Before such hacks like Eli Roth and Rob Zombie ruined the genre with their excessive blood and gore flicks, the horror genre was the most entertaining genre in the business. Now that I have shunned the horror genre (modern horrors that is) I've unearthed some fine subdued shock flicks that rely of chills, thrills and the macabre rather than blood, guts and exploding brains.
In this film Trish Van Devere plays a mentally unstable woman who leaves the city for the summer to renovate her aunt's house--given her in inheritance. The big city, with a failed marriage, almost drove Trish to the nuthouse, but she is back from the brink and out in the country. Hoping to relax and fix up the house, Trish realizes that her country getaway may push her back to the nuthouse's front door. The townsfolk don't warm up to her and everyone seems to think she is bad news despite her best proper school marm behavior. She learns that her aunt had a bad reputation in town. She was a kooky spinster who took up black arts.
VIOLENCE: $$ (Nothing of note here. Remember, this film plays more for old time horror fans--emphasis on atmosphere and not bodily discharges. However, there are a couple deaths that should, at least, tickle the gorehounds amusement bone).
STORY: $$$ (The story is fine even if it is an old hat. When Trish starts a love affair with a mysterious drifter, we all know that something is wrong with the suave guy but it's the wait, wondering when Trish will discover his darkside, that builds suspense. One glaring weakness of the story was the the preacher coming to Trish's end near the end. He comes to protect her, then... well, he is forgotten. Instead we get a chase scene).
ACTING: $$$$ (Trish Van Devere is a marvellous talent but most folks will prefer, again, thanks to modern horror films, a dame a decade younger in the lead. She easily carries the film herself and brings her natural substance and grace to the role. Happy Gilmore's Christopher McDonald has a short role as a perverted high schooler that eyes up Trish while she jogs).
SEXUALITY: $$ (The love affair between Trish and the mystery man will sustain the non-horror genre fan. There is no skin in this flick, but there is a love scene. Trish, while putting groceries in her car, wears a little Daisy Duke style short pants that the sheriff notices. He asks her if she needs any help, spotting her backside sliding out of her shorts, and she replies, "No thanks, I've got it." To which the sheriff replies, "I can see that."
In this film Trish Van Devere plays a mentally unstable woman who leaves the city for the summer to renovate her aunt's house--given her in inheritance. The big city, with a failed marriage, almost drove Trish to the nuthouse, but she is back from the brink and out in the country. Hoping to relax and fix up the house, Trish realizes that her country getaway may push her back to the nuthouse's front door. The townsfolk don't warm up to her and everyone seems to think she is bad news despite her best proper school marm behavior. She learns that her aunt had a bad reputation in town. She was a kooky spinster who took up black arts.
VIOLENCE: $$ (Nothing of note here. Remember, this film plays more for old time horror fans--emphasis on atmosphere and not bodily discharges. However, there are a couple deaths that should, at least, tickle the gorehounds amusement bone).
STORY: $$$ (The story is fine even if it is an old hat. When Trish starts a love affair with a mysterious drifter, we all know that something is wrong with the suave guy but it's the wait, wondering when Trish will discover his darkside, that builds suspense. One glaring weakness of the story was the the preacher coming to Trish's end near the end. He comes to protect her, then... well, he is forgotten. Instead we get a chase scene).
ACTING: $$$$ (Trish Van Devere is a marvellous talent but most folks will prefer, again, thanks to modern horror films, a dame a decade younger in the lead. She easily carries the film herself and brings her natural substance and grace to the role. Happy Gilmore's Christopher McDonald has a short role as a perverted high schooler that eyes up Trish while she jogs).
SEXUALITY: $$ (The love affair between Trish and the mystery man will sustain the non-horror genre fan. There is no skin in this flick, but there is a love scene. Trish, while putting groceries in her car, wears a little Daisy Duke style short pants that the sheriff notices. He asks her if she needs any help, spotting her backside sliding out of her shorts, and she replies, "No thanks, I've got it." To which the sheriff replies, "I can see that."