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Odd is perhaps the best word to describe this movie with. Even for an '70's horror flick it's quite an unusual movie, that is good looking and all but yet never really gets off the ground, mostly due to its storytelling.
Everything in this movie screams that it's not being made by the most experienced and talented people involved. It also obviously doesn't feature the biggest budget. And its also true that the movie isn't made by the most experienced people within the business and it didn't had a very large budget. Director Theodore Gershuny only directed 3 movies throughout his career, of which this was his last. He knows how to give the movie an atmospheric and classy look but nevertheless the movie still feels mostly empty, since we are just never grabbed by its story or tension because it isn't told always very well.
All of the actors are also some big B-actors, who obviously have done nothing big or important throughout their career. Their talents simply do not allow that. The movie still features former big horror movie star John Carradine but what's the point of having him in your movie if you're not going to let him talk. As if he was cheaper to get that way; "OK, I'll star in your movie for $10.000. How about $5000? OK but I won't say any lines then. It's a deal!". Carradine is best known for his horror roles in the '40's, for the Universal studios. He played the famous count Dracula a couple of times at that time and also appeared in one of "The Mummy" sequels.
The movie does has its moments, mostly when horror is involved but for most part the movie is too slowly moving. It's also too mysterious. We don't exactly know how all the characters are and what they want, until about halve way through the movie. It also takes too long for the movie to unravel its main plot. Sure, this works out all well for the mystery and atmosphere of the movie but it also kind of makes this movie hard to watch and follow.
So overall it really isn't a bad genre movie and certainly it deserves a higher rating than it's currently receiving on here. Perhaps people don't really like it since it's a little bit odd and it isn't really told in a formulaic way. Besides, it's a very cheap looking with no great big talents involved behind and in front of the camera.
6/10
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