The House That Vanished (1973) User Reviews

Larraz's warped, twist-headed Giallo proved to be an uproariously entertaining terror flick!

[Weirdling_Wolf · 8/10 · 23 January 2014]

The throat-grabbingly monikered 'Scream and Die!' aka 'The House That Vanished' (1973) is another relatively obscure José Ramón Larraz horror excursion from the early 70s that is entirely undeserving of its current ignominious position of lost title. All the requisite Larraz terror-traits are in abundance here; luridly libidinous, scantily clad buxom lovelies, creaky, dimly-lit, doom-laden domiciles with some elusive, sexually 'unusual' maniac enthusiastically slaying a series of shrieking, tantalizingly top-heavy females!

The familiar Giallo-esque plot of some sordidly sinister, shadow-stalking, black-gloved killer doesn't often stray from convention, but where the estimable Larraz succeeds, and many other genre filmmakers so often fail is that he manages to excitingly generate a palpably erotic and decadent tone amongst all the heavy-breathing, gleefully gory 'gash and slash'. Alongside the sublime plenitude of fecund, candle-lit décolletage, he also darkly infuses the admittedly generic premise with ominous oodles of genuinely unsettling Gothic motifs. After reading a few glib, dismissive reviews of 'Scream...and Die' I really wasn't expecting much, but contrary to low expectations, Larraz's warped, twist-headed thriller proved to be an uproariously entertaining terror flick with a scintillating series of deliciously sinister set pieces that managed to evoke a sweaty-palmed, Poe-like sepulchral chill. My positive opinion hasn't changed in 15 years, when in Samhain is this fine psycho-thriller going to be restored?

Come and Die!

[andrabem · 7/10 · 7 October 2008]

Valerie and her boyfriend Terry witness a murder in an old abandoned house. They had heard the sound of a car arriving and they hid themselves. A couple had come in. They could only see the girl because He remained always in the shadow. She undressed herself and sat on his lap. Suddenly a switchblade flashes out. She's stabbed to death.

Valerie in her panic rushes blindly out of the house. Outside she waits for Terry. He doesn't come. Then she hears footsteps. Again she runs and runs.... Somehow she manages to get home in the morning.

In London Valerie goes back to her routine. She tries to contact Terry, be he's disappeared from sight. And worst of all, when Valerie looks out of her window she sees Terry's car parked in front of her house. The killer knows who she is and where she lives! When Valerie speaks with her friends about it, they advise her to not contact the police. After all Terry is a shady dealer, and she could get involved in a very nasty business. But what happened to Terry? Is he still alive?

The killer is stalking her, and he will strike again...

By the description, you could think that "Scream and Die" is a very suspenseful thriller. But you would be wrong.

"Scream and Die" (the title is misleading) should be seen by those that like a weird atmosphere: the thick fog that envelops the house when Terry and Valerie arrive there, Valerie's friends and neighbors, the early 70s mood, the subtle and effective soundtrack, and the bizarre! Most viewers will guess from the beginning who the killer is. But that's not really important. I enjoy "Scream and Die" because it's atmospheric and feels natural (characters and environment), but it is at the same time dreamy, and sometimes surreal. The beautiful and delicate Andrea Allan is Valerie. She is a joy to behold!

If you like the films of Larraz this is another one to add to your collection

Valerie dissapears in the fog of the night and finds "The house that vanished".

