WNYer

Six teenage girls go to spend a pleasant week at an Aunts remote house. Unknown to them, the Aunt – and the house – have other intentions.

Hallucinogenic horror-comedy from Nobuhiko Obayashi - very much like stepping into a live action Salvador Dali painting with a horror motif. The familiar, simplistic horror plot is just an excuse for an unrelenting assault on the senses as conventional cinematic story telling is shown the door and replaced by every cinematic trick and gimmick imaginable.

Obayashi fills every minute of screen time with weird camera angles, slow motion dreams, fast motion tracks, unconventional sounds, psychedelic animations and colorful backdrops to move things along. It sets a surreal, absurdest tone which pervades every scene.

In fact, each scene is extremely bizarre in its own right - especially as the girls are individually besieged by evil forces. A laughing, decapitated head floats through the air and attacks one of the girls – biting her on the ass, another girl freaks out at dinner as the host secretly watches her with three eyes – the third peering out of her mouth, a gravity defying karate match ensues between the most athletic girl and a demon possessed lamp shade, and in one of the stranger scenes in cinema, a girl playing a piano is literally eaten by the instrument. As her consumed body parts reside within the casing, her floating, disencumbered fingers begin playing a tune on the keyboard - complete with flashing colored lights!

At its core, this is a Carmella-like vampire flick with the old Aunt getting younger each time one of the girls disappears. What sets it apart from similar movies is its whimsical air, nonsensical imagery and unending gimmickry. While some people admire the film's experimental nature, I think more will be turned off rather quickly. I was already annoyed after ten minutes and had a hard time sitting through the whole thing.

A by-the-books bank manager is forced to rob his own bank by a charming thief who holds his family hostage.

Peter Cushing and Andre Morrell repeat the solid on screen chemistry they displayed three years earlier when they teamed up as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in Hammer's version of The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959). This time they are antagonists with Morrell playing the suave robber and Cushing - in a change of pace role - as the ultra priggish banker. Morrell is deliciously nasty but Cushing really deserves some acting kudos for creating a "jerk" of a character that you actually start to sympathize with as Morrell turns the screws.

Quentin Lawrence, a veteran of British TV, skillfully directs a tight script in a confined setting and keeps the tension high and story moving - almost like it's unfolding in real time. Once the normal routines and relationships are quickly established, he ratchets up the tension with Morrell's arrival and never lets up. The psychological duel begins and it's a treat to watch.

My only nitpick about the film is the ending which I thought was a little too neat and tidy for my taste.