8/10
Terror In The Haunted House
21 August 2005
Warning: Spoilers
Firstly, I would like to say that this film was not banned by the US government for 26 years as was written by someone in a previous comment. I think that person was referring to the films " Psycho-Rama" gimmick because I've read that it was banned, but I'm sure that it's alleged banning was just hype anyway (The gimmick itself is awful!). This film actually used to play on local television an average of twice a year during the early to mid-seventies. I used to watch it. Now then, "Terror in the Haunted House" is an atmospheric little film about a young bride who is terrified of a house that has been tormenting her dreams. In the opening scene we are given a tour of the house as the bride approaches it (off camera) and narrates (sort of like the opening of Hitchcock's "Rebecca"). The front door opens and the camera moves through the house and up the stairs to the second floor and finally to the attic door which opens and we see to the top of the attic steps. That's all the wife can remember. She tells her psychiatrist that she knows that danger lies up there. Soon the wife is taken by her new husband to that very same house. There are nice touches that follow such as the wife discovering her and her husbands initials carved into the trunk of an old tree (which has been overgrown with vines) and as she slowly starts to remember that her childhood was indeed spent at that estate. The acting by everyone is acceptable. The house itself is a colonial plantation and is a very beautiful home to look at. My only gripes are those annoying subliminal messages ("Psycho-Rama") and the par for the course low-budget way that some of the shots that were supposed to be taking place at night-time were obviously filmed in broad daylight.
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