Burnt Offerings (1976)

Directed by Dan Curtis. Starring Oliver Reed, Karen Black, Lee H. Montgomery, Bette Davis, Eileen Heckart, Burgess Meredith, Dub Taylor. [PG]

A happy couple and their twelve-year-old son rent an old mansion for the summer on the cheap, the only stipulation given by the weirdo owners being that the family must never bother their elderly mother living in the third floor bedroom; naturally, strange things start happening almost immediately, and no one ever sees the old lady, no matter how often Black knocks on the door and makes half-whispered entreaties. You can see exactly where this is going, and it takes its sweet time getting there. The over-the-top climax provides a few bad laughs (and a handy lesson: never stare up at a chimney and freeze as it starts to crumble away), but almost everyone tries a little too hard to make this thing seem spooky and intense instead of plodding and predictable. Playing Reed’s dotty old aunt, Davis only has mannerisms and stale ham to fall back on while tackling an underwritten role. At times, it resembles a mash-up of The Amityville Horror and The Shining, but since it predates both of those pictures, maybe its redeeming feature is the gift of foresight? First and only feature film directed by Curtis, better known for directing TV-movies and about twenty episodes of supernatural soaper “Dark Shadows.”

39/100