[vampyres-2 · 8/10 · 14 August 2002]

SCREAM...AND DIE! (or "The house that vanished" (1973))is the unknown piece of horror and sex that the master José Ramón Larraz did in England in the seventees. It's an erotic thriller with psychopatic murderer (Karl Lanchbury) perfomed by a beautiful model called Valerie (terrific Andrea Allan)involved in a haunting mistery and sadistic murders occurred in a isolated manor in the forest at midnights. Scream and die has an excellent and very particular quality in images and atmosferes. The movie is slow, yes, but this thing is normal in Larraz's movies: the story is very slow and predictable, but it's too sexy (the love scenes are really good and erotic) and brutal sometimes, and has the mark from the director of masterpieces as "Vampyres" and "Symptoms", both from 1974. The fog, tne night, the sounds of the killer walking with his black gloves following Valerie, the anguish in her face in her firsts shots, the slowly music give to the film a personal sight. The first murder seen by the hidden Valerie and husband as intimate witnesses and the escape from the manor are a classic composition of horror shots, wonderfully executed by the "voyeurisitic filmmaker" with a rare and genuine talent. It's a really brutal moment of sophisticated murder and "naïve" sex. Scream and die has the very personal "touch" of the catalanian director, all the constants that are in the most part of his baroque, sensual and horrific world (Emma puertas oscuras,La muerte incierta,Vampyres, Symptoms,Estigma,Whirpool, Deviation or Deadly manor) are present in here. The spiral of terror and tension grows very slowly -step by step- describing the world of this sexy model for fashion photographers in a continuated state of danger. Larraz creates a really personal style in a very traditional thriller that must be remembered by the tension,the british locations in Kent in winter,the quiet and dead moments of inusually fascination, the use of the photography, the artistic colors and the incredible dark shots of nights, the typical "english" fog, the horror moments and the clever sex that impressed me a lot in my adolescence. Scream and die has a kind of elegance in the horror genre that others horror thrillers hasn't. All the personal obsessions of José Larraz are here in a fine lesson of cinematography in his best period of his career, the british period. The fans of José Larraz need to know his firsts features, as "Whirpool" (1970) and "Deviation" (1971)-nobody has said anything more specific about these movies? (Please: more information and reviews in IMDB or other places,webs, etc.) and his last contribution tot the terror lately in "Deadly manor"(Savage lust, 1990)produced by his old british friend Brian Smedley-Aston. When the fans of José Ramón Larraz, Brian Smedley-Aston (editor of "Performance" ,etc.), his actresses and his horrific world will have a web or a personal page about the director? Where are the fans of this spanish/british filmmaker?. Goodbye!

Good atmosphere saves it

[Maciste_Brother · 7/10 · 1 October 2003]

THE HOUSE THAT VANISHED is pretty good atmospheric psychological thriller. I had very little hope for it when I started watching this Larraz film. To make matters worse, the video transfer is very dark, grainy and the sound had some weird looping technical glitch. I quickly thought then that the movie flatlined from the get go, certainly during the scene with the woman undressing in front of the killer, which was a tad ridiculous. But when the movie ended, to my surprise, I actually enjoyed it. The film is not the greatest ever made and there are a lot of faults to it (pacing is one of them) but the atmosphere is very good and the story is more about the intertwining aspects of location and identity than horror or violence. THE HOUSE THAT VANISHED reminded me a lot of Mario Bava's HATCHET FOR THE HONEYMOON. It's like a twisted soap opera. This film deserves a better transfer, on video or DVD, than the one that's for sale on eBay (from Media), which I bought for 50 cents!!!

Atmospheric giallo offshoot

[drownsoda90 · 7/10 · 6 January 2019]

"The House that Vanished" (alternately known as "Scream... and Die!" follows a London fashion model Valerie Jennings who accompanies her boyfriend to an abandoned house in the middle of the woods for reasons unknown to her; he claims there is something he needs to find there. The two end up witnessing a murder, and while Valerie manages to escape, her boyfriend-and the house-seem to vanish.

Directed by Jose Ramon Larraz, who directed the fantastically atmospheric "Symptoms" directly after this, "The House that Vanished" is an underrated and overlooked giallo-inspired horror effort that exudes atmosphere extremely well. The well-known American title of the film, "The House that Vanished," is weirdly alluring, and part of what drew me into obtaining the film in the first place. Sounds fascinating, right? It is, at least for the majority. The first forty minutes or so of the film truly leave the viewer itching for what is going to happen next, and the apparent disappearance of the house itself creates an ample mystery to be solved.

