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The House of Usher
An updated version of the classic horror tale by Edgar Allen Poe. Ryan and his girlfriend Molly are going to visit Ryan's uncle, Roderick Usher, at his mansion. They find, however, that Roderick's brother Walter has gone insane, and Roderick himself isn't far behind. Can Ryan and Molly escape from the doomed mansion before the curse of Usher claims them as well?
Release : | 1989 |
Rating : | 4.5 |
Studio : | Breton Film Productions, |
Crew : | Property Master, Best Boy Grip, |
Cast : | Oliver Reed Donald Pleasence Romy Walthall |
Genre : | Horror |
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Reviews
Admirable film.
A Masterpiece!
I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.
The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.
Ryan Usher (Rufus Swart) and his girlfriend Molly (Romy Windsor) head to his uncle's isolated estate after receiving a letter from him. Before arriving they crash their car when they see two ghost children on the road. Molly makes it to the home and is told Ryan has already been picked up and is being cared for. She then meets uncle Roderick (Oliver Reed), who assures her all is fine despite his reluctance to let her visit Ryan and the fact he won't let her leave. Yup, ol' Roderick is a perv and, after burying the still-alive Ryan, forces himself onto Molly to carry on the family line. Also, in a nod to THE OLD DARK HOUSE, a crazy brother named Walter (Donald Pleasence) lives up in the attic. As you can see, this barely has any connection to the Poe short story outside of a few events and character names. Filmed in South Africa, producer Towers at least got his monies worth with some nice looking sets. And leads Reed and Pleasence are total pros, although I suspect Reed enjoyed his moments feeling up the attractive Windsor (who was already accustomed to primordial beasts as she just survived HOWLING IV). Director Alan Birkinshaw can't be bothered with things like suspense or terror though. He does throw in a few gore scenes for good measure. Towers' two other Poe "adaptations" were MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH (1989; with Frank Stallone and Herbert Lom!) and BURIED ALIVE (1990).
Comment title paraphrases French & Saunders' skit on the 'The House of Elliot'. But here, it's application is unquestionably adroit.A rare directorial effort from the man responsible for 1978's video-nasty-that-never-was, 'Killer's Moon', produced by soft-porn Eurotrash (ie TRASH, as in rubbish, junk) magnate Harry Alan Towers.A slightly modernised version of Poe's Gothic saga; due to the complete technical incompetence of the above pair all this has to offer, in the way of thrills, is shaking furniture and fires. Pleasance jobs as the 'sinister' butler, which is at least a plot twist that affords him the opportunity to do something interestingly nasty (an off-screen incident involving an in-subservient maid's hand, and a meat mincer).An experience akin to scraping the bottom of the proverbial barrel - only, from beneath.
There are only a few parts in the movie I liked. the rest wasn't even scary at all. The acting was good but I really didn't care for this story to be updated. I guess the gore was OK. The music was ok. It was to 80's. Over all I don't really recommend this movie to anyone cause it just wasn't worth watching. It really didn't catch my attention at all. Maybe if your board watch it but thats it.
Harry ALan Towers' produced this, another remake of Poe's classic tale. Oliver Reed does a lot of whispering and Donald Pleasence runs around a lot with his chainsaw. Not really a very good film but worth a look for it's two stars, who are again lumbered with a none too bright script.The youngsters Rufus Swart and Romy Windsor are positively dire, but scenes like a hungry rat being placed on a man's privates are quite fun to watch.