#95 Burnt Offerings

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Plot:

Haunted house chiller from Dan Curtis has Oliver Reed and Karen Black as summer caretakers moving into gothic house with their young son. The catch? The house rejuvenates a part of itself with each death that occurs on its premises.

A User Review:

"Burnt Offerings" has an interesting premise that takes far too long to explain. A family moves into a house that seems to have a life of its own. Simple and direct. The film, however, at almost 2 hours in length takes its sweet time to get things going only to reach a "surprise" ending which, I will admit, is a bit spooky, but is easy to guess long before it is revealed.

The performances by Karen Black and, especially, Oliver Reed make this film worth watching. There is a scene where Reed puts on a pair of glasses he has found at the bottom of a swimming pool. His son is in the pool with him and soon Reed seems possessed and starts playing with his son a little too rough until it appears Reed may be trying to kill him. Watch Reed closely in this scene and you can see how he is being taken over but is fighting it. He seems to be enjoying hurting his son at the same time that he is trying to stop himself. It's a strong performance in a mediocre film.

Trivia:

In the commentary with director Dan Curtis, he says that he actually read the novel 'Burnt Offerings' years before he got the offer to direct this film. Curtis said that he hated the open-ended conclusion of the novel and at the time thought to himself that he would pity anyone who would attempt to make it into a movie. Ironically years later the offer to direct the movie version of the novel came to him and the first thing he did was write an ending that he liked - the one featured in the film.

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