My goodness, "Exorcist" fans: who knew that Kitty Winn was possessed before Linda Blair? Indeed she was, in "The House That Would Not Die"(1970), another TV Movie from Aaron Spelling. I'll even bet that Winn got her role in The Exorcist because of her performance in this flick. She's really good, and does things with her face and voice that are very,very scary.
It starts with the horror movie standard of The Move To The New House. I have to cut in to say that I'm gonna make the shortest-but-most-honest haunted house film ever made: a couple (could be a husband and wife, aunt and niece, or whomever) move into an old house. They realize it's haunted the very first night, or before they even buy it, so they do the sensible thing and move out. End of movie. It would be about 25 minutes long, and there would be an option to get your money back if you didn't like it, but no one could say it was far-fetched because that's what anyone in their right mind would do if they moved into a house like this one. I mean, there's that title: "The House That Would Not Die." That tells you right there it's alive! And, it's not only alive, but it's refusing to die! "C'mon house, die already!" "No. I will not!" And you're planning to move in? What're you, insane? Don't the people in these flicks watch horror movies? And what kind of neighborhood is it, where - first of all, the neighbor just walks in, silent and unannounced, to "welcome you to the neighborhood", and the next thing you know, the neighbors insist you hold a seance: "Welcome to the neighborhood, so nice to have you. Seance tomorrow night, your place."
"Oh...okay." (Um, John, I think we oughta sell this house. I know we just bought it today, but I really think this movie should be over.)
Ahh, but thank goodness they don't move out (and that I don't make my movie), because then we'd never get scared witless. We need dumb characters to stay in houses long after they should've fled, and in our two movies this blog, the inhabitants more than overstay their welcome. In this one, Kitty Winn and our very own Barbara Stanwyck move into an old Amish house in The Sylvania of William Penn. They love the old woodwork and huge stone fireplace. Their neighbor, a college professor named "Pat McDougal" (Richard Egan), stands in their doorway in silhouette, saying nothing, which creeps them out, but of course he turns out to be Right Neighborly. He insists they have supper at his place, even though he's only just met them, and they only moved in five minutes ago. They of course accept, and Pat hooks Kitty up with young "Stan Whitman" (Michael Anderson Jr.), one of his graduate students. Then director John Lewellyn Moxey (a TV horror vet) throws us in the deep end right away with the initiatory seance. "It's how we welcome people to the neighborhood around here." He also wastes no time having Richard Egan put the moves on Barbara Stanwyck. On the second night, before the seance, he gets her in a clinch in her kitchen. They start making out but he gets so aggressive that she has to push him away. Something's apparently come over him, and director Moxey makes use of double imagery here that William Friedkin would later improve on to create the Father Karras/Green Demon double facial image in The Exorcist.
But it's when Kitty Winn starts freaking out, shortly after the seance, that things start getting out of hand. Stanwyck has a dream that night, in which she encounters Kitty in their garden in pitch darkness. The wind is blowing, and Kitty's face seems to change shape. Her voice sounds like it's coming from far away. Barbara looks frozen, as in a paralysis dream, while Kitty looks amorphous. I'd love to see the Kino Lorber restoration on DVD because this scene is scary as hell. Things get worse when Kitty hears a voice calling to her from the fireplace and responds in kind, in that far-away voice of her own. Grad student Whitman suggests it could be demonic possession, three years before The Exorcist. His professor Richard Egan says "nonsense, if anything she's developing schizophrenia." But Whitman, who's grown fond of Kitty, refuses to allow her to be examined. "A psychiatrist will only cause the demon to dig in deeper. What she needs is an exorcism." Yes, he actually uses that word. And then Kitty Winn was in that movie, as Regan's tutor.
Thanks goodness for Stan Whitman, because he insists they go to the Hall of Records to see who used to own the house. A painting of a Revolutionary War general has fallen in the fireplace and burned, and it turns out he owned the joint, way back in 1785. They find a family bible in the basement that has a girl's name in it: Amanda. Barbara Stanwyck calls for another seance to try and talk to Amanda, but this time, the medium lets out a bloodcurdling scream (take off your headphones before it happens): "Get out of this house! You mustn't stay another night!" Now, it's the house that starts freaking out. Wind gusts flare the fireplace, doors open into nothingness. Richard Egan gets possessed again and looms over the gathering. Get out now! Then Kitty Wynn's face starts phase shifting again. Stan Whitman looks in the basement for a secret chamber, because he's actually seen enough horror movies to know that if someone is possessed, and the house is doing it, then something is buried in the cellar! Here, it involves the Revolutionary War.
