The Unseen (1980)

A trio of female reporters find themselves staying overnight in a house occupied by a hostile being lurking in the basement.

Director:

Danny Steinmann (as Peter Foleg)

Writers:

Michael L. Grace (screenplay), Michael L. Grace (story)

Stars:

Barbara Bach, Karen Lamm, Stephen Furst

1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Barbara Bach	...	Jennifer / Karen's sister
Karen Lamm	...	Karen / Jennifer's sister
Stephen Furst	...	Junior / Ernest and Virginia's son (The Unseen)
Lelia Goldoni	...	Virginia / Ernest's wife / Sister
Sydney Lassick	...	Ernest / Virginia's Husband / brother
Lois Young	...	Vicki / Karen and Jennifer's friend
Douglas Barr	...	Tony Ross (as Doug Barr)
Maida Severn	...	Solvang Lady

Storyline

Freelance reporter Jennifer and her two friends, Karen and Vicki, accept an invitation for cheap room and board in a large farmhouse offered by a friendly, but shady, museum owner named Ernest Keller since all the motels in and around town are booked for a holiday parade fair Jennifer is covering. But unknown to the women, some unseen "thing" has been living in the basement of the house for over 20 years and is looked after by Keller and his shy sister Virginia, in which the "thing" soon gets out and begins harassing and killing the women one by one in various violent, but seemingly accidental, means.

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Plot Keywords:

serial murder | son murders father | stabbed with a nail | female pubic hair | bare breasts | 

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Taglines:

The unknown brings terror. The UNSEEN ... DEATH

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Genres:

Horror | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

Director Danny Steinmann was upset with the final cut of the film because it missed most of the major scares. He had his name removed from the movie and was credited under the pseudonym "Peter Foleg".

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Goofs

Before Karen gets killed by the unseen, she knocks over a fruit bowl. The amount of black cherries that get picked from the floor and put back in the bowl varies between shots.

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Quotes

Ernest Keller: I wonder what junior's fate would be... I wonder... Seems obvious to me my dear they would not treat him so kindly. He would suffer greatly

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Connections

Referenced in Best of the Worst: Our VHS Collection (2019)

User Reviews

Decent Afternoon Fair

Freelance reporter Jennifer (Barbara Bach)and her friends Vicki (Lois Young) and Karen (Karen Lamm) come visit a farmhouse owned by a shady museum owner. Little do they know is that there is something living underneath the house-and it's not very nice.

Director Danny ("Savage Streets", "Friday the 13th V") Steinmann and co-writer Kim ("The Texas Chainsaw Massacre") Henkel give you "The Unseen", a little known but watchable early 80's horror tale that has garnered something of a cult following. On one hand, it's easy to see why-Henkel and Steinmann's involvement is hard to ignore, though it's reliance on eerie, Gothic scares instead of gore (quite different from the slasher movies of the time), a plot that's part "Texas Chainsaw" and part "Psycho", some impressive atmosphere, and creepy score are all factors that work-well, for the most part.

The acting unfortunately, isn't that stellar, particularly Bach, who in spite of being in some great movies, is far from interesting here. The biggest problem though, is the third act, which just feels like the writer and director ran out of ideas in the last minute. While Stephen ("Animal House") Furst is good as the disfigured monster, his character isn't that scary, and feels a bit underdeveloped, as do other characters.

"The Unseen" is a decent but hardly perfect forgotten 80's horror flick that would make a nice watch on a rainy weekend afternoon, and would also make a nice double bill with Jeff Lieberman's underrated "Just Before Dawn." If you want to see it, then get it on DVD, though I doubt that it really deserves the 2-Disc treatment Code Red has given it.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

September 1981 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Unseen

Filming Locations:

11840 W. Telegraph Rd., Santa Paula, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$2,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Triune Films (II)

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1