When the film wraps itself into a conclusion in the last act, things do feel somewhat anticlimactic; the surprise somewhat falls apart as the inevitable conclusion comes into sight, but that aside, I still found this film remarkably entertaining and well-made. The dimly-lit interiors of the titular house are ominous and cold, contrasting well with Valerie's' proper London flat. The cinematography is also effective, and the shots of the killer, appearing only as hands, feet, or weapon, are reminiscent of many a giallo. It's clear Larraz took his cues from the Italian cinema of the time.

All in all, "The House that Vanished" is an effective and atmospheric effort, enhanced greatly by its moody visuals and a relatively engaging mystery at its core. Though not quite as chilling as "Symptoms," it is one of Larraz's better films, and also unfortunately one of his lesser-known. 7/10.

Highly Flawed but the Atmosphere is Great

[Michael_Elliott · 17 April 2018]

The House That Vanished (1973)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Model Valerie (Andrea Allan) is with her rather worthless boyfriend as they drive around in the fog. They come upon a house and the boyfriend goes inside to steal from it but soon the two of them witness a murder. The next day Valerie manages to get back home but she hasn't heard from her boyfriend and she fears that he's dead so with the help from a friend she tries to track down that mysterious house.

José Ramón Larraz's THE HOUSE THAT VANISHED is a film that seems to be remembered thanks in large part to its American promotional material. The trailer and poster of the film played off the same tagline (It's Only a Movie... It's Only a Movie...) that made Wes Craven's THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT a hit. The promotional material on this film is quite impressive and it's clear that it worked because the film gained a cult following despite the fact that it's really not that good.

There are some good things to be found here with one of them being the atmosphere. I thought the director did a nice job at building up a rather sinister atmosphere and this here was without question the highlight of the picture. Another nice thing was the fog and its thickness as the couple drive through it. I thought these scenes were rather effective and the idea of a house being hidden by the fog was something I liked. I also thought Allan was quite attractive and helped keep you somewhat glued to the film.

As far as the rest goes, it's pretty bad. The worst thing about the film and what eventually kills it is the fact that the pacing was just awful. The film has a very slow pace, which is fine if you're able to capture some sort of slow-burn but that's not what happens here. The film continues to grow more and more boring as it comes to an end and what's worse is the fact that it's really not too hard to figure out who the killer is. We're treated to some bloody violence and plenty of nudity but this here can't stop the boring feeling.

THE HOUSE THAT VANISHED wasn't as awful as some make it out to be but there's no question that the atmosphere was wasted.

Hey, where has the house gone??

[Coventry · 4/10 · 19 September 2006]

Ah, the house that vanished… This oddball (alternate) title alone was more than enough reason for me to purchase a copy of this obscure and relatively unknown horror flick. But unfortunately, and as the case with too many 70's horror efforts, the title is by far the most exciting aspect about the entire production. This is an unbelievably dull film, stuffed with all the annoying genre-clichés and predictable plot-twist you can possibly think of. During the opening sequences, we follow a young couple – a photo model and her petty thief lover – as they break into an isolated house during a foggy night. There they witness a murder and only the girl manages to escape into the woods surrounding the house. And, in case you wonder, the title is really accurate! When the girl – Valerie – wants to show some of her friends where the murder took place, she can't locate the house anymore! … Like it vanished into thin air! Anyway, life goes on and Valerie falls in love with a strangely introvert boy who has a peculiar affair with his aunt and classical music plays whenever he's on screen. The murderer hasn't forgotten about Valerie yet and all kind of sinister happenings lead her back to the murder-house. The plot sounds sensational on paper, and I'm convinced it could have been really great, but the elaboration is very poor and way too slow. The only things to admire during the tedious middle section of the film are main actress Andrea Allan's good looks and her smoking HOT body. Yes, I am aware this is a shallow remark to make, but her spontaneous stripteases truly are the only moments that hold your attention. Director José Ramón Larrez seems to realize this too, since the amount of sleaze and nudity gradually increases as the film reaches towards its climax. There's very little suspense and the few murder scenes are tame and as good as bloodless. The more than obvious denouement is almost like an insult to trained horror fans.

