House's Backstory


I missed the first half of this and I wanted to know what was the house's back story. They kept mentioning demons, murders, suicides, and the cast was dressed like it was Victorin times (if in Victorian times they wore a lot of polyester). Can someone please tell me what happened in the house? Thanks

The penguins are calling and I can't find my way out of the labyrinth.

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Basically 7 deaths of the previous owners occurred via murder, suicide. The last owner in particular (maybe all of them) was apparently involved or experimenting with the occult, hence the Book of the Dead. The movie they were filming was supposed to be "inspired by the stories" of what happened in the house, so the actors were dressed according to time period. Which no, that doesn't totally make sense either, but Victorian garb is cool anywhere, so I guess that's why they had the actors in the movie being filmed wearing it. I'm confused by the ending, David, etc...sat thru the whole thing & now feel lost lol.

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I just watched this after taping it and I am from the timeframe of 1960's horror films and this one was comical at best. The ending made no sense.

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70's horror was often lacking in logic. 80's too...I think the X-Files really helped to instil a desire from the point of view of the viewer to decipher exactly what is happening and why.

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Actually, it made perfect sense: David is the spirit of one of the ill fated members of the Beale family. Notice that David is the one who first finds the Tibetan Book Of Dead, and starts reading from it, and puts forth the idea they should use the chants in the movie they're making. Hence, it would seem that David Beale had been reanimated in human form for the purposes of luring more people to the house.

The only thing is, a David Beale is never mentioned in the film, until the moment Eric spots his name on the gravestone, after David attacks him. And WHY David is luring people to the house isn't explained either. Is he under the power of some evil force, or is he himself said entity? And if he's one of the members of the Beale family, and able to walk the Earth in human form, then why does he need the others to read from the book to raise the other ghoul we see? Perhaps David himself is unable to kill in human form, and it's the recitation that raises the undead who are able to kill.

In truth, a lot is left up to the viewer's imagination, which is as I feel it should be. When you start filling too many details, well, you may as well be watching an A Team rerun.

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Thanks for your interpretation. I was wondering about the last scenes with David myself.
At one point there seemed to be two ghouls walking around - the first one killing the caretaker and then everyone in the house, the second one I thought was David in his real shape.
Some mysteries will be, as you wrote, left up to the viewer's imagination.

-I don't discriminate between entertainment
and arthouse. A film is a goddam film.-

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