House in Marsh Road, The (1960)

... aka: Invisible Creature

... aka: La casa vengadora (The Avenging House)

... aka: O Fantasma da Mansão (The Ghost of the Mansion)

Directed by:

Montgomery Tully

There are actual writers and then there are eternally aspiring writers. The former tend to actually write things. It doesn't matter what they're writing, if they ever complete whatever it is they're writing, whether or not anyone actually reads whatever it is they're writing, or if they even feel the need to share whatever it is they're writing in the first place. They are simply compelled to write. Whatever. Whenever. It's sort of a compulsion. As for the terminal aspirants, they stay in a perpetual planning stage. No, not today, tomorrow and, if not tomorrow, then next week, or next year. One day. Some day. When they've got the time, or the energy, or the inspiration, or the support. These poor, misunderstood souls have all of this talent and all of these brilliant ideas swimming inside of their heads, yet can never seem to put pen to paper or finger to keyboard to prove it. Really, the bottom line is that some people do while others do not, and probably don't ever even actually plan on it regardless of what they claim.

Having dreams is a great thing, but sometimes real life responsibilities prevent us from fully achieving those, or make us only be able to work toward them incrementally, hoping the clock doesn't run out before it happens. I totally get it. But the thing with otherwise unemployed aspiring whatever's in a lengthy state of neutrality is that someone in their immediate orbit is going to have those beleaguered career ambitions hoisted upon their shoulders. Planning on writing the next big story or novel or script doesn't pay the bills, after all. Someone else is going to need to literally buy that person time, whether it be a friend, family member or lover / spouse. It's a long standing joke in Hollywood that every other person you meet is an aspiring screenwriter yet none of these "next big things" can seem to produce a single completed script when pressed. Makes one wonder if most of these permanently idle aspiring artists aren't really just run of the mill scammers feigning interest in the arts as a means to be lazy and take advantage of others.

You may be wondering what any of the above has to do with an old, creaky British horror film, but it's simple: The person I've just described above is the epitome of the would-be writer at the center of this particular film. David Linton (Tony Wright) is planning on writing a novel. And it's gonna be a great one, he swears! Meanwhile his bitter and understandably fed-up wife, Jean (Patricia Dainton), is the one who's had to continually pick up odd jobs (her current one is a part time gig at a dress shop) and put food on the table as David discusses and discusses some more what his big plans are. But he promises, just six more months of peace and quiet and he'll finally have his long-overdue masterpiece. David uses the standard "If only you'd believe in me..." guilt trip gaslighting routine to make his wife feel like she's the bad guy in this scenario for expecting anything out of him. In actuality, she's been patient and very supportive. Too supportive, in fact.

As the couple wait for David to actually do something, they've had to essentially live as squatters, going from hotel to hotel, never paying for it and then just running off to the next place whenever the bill finally arrives. Oh yeah, and David also happens to be a big drunk of top of all that. What little money he does bring in is spent entirely on booze.

The couple catch a lucky break when Jean's aunt passes away and bequeaths a residential property called Four Winds along with a thousand pounds to her niece. Now they'll at least have a roof over their heads and a little bit of money to get settled in. Jean agrees to give her husband (even more) time to write his book, while his grumpy ass just sulks around complaining about all of the dust and "old junk" (which actually looks pretty nice!) that's been left there. Any redeeming qualities this man supposedly has are completely lost on me, and he only gets worse from here. Come on Jeanie, you can do way better than this!

On move-in day, attorney Richard Foster (Derek Aylward), who's tasked with giving them the keys to their new home and showing them around, is curiously leery and can't get the hell out of there soon enough. He ignores strange noises, a door closing on its own, a chair scooting across the floor and inexplicable gusts of cold wind that seem to come from nowhere. Housekeeper Mrs. O'Brien (Anita Sharp-Bolster), who used to work for the late aunt, is hired to help straighten the place up, and apparently she's the only lady in town who's willing to come there. Even so, she insists on leaving before dark. As she explains, the home is haunted by a poltergeist called Patrick, who is generally benevolent but can be nasty toward people who deserve it.