Snore and doze seems more likely

[The_Void · 5/10 · 13 February 2008]

Despite all the bad things I'd heard about this film, I decided to go right ahead and watch it anyway as both the titles (Scream and Die, and even better, The House That Vanished) sounded interesting and director José Ramón Larraz did make one of the best lesbian vampire movies of all time with the excellent Vampyres. I have to admit that the film isn't quite as bad as I was expecting; there's a good atmosphere and a few decent moments of tension; but overall I have to go with the majority opinion here and say that the film is very dull on the whole and is mostly riddled with genre clichés. The film gets off to a promising start as a young couple stumble upon an old house in the woods. Being a thief, the boyfriend decides that they should loot it. However, instead of valuable items; the couple find a murder. The girl flees the house and the boyfriend vanishes. Naturally she tells people what she's seen upon returning to society, but her attempts to find the house again fail - the house has...errr...vanished. Anyway, she finds another bloke but the murderer is still out there...

The film features the cheap looking and very cheap sounding British style that many seventies British horror films feature. José Ramón Larraz photographs the film well and gives it a thick and foreboding atmosphere that does benefit it; although it must be quite difficult to make a film about an old house and not have some sort of atmosphere. The plot is the biggest problem with this film as it is really boring and not much of interest happens. There's a murder sequence that sees a naked woman get sliced that's well done and it's one of the few highlights. José Ramón Larraz does make an attempt to make up for the lack of plot with plenty of naked women, most of which are quite beautiful so that was nice of him. There's not a great deal of gore in the film, though it does seem to want to incorporate as much of the Giallo style into the film as possible. The characters in this film are pretty stupid and make daft decisions, and this stretches all the way to the ending which is completely obvious and can be seen coming a mile off. Overall, I can't say that I enjoyed this film much and I can't recommend it either.

THE HOUSE THAT VANISHED (Jose' Ramon Larraz, 1973) **1/2

[Bunuel1976 · 6/10 · 19 October 2008]

This is the fourth film of Joseph (the Anglicized version of Jose' Ramon) Larraz I'm watching and possibly the most conventional and least rewarding so far. For the record, the film shares its screenwriter Derek Ford (who later became an exploitation director himself) with a film I've also just watched for the first time during this Halloween challenge – Peter Sykes' VENOM (1971; see above).

The heroine is a gorgeous blonde played by Andrea Allan: thankfully, 1970s British genre cinema was virtually a haven for such starlets, even if only a handful ever made it to the top (while the greater majority were hardly ever heard of again)! Like VAMPYRES (1974), nudity here is bountiful (in all senses of the word) including a surprisingly steamy encounter between the disturbed sculptor/murderer (Karl Lanchbury, who also appeared in Larraz's subsequent erotic vampire flick) and his mentor/aunt(!) – although the ever iconoclastic Luis Bunuel would go one better the following year in THE PHANTOM OF LIBERTY by showing a young man sleeping with his own grandmother!!

Incidentally, it seemed silly to me to have the heroine here jumping straight into a romantic attachment with a complete – to say nothing of wimpish – stranger (who, conveniently, turns out to be the killer!) after having not just witnessed a cold-blooded murder but also having had her unreliable boyfriend disappear on her for good! The expected 'red herring' character is here supplied courtesy of Peter Forbes-Robertson's eccentric birdwatcher neighbor.

Incidentally, the photographic models milieu is extremely typical of such European thriller fare – and the film's bland treatment of it certainly adds nothing new to the formula. Also quite inevitably, the film went through various title changes: the original one was SCREAM…AND DIE! but, apart from the one I watched it under which is listed above, it was further hyperbolically dubbed PSYCHO SEX FIEND.

