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Review (Contains Spoilers)

With the onset of the eighties that perennial favourite of horror fans the haunted house chiller suddenly found itself once again very much en vogue. This was chiefly due to the success of two films, the first of which was Stuart Rosenberg's The Amityville Horror (1979). Based upon the novel by Jay Anson, which was itself based on a supposedly true story The Amityville Horror was a taut, efficient and scary horror picture which thanks mainly to the clever, heavy promotion of its "true story" angle captured the imaginations of viewers worldwide and became a massive box office hit. The Amityville Horror was followed into theatres the next year by Stanley Kubrik's classic Stephen King adaptation The Shining. Despite meeting with a mixed reaction upon its initial release Kubrik's film, along with Amityville, quickly proved influential paving the way commercially for a glut of haunted house and supernatural themed horror pictures in both America and Europe. Whilst some such as the Spielberg produced Poltergeist and Lucio Fulci's Italian splatter favourite The House By The Cemetery have since become regarded as classics in their own right, inevitably most of these films were fairly interchangeable.

Of all the haunted house shockers produced in the wake of The Amityville Horror and The Shining it could be said that the oft-overlooked 1982 horror opus The House Where Evil Dwells stands out as one of the more conceptually unusual, attempting as it does to mould together the usual cliches of its sub genre with overtones of Japanese occult mysticism. Based upon a novel of the same name wrote by former Disney promotions director James Hardiman, The House Where Evil Dwells was helmed by British director Kevin Connor who despite being known for directing the popular Edgar Rice Burroughs based dinosaur adventures The Land That Time Forgot (1975) and At The Earth's Core (1976), had also previously cut his horror teeth by directing both the much loved Amicus horror anthology From Beyond The Grave (1973) and the bizarre southern fried horror parody Motel Hell (1980). Despite featuring a cast which included British sex pot Susan George and faded American action-adventure hero Doug McClure, The House Where Evil Dwells sank without a trace upon its original release before eventually drifting into a life of obscurity on video.

The House Where Evil Dwells begins back in the 19th century in Kyoto, Japan with a samurai warrior returning home to the sight of his beloved wife engaged in sex with another man. Flying into a fit of homicidal rage the samurai draws his sword and proceeds to decapitate his love rival. Following this he then mercilessly slays his adulteress wife before finally killing himself.

Fast forward to the present day and seemingly happy married couple Ted Fletcher (Albert) and his wife Laura (George) arrive in Kyoto with their young daughter Amy (Barrett) in tow. Due to his job in photojournalism Ted has been forced to relocate his family to Kyoto and with the assistance of his American diplomat brother Alex (McClure) is able to cheaply rent a traditional, Japanese hillside house which happens to be the same property which played host to the aforementioned love triangle killings in the previous century.

When Alex jokingly informs Ted and Laura that the property is rumoured to be haunted the couple dismiss this claim as nothing more than local superstition. However, it soon becomes clear that the residence is still haunted by the evil spirits of the three individuals involved in the fatal love triangle. After putting the wind up the Fletcher's with a number of unnerving incidents the spirits possess the bodies of the houses unwanted new occupants causing Laura to begin a secret affair with her husbands brother Alex whilst a similarly possessed Ted's anger gradually escalates beyond control. Will the Fletcher's manage to overcome the evil supernatural forces at work in their new home? Or will the horrific events of the properties be relived?

In all fairness British director Kevin Connor proved with From Beyond The Grave that given the right material and personnel he was capable of delivering an efficient horror film. Unfortunately saddled here with far inferior material Connor really disappoints with The House Where Evil Dwells gracing an infuriatingly generic haunted house script with flat, characterless direction. The result to cut a long story short is quite frankly a turkey. This is a shame as the film certainly starts promisingly enough, opening with a stylish pre credits sequence set in 19th Century Kyoto, Japan. This effective opening concludes in grisly fashion as an infuriated samurai warrior gorily decapitates his unfaithful wife's lover after catching the pair of them in the midst of a steamy lovemaking session. Sadly once the opening credits role and the action shifts to modern day Kyoto things rapidly descend downhill as The House Where Evil Dwells quickly turns into a half-hearted, ineffective and ultimately tiresome catalogue of predictable horror cliches.

The notion central to the film of Ted and Laura Fletcher, together with Ted's brother Alex, being subconsciously driven by malefic forces to reenact the horrifically doomed love triangle of the house's deceased former occupants on paper is actually a largely novel and potentially gripping one. Unfortunately whatever promise this premise may have offered is completely squandered due to bungled execution as the screenplay completely eschews any sort of psychological approach (which could have worked effectively) and instead delivers the completely unnecessary addition of the cheated husband, his deceased wife and her lovers visible spectres drifting around the property attempting to possess the Fletcher couple. This proves to be nothing more than a pretext for dated, repetitive and unconvincing special effects sequences in which the spirits are shown physically entering the bodies of the Fletcher's who then duly proceed to talk and act out of character. With their pallid, ghostly appearances the spectres are initially a slightly disquieting presence, but after a while the oft-repeated sight of them wandering around the house largely unseen by the Fletcher's becomes laughable, the trio unintentionally resembling some sort of bizarre Japanese mime act. Additional annoyance stems from the wildly inconsistent manner in which the three aforementioned spirits are seemingly invisible to the Fletcher's at certain times yet visible at others. Whilst no one expects a film of this ilk to be a paragon of narrative logic, for any film to make up the rules at random as it goes along like this is simply maddening, divorces any sense of viewer interest and frankly just smacks of lazy writing.

