Burnt Offerings (1976)

Director:

Dan Curtis

Writers:

Robert Marasco (novel)
William F. Nolan (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

18 October 1976 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery

Tagline:

Up the ancient stairs, behind the locked door, something lives, something evil, from which no one has ever returned. [UK]

Plot:

Haunted house chiller from Dan Curtis has Oliver Reed and Karen Black as summer caretakers moving into gothic house with their young son...

Plot Keywords:

Haunted House | Child Abuse | Body Landing On Car | Child In Peril | Funeral

Awards:

6 wins

Cast

Karen Black	...	Marian Rolf
Oliver Reed	...	Ben Rolf
Burgess Meredith	...	Arnold Allardyce
Eileen Heckart	...	Roz Allardyce
Lee Montgomery	...	David 'Davey' Rolf (as Lee H. Montgomery)
Dub Taylor	...	Walker
Bette Davis	...	Aunt Elizabeth
Joseph Riley	...	Ben's Father
Todd Turquand	...	Young Ben
Orin Cannon	...	Minister
Jim Myers	...	Dr. Ross
Anthony James	...	The Chauffeur

Also Known As:

Ballata macabra (Italy)

Runtime:

116 min

Country:

USA | Italy

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | New Zealand:R16 | Australia:M | Finland:K-18 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Dunsmuir House & Gardens - 2960 Peralta Oaks Court, Oakland, California, USA

Company:

Produzioni Europee Associati (PEA)

Trivia:

The haunting flashbacks that Ben Rolf has about the creepy chauffeur were based off of an actual childhood experience of Dan Curtis. Curtis recalled as a young child being at his mothers funeral and seeing a chauffeur laughing outside of the funeral parlor which disturbed him deeply. He wrote the memory into the film and the chauffeur became a most eerie character.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: At the end of the movie, as they are preparing to leave the house, the shadow of a boom mic is clearly visible as the family walks around their car.

Quotes:

Marian Rolf: I've been waiting for you, Ben!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Rose Red" (2002)

It had its moments.

The Rolf family rents a big old house in the country for the summer, but there's got be a catch to it as it was real cheap and there is one. They have look after an old lady who lives upstairs who never ventures out of her room. Though, after a couple days of getting set into the house, strange things begin to happen. Where the father (Oliver Reed) begins to have nightmares and becomes possessed. The aunt (Bette Davis) becomes unhealthy and strictly bed ridden and the mother (Karen Black) becomes entrenched in spending most of the time up in the old lady's room. This is when we realise the house is restoring itself by feeding on its tenants.

Forget about the baffling title, as it has no relevance to what actually happens on screen. The idea of this tale came from a story of only a couple of pages. So that's why some scenes seem to stall the pace of the two hour running time, the director probably could've chopped some scenes out. This is an incredibly slow burner that mostly plays on the things that you don't see and creates an atmospheric house that has a life of its own. Not much happens to begin with and actually it stays like that throughout most of the film, with only small shocks here and there. So you got to have a lot patience to sit through it as the increasing horror slowly builds. Subtleness is a big factor to it as you feel that it's building for something big. It's psychologically gripping for most part and a real unnerving tone that plays on the character's minds and ours. The spine-tingling and persistent music score keeps a rather haunting mood to it all. It very much reminded me of "The Shinning".

What let it down was rather predictable story telling. It's pretty easy to know what's going to happen and some elements that fill the plot are too transparent that you uncover the secrets before any strange occurrences. Allot of incidents are left unexplained which's rather annoying, like the unforgettable images that Oliver Reed's character dreams from his past and about the house. Just like Karen Black's character we become infatuated with the house too. There are also moments in the flawed story of how could that be so or lacking logic. The story has its amusing and humorous moments to begin with and that's especially because of the strong performances. Though, where things really pick up are towards the end. The horror creeps up onto the viewer with an excellent climax that ends rather shockingly. Not shocking for the revelation because it's rather foreseeable, but what happens after that. The downbeat ending leaves you feeling rather empty and with some unanswered questions. The premise sounded interesting enough and I didn't find it particularly boring, but the story did drag at times and it could've been far better than it actually was.

The film's production valves weren't bad. The eerie interior of the grand house was the chilling backbone that overwhelms the film with a disturbing aurora. The outside scenery was rather nice to look at. The cinematography was flowing with angle shots and a lot high shots that capture the backdrop. At times it was rather misty the frame shots. The direction by Dan Curtis was fair with some well-executed scenes that sometimes tighten the screws, though other times it just felt out of place. The special effects and make-up was reasonable. The performances were excellent and definitely gave more to this predictable haunted house tale. Oliver Reed was solid in his delivery, Karen Black does a good job and Bette Davis added some life to the film.

Rather patchy haunted house tale that is very atmospheric and has strong performances that ground it.