Scream and Die

[BandSAboutMovies · 6/10 · 19 July 2022]

Also known as Scream... and Die!, Please! Don't Go in the Bedroom and Psycho Sex Fiend, this José Ramón Larraz movie has some amazing taglines like "Are You Planning an Affair? We Can Give You 7 Good Reasons Not to Have Your Next Affair at The House That Vanished And They're All DEAD!! 1. George 2. Marsha 3. Ted 4. Linda 5. Ronnie 6. Alice 7. Larry" and "Is it too soon to talk about '72...that time Paul and Valerie fell in love at first sight and began searching for a place to have an affair - and they kept searching until they found...The House That Vanished." I mean, they did tell us that it was "In the Great HITCHCOCK Tradition!"

Picked up by American-International Pictures in the U. S., trimmed by 15 minutes and given a really similar campaign - actually, it's the exact same - as The Last House On the Left, this find Larraz playing with his favorite toys: fashionable women in danger, pervy photographers, houses in the London countryside, sexual menace and murder. He kept going back to this well for a bit before throwing Satanism into the stew and, if anything, increasing the sheer levels of filth in his movies. And we were all the better for it.

Valerie Jennings (Andrea Allan) is one of those gorgeous women continually threatened by nearly every frame of this movie, starting when she and her photographer boyfriend Terry (Alex Leppard) travel to a shuttrered hovel of a home deep in the London woods, a place that's empty save for a room filled with womens' passports. As they hide in a closet when a new couple arrives, they don't get to enjoy watching them make love; instead the male dispatches the female with a switchblade. She runs and Terry does too but she never finds him, narrowly escaping to the safety of the big city.

She does find Terry's car and a modeling portfolio with the images of one girl missing. She asks her friends Mike (Lawrence Keane) and Stella (Annabella Wood) what to do next, but they tell her that she and Terry have committed a crime and need to not tell the police. Meanwhile, Mike introduces her to Paul (Karl Lanchbury, a Larraz villain in numerous entries), a mask maker who invites her to dinner with his aunt Susanna (Maggie Walker). If you've seen enough Larraz movies by now, you know that aunt and nephew are soon to engage in the act of darkness.

Life starts falling apart, as Terry's car keeps disappearing and reappearing; Valerie's roommate Lorna (Judy Matheson) - who also sleeps nude with her pet monkey - is assaulted and killed, an old man with pigeons moves in downstairs and when she heads out of town to meet with Paul again, she realizes that his house is the same abandoned house she's been in before thanks to the strange taxidermy inside. Seriously, if you go on a date and someone has a lot of taxidermy, please run.

There, she finds the bodies of those missing and Paul's aunt appears and demands that he kill Valerie. He responds by stabbing her as our heroine runs outside screaming, directly into the police, while Paul just sits in the void.

Writer Derek Ford also wrote The Legend of Spider Forest, Secret Rites, Corruption (which is not a women's picture) and Don't Open Till Christmas as well as directing I Am a Groupie, Blood Tracks, The Urge to Kill and The Girl from Starship Venus.

Larraz comes from Spain to England to make movies that seem like they're from Italy that have their origins in Germany and England. If that doesn't make you look movies, then I have no hope for you.

Superb Atmospheric Chiller in the Mould of 'Vampyres'

[UK_Zombie · 10/10 · 27 May 2020]

Great film by Larraz following on from Vampires of the previous year. Simple yet effective story lent credibility by the excellent settings and atmosphere created by the director. Highly recommended, particularly for followers of the 70s slasher genre, although the thrills here are generated by the fog and the dark houses rather than the body count.

"I Must Have Been An Idiot To Follow You!"...

[azathothpwiggins · 25 August 2021]

Model, Valerie Jennings (Andrea Allan) tags along with her thief boyfriend on a burglary. She gets tired of waiting in the car and enters the house to find him. Together, they discover the horrible truth about the house's resident when they witness a grisly murder.