The effects used for voice and face-doubling are spine chilling. Without a doubt Kitty Winn got noticed for this film. She's very pretty. I wonder why she didn't have a huge career? Babs Stanwyck is ever the old pro, in white-haired Big Valley mode. Richard Egan is just-plain big and scary, looking like he could tear you limb from limb. But Michael Anderson's brainy grad student is the main problem solver. There are only 8 characters, so it has the closed-off-from-the-world feel of the best horror movies. Two Bigs, verging on Two Huge, which it would've earned with a better picture. I'm not sure if I saw this one when it was aired in October 1970. I was only ten. My family had just moved. I was probably watching Adam-12 and getting used to our new house, just like the people in the movie. I may have seen it, but if so, I don't remember. Watch it on consecutive nights with our next one, the terrifying "Bay Cove", a TV movie that I did see on it's initial air date of October 25, 1987. It was called "Bay Coven" then, but apparently whoever owned the rights decided to deduct the "n" for a DVD release, thinking "Coven" was a spoiler for the plot. I disagree; we know early on it's about witches, but the important point is that it's extremely doggone scary. It held up every bit as I remembered.
Tim Matheson and Pamela Sue Martin are "Jerry" and "Linda Lebon", a thirtysomething couple living and working in NYC. She's an up-and-coming real estate exec. He's new with the same company but hates being a "suit". "I'm used to working with my hands, Linda. The hardest thing I did all day was sharpen a pencil.". Jerry would rather be blue collar, he's a carpenter by trade, and he also wants the two of them to start a family. "Kids need a house with a yard to play in. We can't raise 'em in an apartment loft."
So, when they meet another couple at a company party, who tell them about Devlin Island, Jerry can't wait to check it out. I must cut in, because - I mean, c'mon already! - you don't buy a house on a place called Devlin Island. Especially an old Cape Cod house. They had all those witch trials for a reason, okay? Do you really think it was all just superstition, or persecution? Ride "Snow White" at Disneyland and get back to me. Then tell me there's no such thing as witches.
Jerry is more excited than Linda to check out the island, but when they get there and see the house that's for sale, she changes her mind about moving. It's only 100 grand. She agrees they can't pass it up. Jerry can make any repairs himself; its a steal! There is one caveat: they'll have a tenant sharing the lot. An old lady named "Beatrice Gower" (Barbara Billingsley) lives in a guest house on the property. "But she won't bother you", says the realtor. "Her family's been on the island since the 1600s. I thought it would've been unfair to evict her." No problem, says Jerry, but when they actually move in, Beatrice does seems a little nosy. Linda finds a satanic bible the first day. Shouldn't that be a clue to get out? "That was my father's favorite book" says Beatrice. Oy! Then, neighbor James B. Sikking has a cow when their dog gets loose and chases his cat. Rufus is just a little mutt, but Sikking runs him over. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't see him as I was backing out." If it was me, I'd've nuked the joint then and there. A bunch of dog-hating satanists? See ya. It's another one of those movies where you should get the hell out on the first day, but they never do.
Pamela Sue Martin soon goes into Nancy Drew mode, and you can tell she was just waiting for the chance. There's a creepy old man peering out a windum every night in the house next door, and at an anniversary party for James B. Sikking and his wife, Pam discovers they are 300 years old. The old man tells her, "I'm not his grandfather, I'm his great grandson!" Tim Matheson, meanwhile, starts growing a goatee without realizing it. He thinks the neighbors are just fine: "They're wonderful people, what's the problem?!" He sides with them and argues with Pamela, who's now on her own, with 300-year-old little kids making voodoo dolls of her.
Their friend Woody Harrelson arrives for a visit, and goes snooping around the cemetery. When he asks why none of the locals are buried there, Sikking decides he's gotta go. Woody then drives his jeep off a cliff. He's super young and clean cut here. He should've stayed that way, right out of "Cheers". Tim Matheson is always good at playing a collegiate prick. This is a variation on that persona, but it's really Pamela Sue Martin's show, as she has to go up against a Rosemary's Baby-type clique. I remember watching this movie as a 27 year old and being scared out of my wits as usual. I don't think I ever watched any of these TV horror movies with another person present, because it might've watered down the effect. It's weird; a horror movie in a theater is meant to be watched with an audience. But a horror movie on TV is better all by your lonesome. The ending in Bay Coven is spectacular. I won't tell you what happens, but it has to do with Jerry being part of the bloodline. There's a full-on pentagram circle in the basement, with chanting witches and warlocks in black cloaks and Nancy Drew investigating. Two Big Thumbs Up and a high recommendation, but call it "Bay Coven", not "Bay Cove". The original title was scarier, which (witch!) is the whole point. ////
And that's all for tonight. My blogging music is Klaus Schulze "Kontinuum". My late night is Wagner Gotterdammerrung. The Rams did their best against Philly, and I can accept the loss, but what is the deal with the Dodgers and Clayton Kershaw? It's like a re-run every year? 100+ wins in the regular season, then three-and-out in the first round of the playoffs. What's the deal? I send you Tons of Love, as always.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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