David is, of course, above such "supernatural nonsense" and he also can't seem to keep out of a local pub called The Plough long enough to help around the house or start his book. While out drinking and socializing, he strikes up a conversation with builder and property dealer Morris Lumley (Sam Kydd - ISLAND OF TERROR). When David mentions that he's a writer but can't really type, his new drinking buddy recommends a local divorcee named Valerie Stockley (Sandra Dorne - ALIAS JOHN PRESTON), who he add is quite the "dish." Morris also makes an offer on the property, claiming he'd be willing to purchase it for 6 thousand pounds (140K today), which has David arching his eyebrows in interest. When he later discusses selling the home and moving to London, Jean refuses. Four Winds means something to her and she's not going to give up her newfound stability just so David can blow through the money.

While his wife is out of town, David decides to give Valerie a ring and, when he finally lays eyes on the voluptuous platinum blonde, he's instantly smitten. The only problem is that they're both still married. Though she's in the process of divorcing, he's not even broached the subject with Jean. In fact, he can't. What she's inherited is all that he really has going for him at the moment. Valerie, on the other hand, is broke and needs 20 pounds to pay off her lawyer to finalize her divorce. David tries to bum the money off of his wife under false pretenses, but she refuses. He then tries to get it from Morris, who also turns him down and wisely intones, "If you want to keep a friend, never borrow, never lend." He's then reduced to breaking into Jean's desk and just stealing it.

As all of this is going on, Patrick the poltergeist seems to be growing angrier. He trashes the study where David works repeatedly and makes sure Jean gets to see a love letter Valerie has written to her husband. While ghosts are typically the heavies in films like this, the one here assigns himself as a protector of sorts to Jean. The real villain is the POS husband.

While never exceptional in any way, a few things elevate this slightly above your usual low budget programmer, starting with a decent script by Maurice J. Wilson (adapted from a story by Laurence Meynell). Though slow-moving, dialogue-heavy, set-bound and light on the horror elements (which mostly come into play at the very end), there's enough drama, snappy exchanges and characterization to keep you tuned in. The dialogue is also surprisingly well-written, with lots of biting, barbed comments being lobbed back and forth between characters, which have the most sting (because they're actually coming from a place of honesty) when they're being delivered by Dainton.

Speaking of Dainton, she and Wilson make sure Jean is a strong, sympathetic central figure we the audience can get behind. As the film opens she's pretty much reached her "put up or shut up" tough love phase with her spouse. She expresses her feelings like a mature adult, and is snarky and cutting about it like he deserves. After all, being supportive, loving and nice has clearly gotten her nowhere with this man, and she's now nearing the end of her rope.

Her Achilles heel is that she unfortunately does love this jerk and wants to make her marriage work, even so much that she's willing to forgive his habitual lying, stealing and affair, which he never really admits to. As a way to butter her up, he starts playing the role of good spouse; being attentive, finally working on his book, making those grand promises... But behind the scenes, he's planning her demise so he can get his hands on her money and be with his mistress. Then again, with Patrick in the picture, maybe he won't be getting his way...

The director only made a few other real horror films, such as The Electronic Monster (1958) and THE TERRORNAUTS (1967), but made many other low budget mysteries, film noir, crime and science fiction films that may dip their toes in the genre. First assistant director Douglas Hickox went on to make the Vincent Price classic Theater of Blood (1973). Geoffrey Denton (The Snake Woman) and an uncredited Olga Dickey (Horror of Dracula) have tiny roles.

While this was a theatrical release in the UK, it bypassed big screen distribution in the U.S. altogether and was sold (under the new title Invisible Creature) directly to TV as part of a package deal by American International. The first (and I think only) home video release here was from Sinister Cinema, who offered it on VHS and DVD. In the UK, it was given a 2011 DVD release through Renown Pictures, who've paired it with The Monkey's Paw (1948).

★★1/2

House of the Long Shadows (1983)

... aka: A Mansão da Meia-Noite (The Midnight Mansion)

... aka: Hosszú árnyak (Long Shadows)

... aka: House of Long Shadows, The

... aka: Kauhujen talo (House of Horrors)

... aka: La casa de las sombras del pasado (The House of Shadows of the Past)

... aka: Le manoir de la peur (The Manor of Fear)

Directed by:

Pete Walker

Most horror movies that become infamous earned their reputation via shocking content; graphic, tasteless and / or socially "objectionable" material. The key is to drum up controversy, go places others are unwilling to go and get people talking. And then you have those films that become notorious for entirely different reasons. Some are simply so terrible it's difficult to fathom how people could have ever made them with serious intentions. And then you have this anomaly, which quickly gained infamy as one of the biggest missed opportunities of all time. When you're bringing together four of the greatest horror stars of all time for the first time ever, it's going to be impossible to avoid setting the bar extremely high for yourself, especially when those actors are absolute genre royalty like Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and John Carradine. A lot of people fondly remember all four of these actors and also fondly remember the high quality of their better projects so the last thing you want to do is disappoint their longtime fans with something subpar or mediocre. Sadly, that's pretty much exactly what happened here, and critics of the day were merciless in ripping this thing apart. Horror fans didn't seem to care much for it either.