Valerie bolts and the chase is on. Soon thereafter, a series of mysterious events force her to believe that the killer knows her identity.

THE HOUSE THAT VANISHED is a dark British horror / thriller featuring bizarre characters and demented situations! Fairly creepy. A true drive-in movie...

The Vanishing Vanished

[merrywater · 4/10 · 23 December 2014]

For the want of a better plot, this slow-paced vintage horror flick has lovely Airhead Playmate Andrea Allan as its main attraction, and she's convincing enough as a pretty face to rest your eyes on.

There's a lot of eerie 70s atmosphere, but that's just about it.

A summary: Airhead follows her sordid boyfriend to a deserted house in order for him to break an entry. No reason is given for his choice of burglary object. In fact, he has a hard time finding the location. He even resorts to using a map! Well, they get there by nightfall, and while he's searching the premises, a couple enters of which the male party gets down to killing the female, not knowing that Airhead and Burglar are hiding out watching them. Airhead runs for the car but has lost the ignition key so she flees through the woods to a car junkyard, with the murderer in her tracks.

She escapes, and then basically nothing happens for a good hour.

The viewer would perhaps be expecting the deserted house to mysteriously disappear as the title does indicate a story of a vanished house. However, no quest of the house ever takes place, so the movie isn't really about a vanished house but something else (that unravels in the very last five minutes).

Airhead is totally unmoved by watching murders and corpses; rather a far cry from the American Scream Queens.

Lots of nudity and sex, with compliments to the director: he's from Barcelona!

Horrible

[arfdawg-1 · 2/10 · 28 February 2014]

A young model and her petty thief boyfriend find their way through the English fog to a backwoods manor in hopes of looting it.

What they find instead is murder, and when the model attempts to find the house again, her efforts come to naught.

They've changed the title to Scream and Die for some reason. The other title was so much better.

Doesn't make the movie any better. It's very slow and very dark. Could barely see the characters. It's not a good movie at all. Bad acting. Dumb storyline. Horrible print.

Don't bother with it. Unless you want to be bored to tears

Lesser José Ramón Larraz effort

[Red-Barracuda · 5/10 · 26 October 2021]

Spanish director José Ramón Larraz made a couple of excellent UK-based chillers with Symptoms and Vampyres, this psychological horror film was another such film from this director but it is definitely less impressive. Its about a woman who witnesses a murder in a house and then forgets where the house is - how absent-minded! The killer then starts stalking her and it all goes a bit pear-shaped. This is both run-of-the-mill and completely improbable. One particular memorable sequence has the protagonist tell her friends about witnessing the violent murder and the fact that the killer is now after her, they deal with it like the whole situation is a bit of a thundering nuisance but basically relatively trivial. Thanks pals.

Scream....and Die! Great title! So so psycho/sex flick

[Stevieboy666 · 6/10 · 22 May 2021]

Petty thief Terry takes his model girlfriend Valerie along on a quick night "job" at an old house situated in some foggy woods. He tells her to stay in the car, needless to say she doesn't. Inside the creepy house she loses Terry and witnesses the vicious murder of a naked woman by a man wearing black leather gloves. I watched this on an old VHS tape, under the better title Scream... and Die!, which may account for the scenes just mentioned being so dark. Filmed in England by Spanish director Jose Larraz this movie has an unknown killer, who's face we don't see, just his black gloves. This is obviously typical of the many Giallo movies from the 1960's and 70's, only here the identity of the lunatic is very obvious, despite a couple of rather poor red herrings. The body count is very low, it may bore slasher fans, though the murders are quite nasty. I found the movie to be well shot and effectively creepy in places. Andrea Allan looks gorgeous as Valerie, and the film has plenty of sex and nudity, including a very unsettling scene between an aunt and her nephew having sex. Not a film that is particularly well known I found it be be a reasonable combination of psycho horror and skin flick, and would certainly like to see a better quality print.

