House of the Long Shadows (1983)

Directed by Pete Walker [Other horror films: Die Screaming Marianne (1971), The Flesh and Blood Show (1972), House of Whipcord (1974), Frightmare (1974), House of Mortal Sin (1976), Schizo (1976), The Comeback (1978)]

Despite the stellar cast of this one, I didn’t care that much for House of the Long Shadows when I first saw it. Well, I thought it was okay, but I didn’t think it was particularly great. I generally feel the same way now – it’s a solid movie in many aspects, and again, the cast is stellar, but I also think it runs a bit long, and it’s not a movie I’d revisit all that often.

Based on a 1913 novel by Earl Derr Biggers titled Seven Keys to Baldpate (which was later turned into a play, and made into multiple movies), the story follows Desi Arnaz Jr.’s character’s attempt to write a book to win a bet in the deserted mansion at Bllyddpaetwr (Welsh for the win), though he finds that the mansion is not quite as deserted as he was told. It’s a decent idea, but like I said, I feel like it’s a bit long (the movie runs for an hour and 42 minutes), and though the story is okay, I don’t know if it’s enough to carry the film.

Look at that cast, though – true, Desi Arnaz Jr. is the main star, and you could argue Julie Peasgood is a co-star, and neither one is particularly well known (though both do perfectly fine), but look at the others: Peter Cushing (The Abominable Snowman, The Masks of Death, The Skull, The Creeping Flesh, Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell), Vincent Price (Witchfinder General, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Fly, Tower of London ’39 and ’62, Cry of the Banshee), Christopher Lee (I, Monster, The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll, The Virgin of Nuremberg, Curse III: Blood Sacrifice, Circus of Fear), and John Carradine (Crowhaven Farm, The Nesting, The Unearthly, Curse of the Stone Hand, Revenge of the Zombies).

Obviously, all four are giants of the genre – I’ve long been a fan of Vincent Price and Peter Cushing, and both Lee and Carradine are always decent too. In this movie, I actually do think that Christopher Lee’s character is the most interesting, but Price gives a lot to the movie also. Peter Cushing is a little more limited here, and John Carradine (who was around 77 at the time this was filmed), while fun, doesn’t have that much to do either. Still, it’s great to see the four of them in a single movie, despite the fact I don’t think the movie’s great.

Other performances worth mentioning include Sheila Keith (Frightmare, House of Whipcord), Richard Todd, Louise English, and Richard Hunter. I don’t think any of them add as much as Price, Cushing, Carradine, or Lee, but then again, how could they?

The story is reasonably fun. It’s worth mentioning, at this point, that the movie does have a somewhat light-hearted tone to it. The finale is almost whimsical, and while the humor is never over-the-top, the light-hearted nature is obvious throughout. And speaking of the finale, while I don’t know if it was executed entirely well, I can sort of appreciate it. It does seem a little bit ludicrous, but at least it was different.

As far as the kills go, there were two that I thought stood out – in one, a woman is washing her face, but unfortunately the water in the basin was replaced with corrosive acid, and that doesn’t do wonders for the woman’s complexion. In another, a character is killed with a battleax – we don’t see the kill, but we do see the attack through silhouettes, which looked pretty damn cool. The movie harkens back to the old dark house mystery days, but there are a few scenes here that does remind us it takes place in the 1980’s.

For the cast alone, I think it’s a movie worth watching, and generally, it’s regarded pretty well. Having seen it twice, it’s not something I personally love, but I suspect many would be happy with this one, and they’re not without reason.

7/10