would like to see the original uncensored or R-rated version. It is a forgotten 1970's camp classic and should be restored. Compared to today's movies it is much more subtle and disturbing.

"A college student returns to her dorm room after class and discovers she is the winner of an all-expense paid vacation to the Red Wolf Inn. Before she can share her good fortune with her parents, she and two other girls are whisked away to begin their vacation of a lifetime. When one of the guests suddenly disappears, the young woman doesn't believe the explanation the old couple who run the inn gives her concerning the strange goings on at the Red Wolf," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.

Offering a delicious slice of low-budget horror cheese; director Bud Townsend and writer Allen Actor, along with a wonderful cast, should absolutely exceed your expectations. There are some flaws, and unanswered questions -- like, what happened to Myrtle? -- but, "Terror House" is too fun to pass up.

Linda Gillen (as Regina McKee) plays a sweet, adorable lead character; and, doesn't she have a great arrangement of The Beatles' "White Album" photos on her dorm wall? John Neilson (as "Baby" John Smith) is just as adorable, albeit touched; love him licking his finger after going for the bottle of after dinner brandy. It's a wonder neither Ms. Gillen nor Mr. Neilson became better known; they certainly had the hair to succeed through the 1980s.

Players in tasty supporting roles include overeating Margaret Avery (as Edwina), hortophile Arthur Space (as Henry), and well-read Janet Wood (as Pamela). But, the best of all may be marvelous "Grandma" Mary Jackson (as Evelyn Smith); her performance definitely is one to savor. Like Ms. Jackson says, "Don't be a party pooper!" Mind your "Grandma", and give yourself a big helping of "Terror House".

****** Terror House (1972) Bud Townsend ~ Linda Gillen, John Neilson, Mary Jackson

This is an off-beat horror film produced by Michael Macready(he produced the two Count Yorga films) and directed by Bud Townsend. It stars Linda Gillen as a young college girl going off for a free vacation to an old-fashioned resort on the beach. It turns out to be not much of a resort with only two other attractive female guests(Pamela and Edwina), Baby John, Uncle Henry, and Aunt Evelyn. The owners, it seems, like to butcher the young girls for their food and prepare them in fantastic culinary dishes. Prior to each girl's departure(their supposed last night at the resort), Aunt Evie and Uncle Henry throw a party and a gourmet meal. Regina(Gillen) catches on and the film moves into some chase scenes and bizarre humour. I found this film to be very suspenseful, tense, and chilling. Many reviewers seem to label it as a comedy-horror film, but there really is not a whole lot of humour other than that of a very underlying subtle kind. The most haunting aspect of the film has to be the performances of Mary Jackson(of Walton's fame) and Arthur Space as the kindly-looking couple that run the inn. They really seem so very nice and normal in many regards, but there is always an underlying sense of something not quite right. This is first evident in a scene which has to be one of the most orgiastic food scenes ever filmed as all the guests and hosts eat a crowned rib roast on Regina's first night at the inn celebrating Pamela's departure. The way all of them attack the food with wild abandon and seem to be lost in pure ecstasy is amazing and horrifying at the same time. Another scene with the somewhat mentally-challenged Baby John catching a shark in the surf and then beating it against a rock is a well-shot scene. Still another wonderful scene is when Edwina's night has come and you see the three hotel folks, dressed in butcher smocks, travel upstairs as a lullaby plays. Quite effective and innovative camerawork here. The film is not particularly gory. It plays things pretty straight until the end, which is really not simpatico with the rest of the film. The end seems a bit rushed and forced, and there is even an attempt at some much broader comedy. It doesn't really work, yet the film as a whole is a very chilling...even disturbing about the nature of madness and trust.