Stylish stupidity

[goblinhairedguy · 4/10 · 4 March 2004]

As expected from the transplanted Spaniard Larraz, this contribution to the slasher genre is achingly stylish, beautifully lit, and deliberately paced. Unfortunately, it is saddled with one of the stupidest scripts in memory (which is saying a lot for this genre). The character motivations are absurd, the Freudian underpinnings offensive, the red herrings insulting, and the denouement is so obvious that you'll want to throw your remote control through the screen to smarten up the protagonist. The women are gorgeous and often naked, but you also have to bear witness to an intense nude love scene between a 20-year old man and a 50-something woman. This one is strictly for Larraz completists and fledgling DPs.

Yawn And Die... Of Boredom!

[Witchfinder-General-666 · 3/10 · 12 June 2008]

As a great fan of British Horror cinema I have seen my fair share of films, and I can honestly say that "Scream... And Die!" of 1973 is arguably THE most boring British Horror production I ever laid eyes on. It is not necessarily the absolute worst of all British Horror films I've seen, but it is possibly the most tiresome, which is even more disappointing since the name of director José Ramón Larraz raises high expectations, regarding his mesmerizing and hauntingly beautiful "Vampyres" of 1974. Anyhow, Larraz obviously went a long way in the one year in-between "Scream... And Die!" and "Vampyres", as while the latter is a fascinating film, this one is a complete mess filled with clichés that offend the intelligence of every viewer who has seen more than 10 Horror films. This is not yet my main complaint, however. While the film has a decent (but by no means memorable) start, and catches up a little towards the end, there is a approximately 50-minute period of hardly endurable boredom in-between. Admittedly, the film has its positive aspects, but I still find it hard to believe that half of the reviews on this are actually positive. There are some nicely eerie settings, and several bits of weirdness, but that is no excuse for two thirds of the film being tiresome beyond belief. The only true saving grace is the ravishing leading actress Andrea Allan, a stunning beauty who has the habit of taking her clothes off for no reason occasionally. Except for the charming Miss Allen and the decent settings, however, there is little positive to say about "Scream... And Die". The idea of a mask-making 20-something weirdo, who looks like he's 14 and who likes to go beyond cuddling with his 50-something auntie, may make the film a bit more worthwhile, but even less original (Norman Bates-wannabe #153.278.997 hooray!). Also it is not quite understandable why a ravishing model like Valerie (the character played by Andrea Allen) would, out of all people, fall for a lunatic mask-maker who looks like a little boy and is still living with auntie. Overall, "Scream... And Die!" does have its moments but the middle is insufferably boring. I sat through the whole film, but, in case one does wanna watch this, it is highly recommendable to fast-forward from the 20th to the 70th minute, and reduce the film to the part that is worthwhile (approximately 35 minutes in total). My recommendation, however, is to skip this yawner, and to go for director Larraz' great following film, the astonishing lesbian Vampire flick "Vampyres".

Murky, low-budget and seedy goodness.

[parry_na · 5/10 · 13 October 2018]

Appalling, brutish, condescending photographer and petty thief Terry (Alex Leppard) has to 'pick up a few things' and therefore leaves girlfriend Valerie (Andrea Allen) alone in the car, in the middle of a forest, one cold, foggy night. There they witness a scene that has ramifications for the rest of the film.

Playing the character of Paul is Karl Lanchbury, who I keep mistaking for Shane Briant, who was making a name for himself at Hammer films around this time. Lanchbury starred in a handful of films directed by José Ramón Larraz - who is once more behind the cameras here - before disappearing. No way does this compare to Larraz's best known horrors ('Vampyres' or 'Symptoms' from the following year). But it is good, murky, low-budget, slightly seedy stuff.

Heroine Valerie is a solid, independent 70's lass; she and many of her friends are young, strikingly attractive and frequently getting undressed. Whilst the atmosphere is enjoyably (and increasingly) sinister, the very slow storyline meanders, especially during the mid-section. And yet, such a slice of nostalgic, foggy fare is this, that doesn't detract too much.

