Product Description

An american couple witnesses a number of guesome murders while they stay at a charming english manor. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 09/07/2004 Starring: Katharine Ross Run time: 100 minutes Rating: R Director: Richard Marquand

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18761 in DVD
• Brand: Universal Studios
• Released on: 2004-09-07
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 102 minutes

Customer Reviews

Sam Elliot and Katharine Ross - Legacy of their Own

This is a pretty original 70s horror movie starring two very likeable and attractive stars of the era - Katharine Ross and Sam Elliot. It's just fun, not really all THAT scary or even too tense. Basically Sam and Katharine end up unwilling guests in a spooky mansion where the guests are dropping off like flies while waiting for an old spooky man to pass away and leave them an inheritance. Roger Daltry makes an appearance. The deaths are all way over the top, and it's just fun.

DVD is the movie plus a trailer. That's about it, but the transfer is great considering the age of the movie. Great spooky flick for a cold night by the fire.

I'm sorry, but this is a great movie!
Granted, it's no "Gone With The Wind" but this stylish thriller is both enjoyable and scary. I'm just glad it's finally come to DVD!

I won't get too much into the plot but it's basically a Satanic/Supernatural/Big Old English Mansion movie with a whodunnit twist. (with some very imaginative ways of people getting killed!) The film is very nicely shot, with a great music score, (sometimes a bit campy, but it was the 70's after all) and sports a great cast. The story isn't what I'd call original, but basically it's a QUALITY movie, not a cheesy slasher flick... I think this movie has stood the test of time quite well (Except for Sam's haircut and 'stache maybe!) and would still hold up today.

Just seeing how Sam Elliot deals with England and it's natives (with his famous country-western demeanor) makes it worth watching!

Although there's very little in the extras department (besides a VERY dated trailer) the Audio and Video quality are very nice. I highly recommend this DVD!

PROMISING MATERIAL GONE BAD
While the original script, something called "The Devil's Doorway," showed promise, various re-writes and compromises have resulted in a movie which makes so little sense that it's best viewed as an "in-flight" movie. One of those things you halfway watch while doing something else.

The movie begins with a basic implausibility. Interior decorator Katherine Ross is lured from L.A. to England by a lucrative but mysterious job offer. She and boyfriend Sam Elliott decide to fly over a few days early to see some of the English countryside. They're involved in a minor motor accident on a rustic lane and are taken by the other driver to his nearby home to await repair of their vehicle. What do you know, this home just happens to be the very place where Katherine Ross was intended to go all along!

Therein follows some murky activities involving other guests at the home who seem to be part of a Black Magic cult. Gruesome death follows gruesome death culminating in an ending which doesn't really resolve questions raised by the preceding plot.

On the plus side, the two leads are attractive sorts and they're surrounded by a competent British cast which gives a better effort than circumstances warrant. What's more, the large countryhouse in which the action occurs provides just the right atmosphere.

One curious note. While Katherine Ross is warmly dressed throughout with turtleneck sweaters and long skirts, co-star Sam Elliott gets to strip for a rather-extended shower scene. As he crosses the bathroom toward the shower, the camera lingers on the back of his naked body, even though this part of the scene serves no plot purpose whatsoever.

Fortunately Elliott, at about age 33, has the necessary buns-by-Michelangelo to make this moment more of a highlight than an embarrassment.