Now that plenty of time has passed and expectations have been somewhat tempered (most younger fans probably aren't even going to have expectations to begin with), we can now look at this once again minus some of the bias. Is it a masterpiece worthy of the talent on hand? Nope, it misses the mark there. Is it as bad as many critics said at the time? Absolutely not. Seeing all of these great veteran actors performing alongside each other and interacting in the same shots is so special that not even a mediocre script can diminish the enjoyment. Even better, the director makes sure that all four are allowed their moments to shine here.

American writer Kenneth Magee (Desi Arnaz Jr.), who's trying to rebound from disappointing sales of his latest novel "The Lie," arrives in London for a small publicity tour orchestrated by literary agent / publisher Sam Allyson (Richard Todd). Unlike all of those "over the top" classic novelists, the young, arrogant and brash Kenneth has a more contemporary attitude about his craft. Making money is "all that matters" to him, though he also enjoys some of the perks of being an author, namely access to a lot of women. As far as relationships themselves go, he doesn't believe in them. Sex is fine. Love doesn't even hit his radar. He still has a lot of growing up to do. 

Sam thinks he's too sure of himself and is going to ruin his career by refusing to develop his talent further and take creative chances. After all, slumping recent sales are suggesting people are tiring of him writing about the same subject matter all the time. Over a discussion at lunch about classic literature, Kenneth smirks about the status of acclaimed authors like Tolstoy and Dickens. When Wuthering Heights comes up, he proclaims "Anyone can write one of those things!" That sparks a 20,000 wager that he can write something similar and just as good in just 24 hours (!) All he needs is an atmospheric setting, complete isolation and some quiet.

Coincidentally (or maybe not!), Sam has a friend named Sir Richard Thornton, who owns a remote rural property called Bllyddpaetwr in Wales that's currently in the process of being sold. The old manor house supposedly hasn't been occupied in 40 years and has no electricity, but it's the perfect setting for Magee to pen his next novel by candlelight. The bet is on.

After a brief detour at a train station, where the foreboding station master (Norman Rossington) warns that the home he's looking for is "cursed," the writer finally arrives at his destination on an appropriately stormy night. After fumbling through the dark, he finally locates a bedroom, lights some candles, sets up his typewriter and begins writing "Midnight Mansion." However, he's soon interrupted. Surveying his surroundings, he becomes suspicious that the home hasn't been unoccupied for 40 years like he's been told. There's fresh water in his room, the bedding has been washed and it's relatively clean... almost as if he, or someone else, was expected there. He then ventures out into the hallway, hears a noise and sees someone ducking into a room. Problem is, no one's supposed to be there and Kenneth was told that he has the only key.

Kenneth is soon greeted (if that's the word for it!) by the elderly, grumpy Elijah Quinby (Carradine) and his sinister, hyper-religious daughter, Victoria (Sheila Keith), who claim to be the caretakers there. That's followed by the appearance of an old cloaked woman Kenneth had brief spotted at the train station earlier, who turns out to actually be masked young blonde Katherine De Corsi (Julie Peasgood), who Kenneth had briefly flirted with while in London. Speaking privately, she warns him that both of them will be killed if "they" - members of O.P.I.T. (The Organization for the Promotion of International Terrorism) - spot them talking. She, like most of the other people in this film, isn't who she claims to be.

"Katherine" eventually outs herself as actually being Mary Norton, Allyson's personal secretary, and says he sent her there as a joke to distract him. Maybe she's telling the truth. Maybe she isn't. Other unexpected guests soon arrive and each seem to have their own key... and their own secret. Sebastian Rand (Cushing) claims to have been out driving in the horrible weather and has stopped there hoping for a place to spend the night. Soon after, Lionel Grisbane (Price) shows up there announcing himself as the eldest son of Lord Grisbane, adding that he's been living in America since World War II and has decided to pay one last visit to his ancestral home. Mr. Corrigan (Lee) pops in insisting he's about to purchase the property, but saw lights on and decided to investigate. Finally, a young, bickering newlywed couple; Diana (Louise English) and Andrew (Richard Hunter), swing by after having missed their train.