Ultimately, this is a whodunit that is probably more famous for its trailer (with its repeated mantra 'It's only a movie ... it's only a movie ...'), and it is given a very convincing, sleazy horror treatment from Larraz.

Under the influence.

[RatedVforVinny · 6/10 · 26 June 2019]

One of the earliest examples of a U.S 'slasher' movie, obviously influenced by the early Italian 'Giallo' genre. Well made and interesting in parts. gone but not completely forgotten. Well worth watching if you are a fan of the European originals and reflects not only the horror but the sexuality to.

The clothes also vanish.

[gcanfield-29727 · 6/10 · 2 February 2020]

Quite raunchy for its day. Probably the maximum nudity possible within an R rating, at that time. The story is OK. The ladies are sexy, with their English accents and bare breasts. There's one scene I've always liked. The maniac allows a nice-looking lady to get all her clothes off before he kills her.

Ug

[edgein15 · 4/10 · 26 May 2000]

The ratings for this movie are so high on this board, I'm convinced the former cast and/or crew members are shills. Absolutely nothing special. Another worthless haunted house movie with Freudian undertones. Bleh. There are naked women, yes. But the movie is so cheap, that it is dubbed and the sound added in later. This concept doesn't even work on a major Italian film, and it certainly doesn't work here. The lead femme is cute, though.

Dark Dull Dated & Downright Dirty

[stwmby · 5/10 · 5 March 2021]

A mildly diverting period piece, a woman witnesses a murder, is seen by the killer and - well its nothing if not unoriginal so you can guess the rest.

A sign of a poor whodunit is when the killer is obvious - despite any number of red herrings - within minutes of appearing on screen.

Awards must be handed out though for Outstanding Smuttiness - I honestly have never before seen a film (and I've seen a few) where EVERY female member of the cast goes totally naked at one point or another - even weird old Aunt Susannah gets em off for a quickie with her even weirder nephew.

Irritatingly though, this film is extremely poorly lit throughout, with daylight scenes being welcomed with (light) relief. A good number of scenes are shot at night, in dark houses, with no lighting at all.

Now I appreciate that every self-respecting ne'er-do-well prefers the cover of darkness to carry out his dastardly deeds, and that the lack of light does add a touch of realism, but surely a fundamental component in making a film is to ensure that the audience can actually see what's going on?!

Only good if you like early 70s thrillers mixed in with a generous dose of gratuitous soft porn.

My Attention Vanished

[JDSize · 2/10 · 22 June 2011]

I really wanted to like this film, but what a yawn-fest! It had an interesting concept with the beautiful girl and her boyfriend, but the story just staggered. The characters were so unrealistic, and came across as having their head in the clouds most of the time. It was playing in a double-feature after Ship of Zombies playing at the New Beverly and it seemed worthwhile to check out. I gave this film a two, because it was executed well and had some fun shocking moments. The extremely slow pacing however, was where this film suffered. I would recommend this film, but to people who could stomach something very slow. If anything, the House that Vanished is a great title.

"Lost Title"? Good reason

[tobermory2-1 · 2/10 · 31 August 2017]

This is less a review of the movie, "The House That Vanished" as it is a response to the reviewer(s) who liked this movie. I was wondering what was the worst movie I ever paid to watch and without hesitation it was this movie. The only reason I saw it is that friends and I wanted to see an "R" movie before we turned 18. It was clear from the start that the writer and director had no regard for women, decency nor their audience. The original title, "Scream... and Die," pretty well sums up the plot as well as most of the direction for the film. The only reason I would give more than the one star this kind of anti-social material deserves is that I still remember two scenes vividly, so something must have been right. One was an endless slashing to death of a topless yet vapid woman-- not a happy memory-- and the other was when our heroine was in the cellar/attic and you get well and truly set up for a good scare. Give this pitiful effort a BIG pass and you'll be a happier movie-goer.