Haunted

 

HAUNTER-2013-A young girl Lisa (Abigail Breslin) experiences the same events with her family over and over. It's the eve of a birthday that never comes, her father endlessly fixes their car, mom prepares the same meals every night and her little brother plays the same video game and talks to an imaginary friend. It turns out she and her family are dead, the victims of a serial killer Edgar Mullins (Stephen McHattie) who once lived in their house. He possessed Lisa's father and killed the family. Now a new family has moved into the house and Lisa tries to prevent Edgar from killing again. 

This starts off promising but goes on too long. Director Vincenzo Natali made another movie I liked better CUBE (1997).

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Suffer The Usher....

THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER-1949-Some stuffy English dudes discuss Edgar Allan Poe at their club. One of them relates the title story.

Jonathan (Irving Steen) goes to visit his friend Roderick Usher (Kay Tendeter) at his castle. Usher says he's inherited a strange family disease. He also says his sister Madeleine (Gwen Watford who later became famous for a British TV work)) has the same disease. She plays the piano, drinks milk and wanders around the castle. The weird family doctor (Vernon Charles) relates a story that the disease is actually a curse placed on the family by a man their father killed (he was having an affair with their mother). He also tells Roderick about a “temple” hidden in the moors.

The three men go there and meet Rodericks's mother, now a decrepit old hag who has her dead lover's head! The doctor says that if they burn the head the curse will be broken. They leave but come back with their gardener (I'm not sure why they needed a gardener to burn a head) but Mrs. Usher overpowers Roderick and kills the gardener. Then Madeleine has a run-in with mom and is almost killed. Jonathan tries to cheer Rod up by painting and reading until Rod suddenly announces that Madeleine is dead (he tells how in a flashback). He puts her in a coffin, nails it shut and places it in the family mausoleum. 8 days later Rod is brandishing a gun at night because he hears strange noises (nails being hammered, a ticking clock) and thinks sis is coming to get him. He shoots the doctor (but Jonathan doesn't hear anything). It seems Madeleine was buried alive and escaped her coffin (after 8 days?). He tries to shoot her and fails and she tediously chases him to the roof where he falls to his death and Madeleine disappears (all the time mom is watching).

Where Jonathan was all this time isn't explained but he shows up in time to escape the burning castle, set on fire by lightening. Your guess is as good as mine...

Director Ivan Barnett did little else but this strange quirky adaptation has it's moments.

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Old Dark Remake

THE OLD DARK HOUSE-1963-Tom, an American car salesman in England (Tom Poston also in the director's ZOTZ) gets involved ]with the Femm family. He goes to their ancestral  hall on the urging of his roommate Casper Femm (Peter Bull)). He arrives (by trapdoor) and finds his friend Casper dead from a fall. He meets Cicely Femm, Casper's cousin (Janette Scott; DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS) who says he was murdered. Cicely warns Tom to leave before uncle Roderick (Robert Morley) comes back but too late! Roderick arrives and insists Tom stay the night. At dinner Tom meets the rest of the family:  father Jasper (also Bull), mother Agatha (Joyce Grenfell), sister Morgana (Fenella Fielding) and cousin Potafer (Mervyn Johns)) who's building an ark. The eccentric family seems to think that Tom could be related to them. Jasper also has a twin (same actor) who says Roderick want to kill them all. Agatha is stabbed with her knitting needles. Jasper is strangled with tongs. Roderick is shot. Who done it? Despite all the murders there's slapstick comedy and one liners but it's really not funny.

It's a remake of the 1932 James Whale production starring Boris Karloff. Director William Castle collaborated with Hammer Pictures on this macabre horror comedy misfire made between 13 FRIGHTENED GIRLS! and STRAITJACKET.

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