House of the Living Dead (1976)

I love this movie so much

I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

As I watched this one I felt something was odd about it. While the cast seemed to all be English, the terrain and deep blue sky seemed somewhat foreign, so I was interested to learn afterwards that this is a South African production. It's a pretty rare thing to find a horror movie from that country, and this was probably the most interesting thing about this one. It's another costume horror, of which there were many back at the time this was released. Set in the 19th century, it centres on a young woman who travels to the plantation home of her fiancé, whose family has a grim history. The mother tries to encourage her to leave, while the other brother is an unseen lunatic in the attic. As is so often the way, a series of murders start happening. But are they a result of voodoo? Is it mad science at work? Or is this the work of…a horse!? All, is eventually revealed.The combination of a hokey mad scientist plot-line with traditional voodoo is slightly unusual. As is the way that animals are sometimes presented, with a major character being what can only be described as a so-called devil horse which the locals actually believe could be roaming around in the dead of night committing all the killings. The science bit is covered by the not entirely interesting idea of human soul transferal. So the story has quite a few disparate ideas kicking about and there is undoubtedly some potential in the set-up but the presentation is often quite meandering and uneventful. But it's overall actually not bad really, as there is some atmosphere generated in some of the night scenes depicting strange goings on and there is a quite well executed chase scene involving a hooded villain too. The South African setting adds something new as well which definitely elevates the material by itself. As I say, it doesn't always maximise its ideas and it is a bit messy but it does also have a lively ending to round things off. All things considered, despite a few faults, this one is definitely better than its reputation would suggest.

Mad scientist Dr. Breckinridge Brattling (robustly overplayed with eye-rolling histrionic glee by Mark Burns) who resides in a colonial vineyard in South Africa plots to steal people's souls and puts them in jars. Brattling embarks on a bloody murderous rampage in order to achieve his nefarious goal.While director Roy Austin manages to create a decent amount of reasonably spooky atmosphere and makes nice use of the desolate South African countryside, this movie nonetheless proves to be a pretty tedious chore to sit through due to the sluggish pace, a meandering narrative, Lionel Friedberg's flat cinematography, and the overly talky script by Marc Marais. Fortunately, the solid acting from a competent cast keeps this picture watchable, with especially praiseworthy work from Shirley Anne Field as the sweet Mary Anne Carew, Margaret Inglis as stern matriarch Lady Brattling, Dia Sydow as timid servant Lina, and, in an especially lively turn, Lynn Maree as creepy old hag Annie. Moreover, this film does finally come to exciting life during the thrilling climax, but it's a classic example of too little too late. An okay diversion.

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.

It starts out really good, with a lot of elements and characters laid out to build suspense and great atmosphere, but by halfway through it narrows itself down to characters seriously wondering if an escaped stallion is behind the murders. Yes, a horse. And it tries to achieve a feel of all Hell breaking loose at the end with some psychedelic lights and crazy acting which both miss the mark. Worth seeing once, but I consider it to be to period-piece Hammer horror films what Space Mutiny was to Star Wars.Oh, and in a dinner scene about halfway through, our heroine wears an outfit that somehow achieves an insupportable cleavage-to-breast ratio. Science geeks may want to study this scene just to see if they can figure out what laws of physics her corset's breaking. Really. Seriously.Recently bought this in the Nightmare Worlds DVD 50-pack. Not sure if it's gotten its own release.