| Author | Message | ||
     Kate (Kathleen) Username: Kathleen Registered: 09-2009 Posted From: 76.238.190.27 |
Last night I watched a 1976 horror film I hadn't seen since I was a child. I remembered absolutely nothing except one image - a creepy chauffeur in sunglasses with a freakish grin. That scared me to death as a kid, so I was eager to see it again. The movie? Burnt Offerings. And while I did enjoy it in spite of its cliched predictability, I have to agree with Ebert's gorgeously quotable review: ------------------------------ A talented cast (Karen Black, Oliver Reed, Burgess Meredith and the sainted Bette Davis) was sacrificed to this slop. . . The filmmakers didn't even have the courage to approach their material as the silly trash it is. If they had, "Burnt Offerings might have been a lot more fun. When you're making a totally unnecessary retread of a wheezy old haunted-house howler, the least you can do is populate it with camp actors and write them some absurd dialog. -------------------------- I think he's got a point. Let's take all the really crap films and remake them as campy eurotrash sleazefests. Maybe Ingrid Pitt could play the Bette Davis character. | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 90.199.0.157 |
I saw this when I was small as well! I thought the ending was rubbish. But there are lots of movies that could be remade, of which The Monster Club is but one. I'd also do Norman Warren's 'Terror' properly and 'Blood on Satan's Claw' on a council estate. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.155.206.196 |
I liked this film. Me and the kids watched The Gate tonight; I think that could be remade. Great, scary kids film. | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.179.61.66 |
Even though I know it isn't him, I can't help feeling that chauffer should have been played by Derren Nesbitt. | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.253.174.81 |
Derren Nesbitt is indeed the ultimate chauffeur. Apparently he's going to be at the Manchester Fantastic Films thing next weekend. Should I ask him about The Amorous Milkman or just shut up and watch Vernon Sewell's Burke and Hare? | ||
| Stephen Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
I'm very fond of 'Burnt Offerings' as I remember it scaring the crap out of me as a child. Seen it a couple of times since and I like the seriousness with which the material is treated while the cast is well nigh flawless! Unfairly maligned and not half bad at all imo. Has anyone else noticed how similar the plot is to King's 'The Shining'? Yet Robert Marasco's novel predates it by 4 years. Anyone read it or his follow-up 'Parlour Games'? |