Kenneth eventually just throws up his hands in disbelief ("It's like I've gate crashed the social event of the year!") and stops even caring who's there or why they're even there. He's still got a book to write and 20 thousand dollars on the line, after all. Nonetheless, he gets dragged back out of his bedroom repeatedly when more horrific things start going on. I'd say it'd be hard to concentrate on your craft with people screaming and dying all around you.

I can't reveal much more about who's really who and what's really what here without spoiling the entire film but let's just say there's a supposed family secret that's been locked away in the attic there for forty years. Said secret is a sadistic, psychotic man who supposedly murdered his pregnant girlfriend as a teenager and then had to be condemned to the attic ever since. He'd been fed for the past four decades by one of the guests but otherwise was unable to leave the small room for all that time and is now even madder than ever. Also, he's recently escaped. Remnants remaining in his cobweb-strewn room include destroyed toys, broken plates, dead rats, bones, claw marks on the walls and a dead, decaying corpse, and he's able to use secret passageways and underground catacombs to get around. Later murders involve everything from hanging and piano wire strangulation to sulfuric acid and poisoned wine.

While watching the four male horror legends (and Keith) do their thing is a real treat, there's no escaping the fact that this is otherwise a highly flawed film. The casting of Arnaz Jr. as the male lead proves to be an issue. Sure, he's got a famous family name to fall back on and perhaps they were banking on that, but he's not really charismatic enough to play this part, much of his dialogue delivery is awkward and stilted and he sticks out like a sore thumb trying to perform alongside such high caliber talent. Still, the fact he's surrounded by people who command interest just standing in the background helps us to somewhat gloss over his inadequacies.

The biggest issue here is really the writing. Michael Armstrong's (MARK OF THE DEVIL; SCREAMTIME) script boasts some sharp, witty dialogue and contains other fun material, but the plot is so dead-set on delivering twist after twist after twist it becomes ridiculously convoluted by the end; undermining a lot of the good that went on before. By the time the final plot revelations are revealed, this thing is so ridiculous it's downright insulting to anyone's intelligence. The film is at its best from the mid-point up to the climax, when the director finally has space to generate creepiness, suspense and a little excitement since he's no longer having to set aside time to have the actors reveal their second and third "true" identities.

Production values, photography, art direction, etc. are all solid, and an admirable job has been done to carefully shoot and light everything to capture a perfect throwback old dark house feel. We get a near-constant shroud of darkness yet are also able to see everything we need to see at the same time, so this is visually presented well.

This was "suggested by" the once-popular 1913 novel Seven Keys to Baldpate by Ohio-born Earl Derr Biggers, who's best known for his Charlie Chan detective novels. Keys had previously been adapted many times. It was the basis for a hit stage production and spawned half a dozen film versions in the silent era and 1930s. Just like with the Chan novels, this property was everywhere for a time but has rarely been resurrected since the 1940s.

Director Walker curiously didn't develop much of an international name for himself until the DVD era despite the fact many of his films had already been well-distributed on VHS in the prior decades. He spent most of the 60s making TV commercials and black-and-white “glamour” (stag) shorts showcasing the charms of nude models. By the end of the decade he'd graduated to profitable feature length soft sex films and then finally ventured into the horror genre, directing the handful of films he's best remembered for today. His work includes Die Screaming Marianne (1971), The Flesh and Blood Show (1972), FRIGHTMARE (1974), House of Whipcord (1974), THE CONFESSIONAL (1976), Schizo (1976) and The Comeback (1978). Long Shadows (his only PG-rated genre effort) was his final film before retiring from filmmaking for good.

Produced by Yoram Globus and Menahem Golan of Cannon Films, the film reputedly had a healthy 7.5 million budget but was a box office bomb and then quickly spat out on home video with little fanfare in 1984 by MGM / UA after its unsuccessful theatrical run. It wouldn't be until 2015 that it received a restored DVD and Blu-ray release courtesy of Kino Lorber, whose release also comes with a commentary track from the director.

★★1/2