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House of the Living Dead
On a South African plantation, a maniac is on the loose, first killing the estate's animals, then starting on the human members.
Release : | 1976 |
Rating : | 3.6 |
Studio : | Associated Film Productions, |
Crew : | Production Design, Lighting Camera, |
Cast : | Mark Burns Shirley Anne Field David Oxley |
Genre : | Horror Science Fiction |
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Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.
This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.
The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful
what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.
Shot in South Africa, the location of this film lends a unique air of mystery to am otherwise fairly typical early 70's British thriller. While the story plays it safe, the scenery and camera work shines. the inside of the Bradley house is both chilling and gorgeous, and the beautiful lanscapes create an odd contrast to both the dark mansion, and the frightening plot. While it isn't the most innovative film, I can't help but feel that much of the negative reviews and ratings to cloud this film's online presence are the result of disappointment over the misleading film title.
I got this film in a twelve pack of films that are zombie themed. This one should not have been included as there is nothing about this film that is zombie oriented. It is more mystery, but that is not very true either as it is not very difficult to see where this film is going if one has seen more than a couple of horror films during their lifetime. It was somewhat interesting at first though as I was wondering what was going to be happening as I still held out hope there would be zombies or something within the film. Not so late in the film, though, it became apparently clear how it would end so I spent a good portion of the film continually looking at the clock counter on the DVD player hoping it would hurry up and finish. Suffice to say, it was worth one look so I could properly review, but not a film I would ever care to pop in the player again during my lifetime.The story has a plantation in Africa experiencing some problems. It is occupied by a mother and her two sons. One of the sons seems to be experimenting on animals while the other tries to keep the plantation together as a couple of people end up dead. This brother also has a fiancé coming in from London and his mother does not approve at all. More strange things happens as the film races to its somewhat bizarre, but thoroughly predictable ending.The movie was just dull, as I said it started out interestingly enough as a man works on a monkey, but then there are just a lot of dead scenes that really add nothing to the plot. As the movie progresses it becomes less and less interesting as it is so obvious what is going on so all you are waiting for at this point is the ending to pop up. Thankfully, it did finally come on screen and I was more than happy to eject it and put it away. That being said, it is not terrible as the acting is decent, just to dull and predictable a story for my tastes.
While the title isn't strictly a misnomer as some reviewers have remarked, it remains misleading - this isn't a zombie movie per se but concerns a wealthy scientist, demented following a brain injury caused by a fall from an apparently primeval steed, conducting experiments on creatures in an attempt to capture their soul and transplant it into other beings. His aristocratic family run a farm in South Africa where the other son (Burns) is set to marry his English lass (Field), much to the chagrin of his fiercely protective mother (Inglis). A series of strange murders and rituals force Field to re-consider her commitment, as the enigma of the demented brother (locked away in the upper floor of the family mansion), becomes too much for her to ignore.It's pure tripe wasting Field's considerable talents, and those of supporting actor Oxley as a concerned doctor whom Field befriends on the journey from England. Initially an affable character, Burns quickly becomes an arrogant aristocrat and borderline Oedipus complex to mother Inglis, who plays the family matriarch with all the usual pomp you'd expect. It's a relatively small cast lacking depth and familiarity beyond the three leads (Burns, Field and Oxley).While the twist ending might leave some surprised, the revelations are lost potential, poorly executed and lacking suspense or thrills. Austin's movie relies on old-fashioned motifs like the club footed nut jobs who only come out at night and play the pipe organ, witch-doctors proffering sinister incantations that no one believes and chemical experiments that involve dozens of test tubes filled with colourful, smoky potions that make monkeys go berserk. Worse than dull, it promises a great revelation, then fails to deliver.
House of the Living Dead disappoints in virtually every way, with absolutely no zombies to speak of, terrible pacing, and an absurd mixture of the supernatural and mad scientist genres.Long story made short, a crazed mad scientist has developed a way to steal the souls of animals and people. (Wait a minute, I thought animals weren't supposed to have souls...) He switches identities with his sane twin brother, and all hell breaks loose.Everything about this film is awful. The pacing is snail-like, with long periods devoted to an old woman warning her incoming daughter in law that something awful is about to happen. Combine that with a laugh inducing ending (involving the vengeful spirit of a HORSE!) and you have a recipe for cinematic disaster.If you're in the mood for a Victorian era horror film in the style of Hammer Studios, go rent an actual Hammer film, not this tripe.