 
A newlywed couple
Eric (John Hudson) and Jenni (Peggy
Whitlock) spend their honeymoon Eric's
desolate mansion in which she finds it
very exciting to be at which there's
peacocks and other nice surroundings but
however she realises that Eric has a deep
dark secret in which Reverend Edward Snow
(Russ Conway) tells Jenni about Eric's
first wife Marianne who died from a
mysterious freak accident.
Jenni also has a history of mental
illness, begins to see strange things
including a mysterious skull as well as
sounds of knockings whenever the skull is
near these spots, which may or may not be
a product of her imagination.
A mentally challenged landscaper
Mickey (Alex Nicol) seems to be attached
to Jenni and is around the areas whenever
Jenni spots the skull.
Yet Eric is very disturbed about what
Jenni encounters as he fears that
Marianne could have risen from the dead
to seek revenge.
I really wanted to
jump in and watch this film showing a
good introduction with a narration in
which is great for an old fashioned drive
in type of horror film. You kinda know as
what to expect from it.
Of course there's some nice romantic
moments between the married couple while
spending some time at a mansion with
beautiful looking peacocks and other nice
sceneries too in which you wonder if this
film was a love story by how it starts
out.
There's also a creepy character of a
mentally challenged landscaper who hardly
says a word and acts disturbed by anyone
who talks to him which is a nice touch to
a horror flick. Plus a nice telling on a
death of a woman in which a painting of
her is displayed in the mansion which was
a great key moment for a haunted type of
place.
There's a good close up shot on Edward Snow talking to Jenni Whitlock about a terrible accidental death that
happened there in which leaves a chill
down your spine by how this discussion was
done.
There's a nice scene with Jenni approaching Mickey and trying to talk to him
while he's pruning some tree's which
looked good on him acting a bit bothered
and disturbed. There's a good moment with
her catching a caterpillar and talking to
him about it.
The film is extremely mysterious almost
like a Sherlock Holmes
type of fashion when the knocking noises
starts to occur and a skull is revealed
behing any of the knocking sounds which
was nice and spooky with a perfect dark
feel to everything. At times you wonder
if it's more of a mystery than a horror
thinking to yourself that someone could
be placing this skull and scaring this
poor lady guest.
But trust me it is a horror as the caring
husband does lose his sanity slowly when
the hauntings appear more and more as
well as a surprise visit from this dead
woman that had this terrible death
aaccident in which it can still look
creepy in today standards.
There's many good shots on Jenni walking through the dark hallway of the
house hearing knocking sounds which seems
incredibly spooky as well as shots on her
sleeping and turning her head back and
fourth while having a nightmare.
A nice shot when she opens a
cabinet door a skull appears and a great
shocking presence by her. There's also a
good shot on a window area with Mickey standing outside glaring which looked
incredibly mysterious as well as a good
camera shot closing in on an outside
doorway of the mansion.
A nice shot on a skull sitting
outside of a doorway when Jenni opens the door with a good camera shot
closing in on her with great freaked out
expressions as well as her screaming
intensely along with passing out.
There's a good moment after a picture is
burned with both Jenni and Eric picking up the remains and digging up a
hole with a good shot on a skull and
her freaking out about it with him trying to convince her that there's no
skull which looked good and twisted like.
A nice shot on Eric calling and chasing after Mickey with many good takes on. There's alot of
energy on the two of them during this
moment. A great forceful moment
with Eric as well as good
close up shot on him slapping his face.
There's also a good stern moment with Reverend Edward Snow getting demanding towards Mickey asking him about pulling off any tricks
and telling him it's a sin if he's lying
which looked impressive on someone trying
to almost poison another person's mind.
Nicol does well getting upset by trying
to answer him.
There's a great shot on Eric splashing around a water area of the
mansion trying to dig up a skull and
going nuts in which Mickey shows
a nice twist to this moment.
A very intense moment with Jenni losing control and freaking out as well
as Eric losing his mind and
strangling her which looked incredibly
powerful.
There's a nice terrifying moment with him trying to run away near a staircase of a
mansion with two skulls trapping him and
great close up shots on these skulls
cackling and a perfect close up shot on
one of them attacking his face.
Shock rocker King Diamond used some clips
of this movie for his rock video
"Sleepless Nights" in which
this film alltogether was perfect to
watch and be entertained.
Bottom line is this film is close to an
excellent horror flick which seemed a bit
slow at first but really picks up halfway
through and leaving a good impression on
things going bump in the night. Sometimes
the revealing skull can look too funny at
times which isn't a big deal but it was
supposed to look very scary. Well back
then it was scary. The flick would be
categorised as a cult classic but not up
to mainstream standards since it's not
hugely known.
It's worth checking out to anyone who
loved old fashion black and white horror
flicks like me.
The acting is very
well done during this time period as John
Hudson (Eric Whitlock) really knew how to portray a
charming and sympathetic husband figure
for the first part of the film and
bringing out a strong deliverance with
all that's going on. He also shows
terrific and violent aggressions too
later on in the story really changing his
ways and was just as convincing while
doing this from a calm mannered person to
someone losing their sanity.
Peggy Weber (Jenni Whitlock) was terrific as the calm
and happy wife in which she does show a
nice and peaceful friendly type of
behavior around anyone she's with and
making this very believeable. She also
really knew how to act intensely scared
and frightened with great paranoid
reactions. She certainly knew how to
scream as well as pass out and showing
great timing to both of these when her
cue was ready to do so.
Russ Conway (Reverend Edward Snow) played a great preacher
showing a nice serious attitude with his
expressions as well as his speaking and
really knowing how to make each scene
that he does effective in his role of the
film. He also showed a nice masculine
presence onto the camera with his
performance.
Tony Johnson (Mrs. Snow) as his wife does wa
fine job as someone who really knows how
to act welcoming with their guests. She
almost has that wholesome type of image
coming across as a likeable type.
Alex Nicol (Mickey) (Who also directed this
piece) played the perfect key role to the
story as a mentally challenged
landscaper. He showed a nice disturbed
and quiet type of behavior forcing his
words out which makes you wonder if he's
behind the scheme to any of the terrors
going on. Does well by getting upset by trying
to answer a Reverend in a scene. Well done.
Lots of excellent composing
mainly with weeping violin music and some
quivering opera type spooky singing from
a woman which adds the perfect touch for
the suspense in the film. There's of
course the low toning drum poundings too.
There's also some theme type music which
sounds very similar to the 1980 classic The
Shining. All of this was
magnificently brought together by Ernest
Gold. |
