I watched this movie when it first came out and I was 9 years old and I've never forgotten it. This how to make a scary movie. Without cutting and shooting everyone up. Having a good plot and make the viewer use their imagination which can be the scariest thing of all. I've watched it many times and it still scares me. Too bad Hollywood doesn't know how to make a really scary movie like this anymore.
shareI agree! I have never forgotten this movie either. Even when some of the 'main' parts faded from my childhood memory, I never forgot about the film itself.
The cinematography alone makes it memorable.
People call this a B-movie & I'm not sure why. Is the acting top-notch? No, especially from hit-or-miss Karen Black.
But it was good enough. The chauffeur scene & a perfectly cast Aunt Elizabeth added to the fun.
I own it on DVD & still watch it.
I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus.
Didn't he discover America?
Penfold, shush.
I wholeheartedly agree. This is how a horror film should be made. Most modern horror movies are so boring and plain dumb with their excess of blood and cgi, the same formulas used over and over, that I have given up on the genre, it is either insulting to the intelligence or so excessively gore without any decent plot, decent actors and explicit for the sake of being explicit. The older ones however, there are the real horror films, the beauties of the genre. And a red line throughout them, is that the imagination of man is in fact the most horrifying aspect. Hollywood horror has fallen so deep these days.
shareYes, to me this is a perfect film. An interesting well written story, loads of atmosphere, a wonderful cast, a great musical score, beautiful scenery.... everything I could want in a horror movie. I never tire of it.
shareSo, I'll probably get a lot of argument for saying this, but . . .
I agree 100 percent that this is one of the top horror movies, and perhaps the best haunted house movie, of all times. I remember it too as a child and it scared the beyasus out of me.
Now, the part that will probably get me yelled at . . . I see a direct parallel between this movie and one of the few modern horror movies I truly like, Sinister. That movie had a very similar effect on me--I watched it without a huge visceral reaction but found myself thinking of it for days afterward. Perhaps it is the "nice" family (with underlying issues) that is taken over by something they simply cannot avoid. Perhaps it is the fact that both families try to flee only to play right into the hands of the evil entity. I don't know. I just know that both this movie and Sinister resonated so strongly with me that I classify them as two of my top five favorite horror movies of all time.
I know what you mean about films that affect you for days after seeing them; I had the same thing after I saw both 'Session 9' and 'The Borderlands.'
I didn't really rate either of them to begin with and just thought 'Meh-I don't get the hype' only to have them creep up on me over the following days ('It Follows' is another).
Now I've watched them both over 5 times and love them to bits!
I agree with you completely. I had a similar reaction to this film.
What stayed with me most was the shocking ending (an unusual type for films of this era!), the ominous soundtrack.
But what kept returning was the....crawly, things-aren't-right feeling that you describe.
Like the above poster, I had the same reaction after watching 'Sinister'. The film itself didn't impress me too much, yet I couldn't forget it & even watched it again when it came on TV.
Ditto for 'Pet Sematary'. I felt the same way, that what makes them THAT scary is that we watch the destruction of kind families. There is no 'good guy' saving the day, no divine intervention, no last-minute good guy.
I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus.
Didn't he discover America?
Penfold, shush.
Absolutely true I can't imagine thwm making a movie like this now.
shareYou can add me to the list of those who find this a TRULY MEMORABLE film.
I too am saddened that movies like this just aren't made anymore and seem to be unappreciated. most stuff today is some variety of a "stab & slash" movie with thin plats and relying on blood guts and dismemberment. We all understand the fear of gruesome death. It takes little to understand that fear. Fear that comes form something totally unknown, unseen or supernatural is far more scary. There is no concept of its power, what it will do or how to defeat it. THAT is what we have in burnt offerings.
I liked this film 2... I like the sense of mystery and unanswered questions it has especially the 2 people in the beginning who rent the place to the family.. Who are they really? Where do they come from? I want to read the novel sometime. LIke the above poster, we need more movies about the supernatural.
shareI never forgot the commercial. I would have been 7 when it was on TV. After all these years I still remember the moment where the creepy guy in a cap and dark glasses pushes a coffin into the camera. I never saw the movie, never particularly wanted to see it. But somehow the other day I noticed it was on blu-ray and thought why not? I thought it was pretty good, especially considering the time it was made, i.e. a bit ahead of the big 70s horror movie fad, or at least before its peak. And Oliver Reed, Karen Black, Bette Davis? Yes please.
shareI also saw this movie when it first came out, and it scared the crap out of me, and I had nightmares for years! It also started my lifelong phobia of hearses. That chauffeur scared me too. This many years later and I still remember bits and pieces, and I still get the freak-out!
Of course I'm watching it now,....it's still scary!
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Sic vis pacem para bellum.