(1976) ****1/2
Absolutely one of my favorites! I love what I call "creepy house movies". Houses with issues and houses that steal your soul. I first saw this movie when I was in eighth grade, so when I was in ninth grade, listening to King Diamond(metal) sing about "them" the spirits of the house, I combined the influences of this movie and the music in a big art project. This movie has some of my favorite actors too; Karen Black, Oliver Reed, Bette Davis, Burgess Meredith and Eileen Heckart.
There really isn't any blood until the end, the scary parts are the events that happen to this family as they rent out this house. The more I watch this movie, the more I see the changing in the main character as the days go by.
The Rolf family look into renting out a home for the summer, so they answer an ad in the paper for this beautiful, Gothic house owned by the Allardyces. The Allardyce family are not concerned about the money, just someone to take care of the house for the summer, and oh, their mother. Roz Allardyce assures Marian Rolf that the mother never really comes out and keeps to herself, she just three prepared meals a day. The Rolfs end up renting the house with Aunt Elizabeth, played by Bette Davis. As days go by, the family clean up the house, open the pool and explore the grounds. Marian brings a tray of food up to Mother Allardyce's sitting room daily, but notices none of the food is being eaten. She assumes that she doesn't like her cooking. Ben Rolf ends up playing in the water with his son, Davey, but the roughhouse gets out of hand. Davey ends up clocking dad in the nose and giving him a nosebleed. The next day the pool looks extra clean, but Marian tells Ben that she cleaned it. Ben starts having a reoccurring dream that he had about his mother's funeral with a creepy chauffeur in it and it causes him to have seizures. Aunt Elizabeth grows weak as the days go by too. More events happen the longer they stay and if someone gets hurt, the house becomes renewed!
The happy Rolf family...
The rough play gets out of hand.
Sorry, just had to throw these both in there...
