MovieChat Forums > The Shuttered Room (1968) Discussion > Dullsville

Dullsville

posted 12 years ago by DanielKing
7 replies | jump to latest

As a horror / thriller THE SHUTTERED ROOM is an almost total failure. It is neither horrifying nor thrilling and, after an intriguing first ten minutes, becomes a tedious non-event of a movie that builds towards a massively disappointing reveal.

From what I understand, the script was hacked about and rewritten on a pretty much daily basis and my God it shows. It can't decide whether it's about a cursed family, a rather puny gang of ruffians or a mystery killer. The narrative switches from one to the other without ever satisfactorily resolving any of them.

The dubbing is atrocious, some of the acting has to be seen to be believed and there's far too much irrelevant footage of characters travelling from one spot to another (a tell tale sign of a film that doesn't know what it's about).

The one thing I did like about it was its unusual, jazzy score but that's slim pickings really considering the talent involved.

[–] tali1 11 years ago

Whilst it is a frustrating film -it it miles better than the turdfests Dulwich Horror and Beast in the Cellar.
5/10 from me - could have been brilliant - but easily loads worse out there

Hey Witchdoctor, give us the magic words.
ooh ee ooh ah ah, ting tang wallawallabingba

[–] Wuchakk 11 years ago

It's not a horror/thriller, but a mood piece/mystery film.

[–] PrometheusTree64 11 years ago

But that's what most horror/thrillers were thru the mid-'60s: mood piece/mystery films.

I love the flavor of this picture, even if the script was a little lacking (and it was) if not the very competent execution.

Still, '60s thrillers just have something in them.

--

[–] Wuchakk 11 years ago

There's some horror in it at the very end, but it's mostly a mystery tale with haunting atmosphere. This is in contrast to more overt horror films from the same year, like "Frankenstein Created Women" and "Quatermass and the Pit". Here's a list of horror films, subtle and overt, from 1967:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_horror_films_of_1967

[–] Jones70 (6195) 3 years ago

And a very good one.

[–] poettesse 8 years ago

I first saw 'The Shuttered Room' on TV when I was a kid. I was terrified! I loved it. I still do.
Now I need to find 'The Shuttered Room'in story form.

[–] Jones70 (6195) 4 years ago

Almost anything Reed that I’ve seen is not dull at all.