Check out our review of Burnt Offerings - a recent Kino Lorber Studio Classics Blu-ray, below:
The haunted house film genre has been around for a very long time, changing to its modern phase of truly evil and supernatural spirits looking for vengeance and death. Burnt Offerings falls into a more classical mold that focuses on the characters and their interaction with the haunted house. As such it can seem a lot slower in pace than other haunted house films because this film follows the slow descend of the family with little time paid to trying to solve what is going on in the house. Rather the film follows the characters through their changes. During which they are not entirely aware of the changes, as they might just be shorter extensions of their current personalities. The film is more of a character study than a typical set piece horror film.
The basic story of the film is not all that different from most films of this genre. Growing tiresome of the city, a family decides to get away for the summer months. They rent out, at a huge bargain price, a big isolated mansion in the country with hopes of rejuvenation. Instead the family slowly goes crazy as each member slowly loses grip on their personality. The story of the film does share some aspects of other haunted mansion type films, but is overall a different kind of beast. This film is not filled with eerie noises and moving objects, rather it has slight but constant changes to the characters and the house itself.
This film would probably not be as good if not for the acting in it. The story is interesting but not all that unusual for the genre, therefore most of the weight of the film is placed on the actors shoulders. Fortunately this weight doesn't appear to be much of a burden for the actors involved. The three older family members played by Karen Black, Oliver Reed, and Bette Davis do a good job in effectively portraying the continuing changes with their respective characters. The biggest surprise in the film acting wise is the quality of performance from the child actor, Lee Montgomery. He does very well in his scenes, never comes off as annoying, and is effective in portraying the different relationships with each family member.
While this films does have a lot of positive things going for it, it does not have any parts that put this film into of the category of a great film. Instead it is stuck in the realm of good films despite a lot of positive momentum. Unfortunately that momentum for whatever reason is never fully realized. Perhaps trimming a few scenes here and there throughout the film would have helped the film keep a tighter pace that would have been more able to maintain a sense of suspense.
In the end Burnt Offerings is a solid film of supernatural psychological horror, with less focus on things bumping and squeaking and more on the mental and physical deterioration of a family in a living house. Supporting a decent storyline is good acting from the entire cast, including one of the rare times when the child in the horror film is actually quite good. The pacing of the film is not very fitting for modern times and as such fans used to a more rapid event supernatural house film might find the film slow or boring. As well the film doesn't explain anything, the characters don't try to figure out what is going on. Instead the film focuses on the slow deterioration of each family member as the house grows stronger. Which might turn some fans off who are looking for more of a horror film rather than a psychological thriller.
Special Features:
Interview with actor Anthony James (17 mins): This interview discusses the actors memories of making the film in which he fondly recounts his time with Bette Davis. He then discusses his career as a whole and his memoir "Acting My Face." Over all an interesting discussion with the actor on his career with some tidbits on this film.
Interview with actor Lee Montgomery (16 mins): In this interview we get a lot of interesting behind the scenes bits about the making of the film, the actors involved, and life off the set during the making of the film. A lot of funny and interesting stories about the hotel living situation for the actors.
Interview with screenwriter William F. Nolan (13 mins): In this interview the screenwriter goes over some of the themes and ideas of the story of the film. Overall a good interview that gives some more depth to some of the ideas in the film.
Audio Commentary with director/co-writer/producer Dan Curtis, actress Karen Black, and co-writer William F. Nolan: An older commentary that gives a lot of good tidbits about the making of the film, including how it got started, the filming itself, and more. A good commentary were all involved are comfortable discussing the film together. A worthwhile listen.
Audio Commentary by film historian Richard Harland Smith: An interesting commentary that is chock full of details about the film, the haunted house genre, and the historical perspective of the horror genre. Some my find this commentary hard to listen to because it is an overload of information, not all of which is directly related to the film. A worthwhile listen if you don't mind tons of information being thrown out at you.
"Trailers From Hell" with Steve Senski
Animated Montage of Images
Original Theatrical Trailer
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