Haunts

Haunts was a random pick n mix movie for me, I had no idea what I was getting myself into and movies like this make me regret ever doing that.

It tells the story of lady who believes her uncle is responsible for a series of killings in the area with a pair of scissors, but there is more to the story.

I say "Story" very loosely, as though there is one it's an unstructured abyssmal abomination of an attempt at one.

The movie is horrifically boring, totally lifeless and at no point did I feel engaged or even remotely begin to care about a character or outcome of the movie.

Certainly one of the worst films I've seen lately, this is not a clever psychological thriller as it seems to refer to itself. It is instead a 90 minute sleeping pill (Side effects may include boredom and a severe migraine).

The Good:

Not a sausage

The Bad:

Incredibly unengaging

Muddled plot

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

The lord giveth and the lord taketh away

A cross around the neck has yet to save anyone

I voted 10 because i had a small part in the film (the bartender) and having been a big fan of Aldo Ray - younger gen's won't know that in his time Ray created the same kind of electricity in the film world for his unique approach to acting as did the likes of Dean & Brando (however short lived that electricity may have been)- I was thrilled to be able to chat and hang with him on set. Herb Freed & Anne Marisse were extremely kind and lovely people to work for and with. This was the second film I worked on in Mendocino, CA - the first one still has ghosts attached to it. Many LA film companies used Mendocino, CA as their location. Perhaps the most notable (and certainly the funniest) was "The Russians Are Coming/The Russians Are Coming". Many years later, TV came to town to shoot exteriors for "Murder She Wrote".

"Haunts" follows Ingrid, a young Swedish woman living with her American uncle in northern California. Their small town is suddenly plagued by several scissor-murders and rapes; meanwhile, Ingrid finds herself recurrently assailed by a lecherous butcher in town. Are the attacks connected? Does a newcomer to Ingrid's church choir have something to do with it? Or could it be someone else?

This little-seen psychological horror film is very much in the vein of other "mad women" films of the 1970s such as "Let's Scare Jessica to Death" or Robert Altman's "Images," packed with dreamlike energy, haunting cinematography of dreary rural abodes, and a thin demarcation between hallucination and reality that cuts through it all. "Haunts" is a bit more of a slipshod production than the aforementioned two films, but it exists in the same universe.

There are definitely effective moments here, particularly the attack sequences that intersperse the melodrama of Ingrid as a character. The film does grow tedious in its last act and loses momentum to a degree, while the last ten or fifteen minutes err into baffling quasi-supernatural territory that feels underdeveloped and there simply to shock the audience (or leave them scratching their heads). May Britt is believable here as a naive and devoutly religious Swedish expat, while Cameron Mitchell turns in an odd performance as her possibly-lecherous uncle . Aldo Ray is also present as the town's sheriff investigating the crimes.

In the end, I found "Haunts" to be quite captivating in many ways, mainly due to it being rich in atmosphere. It's a very dreary and dour-looking film, and possesses the same kind of sensibility of its contemporaries that I enjoy very much. The screenplay is admittedly sloppy as the film attempts to resolve itself, and the last act throws concepts into the mix that don't really gel, but I ultimately think the film works as a mood piece more than a straightforward thriller. It is an oddity for sure, and it's somewhat surprising that it has not found an audience over all these years. 7/10.

Ingrid (May Britt) lives on a farm with her uncle Carl (Cameron Mitchell), where she spends her days milking her goat and having flashbacks of her childhood traumas.

Meanwhile, a scissor-wielding maniac is busy mutilating women around town. There are several suspects for the sheriff (Aldo Ray) to consider, including Frankie (William Gray Espy), the Romeo who works at the butcher shop. There's also the stranger who just arrived in town. Old Uncle Carl seems a bit suspicious as well!

In addition, Ingrid herself seems to unravel as the story progresses. Was she really attacked by the scissor killer? Twice? And, what about her bloody hallucinations?

HAUNTS is an average thriller / chiller with above average aspirations. The characters are endearing in a Mayberry sort of way. Alas, a lot of what is meant to be mysterious and frightening comes off as half-baked and rather dull.

Still, it's enjoyable enough in a 1970's way...

Director Herb Freed isn't exactly celebrated for his contributions to horror cinema, but personally I can't say he let me down already. "Beyond Evil" (starring John Saxon!) is a decent haunted house chiller and "Graduation Day" is an over-the-top insane & gory 80's slasher flick. "Haunts" is a whole lot less exciting than the two aforementioned titles, but Freed also clearly didn't want this film to be a gross and outrageous horror smut fest. Wrongfully promoted as a psycho-killer-on-the-loose flick, "Haunts" is actually a lot more effective as a psychological portrait about a dame in distress. Ingrid (May Britt) is a deeply religious farmer woman living on her own and suffering from a frigid sexuality as well as fear of male commitment, inflicted by some obscure childhood traumas. When several young women are found brutally murdered in the little town, Ingrid loses her sanity and starts to spot perverted murderers everywhere. Some other reviewers already made the comparison between "Haunts" and Roman "Repulsion", which is a righteous one, albeit Polanski's classic is naturally a lot more intense and frightening. Still, this is an atmospheric low-budget thriller with slow-breeding suspense and a handful of memorable moments. The scene where Ingrid discovers the corpse of her murdered woman amidst her farm animals, for example, is pretty damn creepy! The picture quality is truly poor and urgently needs restoration, but this shouldn't keep admirers of obscure 70's gems from purchasing a copy of this film. The cast features some familiar names, like Cameron Mitchell as Ingrid's suspicious uncle and Aldo Ray as the town's fatigue Sheriff. Decent thriller, as long as you don't anticipate wild gore or gratuitous sleaze.