House Of the Long Shadows (1983)Here's a movie with a clunky story, a terrible lead actor (The charmless Desi Arnaz Jr.), and two groan inducing endings. So why bother writing about it? Well it brings together four horror icons, has atmosphere to spare, and gives Vincent Price opportunity to call Christopher lee a bitch.
The story follows shallow American writer Kenneth Magee (Arnaz), as he makes a bet for $20'000 with his publisher that he can write a novel in the Gothic style in 24 hours. The Publisher offers Magee the use of a dilapidated manor house in Wales. A house that proves less deserted than the publisher suggested. It seems the former owners of the house (the Grisbane family) have by coincidence chosen the same dark and stormy night for a family reunion. The Grisban's are a family with a lot of skeletons in their closets, and one of those skeletons seems intent on killing the rest off. What's a writer to do?
This is by no means a perfect movie, but it has a lot of charm. Price, Lee, Cushing, and Carridine ham it up, and are perfectly situated in the spooky old mansion. Any one of them seems likely to loom out of the darkness at any moment. Also great is Sheila Keith, as the sister. Keith is a wonderful British Actress, a regular collaborator of director Pete Walker (most famously as a drill wielding psycho in Frightmare), and a horror icon in her own right. The mansion itself is a fantastic location, but I found myself regularly wishing for better lighting. There are also some problems with pacing, the middle sort of plods along for a while. But, if you like Old Dark House type movies, this is ones pretty fun.
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