Burnt Offerings

Here's the plot in a nutshell: Oliver Reed and Karen Black play Marion and Ben Rolf, who along with Ben's aunt Elizabeth (played superbly by Bette Davis) and the Rolfs' son, agree to pay $900.00 and take care of an 85-year-old woman in exchange for living in a decaying old mansion on a large estate for the summer. There are several clues about what they're in for right at the beginning, such as Ben and Marion viewing about a dozen pictures of the house, all from the same angle and each picture showing the house looking exactly the same even though there's over one hundred years separating the first picture from the most recent.

Ben begins seeing one of the most horrifying characters in horror movies, someone he'd repeatedly dreamed about following his mother's death years earlier. Marion seems to become possessed by the house, and aunt Elizabeth seems to grow weaker by the scene. And the slightest injury to any of the characters seems to cause part of the estate to become like new. The ending, although similar to that in Night Of Dark Shadows, is a hundred times more frightening and will be long remembered afterwards. Though released in 1976, Burnt Offerings is a classic horror movie that can still scare viewers today, partly because the scare factor is not dependent on virtually non-existent special effects or loads of blood and gore, but instead is supported by a fantastic script and the ability of its stars to utilize their talents. The Haunting has nothing on this film.

Here's the plot in a nutshell: Oliver Reed and Karen Black play Marion and Ben Rolf, who along with Ben's aunt Elizabeth (played superbly by Bette Davis) and the Rolfs' son, agree to pay $900.00 and take care of an 85-year-old woman in exchange for living in a decaying old mansion on a large estate for the summer. There are several clues about what they're in for right at the beginning, such as Ben and Marion viewing about a dozen pictures of the house, all from the same angle and each picture showing the house looking exactly the same even though there's over one hundred years separating the first picture from the most recent.

Ben begins seeing one of the most horrifying characters in horror movies, someone he'd repeatedly dreamed about following his mother's death years earlier. Marion seems to become possessed by the house, and aunt Elizabeth seems to grow weaker by the scene. And the slightest injury to any of the characters seems to cause part of the estate to become like new. The ending, although similar to that in Night Of Dark Shadows, is a hundred times more frightening and will be long remembered afterwards. Though released in 1976, Burnt Offerings is a classic horror movie that can still scare viewers today, partly because the scare factor is not dependent on virtually non-existent special effects or loads of blood and gore, but instead is supported by a fantastic script and the ability of its stars to utilize their talents. The Haunting has nothing on this film.