Of course it doesn't help that The House Where Evil Dwells is a film completely preoccupied with rehashing every haunted house horror cliche going as the Fletcher's enthusiastically take up residence in the same house seen in the gory pre credits sequence despite the obligatory throwaway talk of its murderous history and alleged haunting's. Of course when it comes to the horror genre even the most overused of cliches can still prove effective when executed properly within the correct context, after all even the likes of The Amityville Horror or for that matter The Shining (inarguably the two films which furnished The House Where Evil Dwells with its chief commercial inspiration) were hardly cut from the cloth of originality. Unfortunately the scare tactics on display here are most assuredly not well done, as Connor delivers nothing more than a series of tame, predictable, mechanically executed "shocks" which seemingly serve no purpose beyond eating up screen time.

As a result the sense of heavy deja vu felt by the viewer quickly gives way to a mixture of abject boredom and contempt as lanterns conveniently die at the most inopportune times and the kitchen taps turn themselves on and off while the obligatory, slightly odd-looking local priest bobs up to deliver a prophecy of doom and dispense sagely yet disconcertingly vague warnings about impending horror. Desperation really sets in late on with an absolutely ridiculous scene in which an evil, grimacing face materialises in a bowl of soup. This is quickly followed by an extended sequence which sees the Fletcher's daughter Amy being menaced by a group of giant crabs in a scene which should have had British pulp horror author Guy N. Smith preparing to sue. To be fair the crab sequence is actually executed quite competently and delivers the films only real jolt. Unfortunately, presented completely out of any semblance on context as it is here it makes for nothing more than a mildly effective but pointless set piece. This is quickly followed by the films grim but completely predictable conclusion, which all but the densest of viewers should be able to predict at around the fifteen minute mark. As with most things in The House Where Evil Dwells this heavily signposted finale is totally absurd in its execution although the spectacle of Doug McClure and Edward Albert engaging in a completely unconvincing samurai showdown at least ends the film on a note on unintentional hilarity if nothing else.

For what its worth (which sadly isn't a lot in this particular case) the films three principal leads do in all honesty manage to acquit themselves fairly well despite the useless material with which they have been saddled. Whilst he hardly exudes charisma the late Edward Albert makes for a serviceable leading man as the increasingly unnerved and disturbed Ted Fletcher. The same can also be said of faded American star Doug McClure - in his fifth and final collaboration with director Connor - whom despite arguable miscasting enters a solid turn as Ted's brother an eventual love rival Alex. Predictably however both are outshone by British actress and blonde sex siren Susan George who enters the films most impressive performance as Ted's straying wife Laura Fletcher. A superb, underrated actress who was never afraid of taking on and bearing all in edgy, controversial roles ranging from that of Dustin Hoffman's violated wife in Sam Peckinpah's classic Straw Dogs (1971), through to that of the sluttish plantation owners wife in the bad taste slavery epic Mandingo (1975), it is a shame that George - along with her two co-stars - is saddled with a script which would make even the greatest thespian appear foolish. Nevertheless, despite not being given much to work with George at least makes the best of a bad lot, convincingly alternating between sympathetic wife and husky voiced adulteress. Fans of George will no doubt he happy to learn that she also willingly sheds her clothes in separate soft focus lovemaking scenes with both Albert and McClure.

When all is said and done it really is impossible to give The House Where Evil Dwells any sort of recommendation whatsoever. Without a doubt director Kevin Connor and screen writer Robert Suhosky have succeeded in adapting James Hardiman's original novel into one of the very weakest additions to the steady early eighties cycle of haunted house and supernatural themed shockers. Penned without a trace of imagination and executed with barely a trace of inspiration The House Where Evil Dwells very quickly outstays its welcome as the potential promise of the Japanese setting and recurring, doomed love triangle plot is squandered in favour of a series of cheap, pointless, insipid frights. Indeed the flaccid shock tactics on display here are feeble by any standard as protagonists are faced with the unfathomable terror of being splashed with water by unruly kitchen taps, leered at by a bowl of soup and chased by a couple of crabs. In fairness the three leads give it their best shot, but sadly their efforts are all for nought in service of this generic, tedious, hackneyed excuse for a horror film which offers next to nothing in the way of either scares or interest. Perhaps The House Where Boredom Dwells would have made for a more appropriate title?

Also Try... The Amityville Horror (1979, Stuart Rosenberg) / The Shining / Amityville II: The Possession / Poltergeist / The House By The Cemetery / Amityville 3-D / The Legend Of Hell House / The Haunting (1963, Robert Wise) / The Haunting (1999, Jan de Bont) / Carnage / The House On Skull Mountain / Shogun Assassin.

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Piczo