Cristi_Ciopron A modernist, minimalist chiller, by someone with advanced cinema thinking, with an authentic art-house feel; a very enjoyable movie, exquisitely crafted, and also good-natured, the suspense is played straight, and this is one of the few horrors leaving the impression of having a director. 'They were evil in life, so they're evil in death.' 'Hanley' makes the impression of a movie that was actually thought out carefully, reasoned, crafted; and it's also a beautiful and heartfelt movie, much unlike anything else in the genre. The plot achieves a kind of reasonable quiet. The director has a very clear idea about the economy of the movie. The cast deserves our praise, they give likable performances, I enjoyed most the parapsychologist's, her character is knowledgeable and knows enough, but is nonetheless surprised by the turn of the events; the movie has an actual plot, and the use of the mundane and the casual is one of the strengths. To acknowledge that Louise Sherrill's movie is one of the best ever, is to be able to tell art from rubbish.

artpf Five people are spending the night in a haunted house. Things get dicey when some of them start turning up decapitated.Odd film that I had never heard of before watching it on Cult O Rama on my Roku. Filled with unknowns who had very limited film exposure before or after.One of the actresses was married to Timothy Leary!Another made a few soft core porns after this film.The director acting in 2 films but never directed again.I'm always fascinated about how these movies get made and why the people involved have such a limited career. The movie is the typical ghost house fare and don't expect great acting. The sound is horrible. Tinny and echoing. Slow exposition. And be prepared for the car key questioning. It seems to go on for 20 minutes!They all get drunk and play cards and then the record player comes out. Plenty of laffing for no reason and dancing. Then there is what I guess is a wolf only it sure sounds human. Oh, and the black widow spider episode! Hysterical.It's not a very good film, so maybe I answered my own question about why these people had limited careers. The biggest problem with this film is that it just keeps going with nothing really happening.

agamemnon3 This mediocre ghost story is made viable and creepy by a few subtle touches. The special effects are a mix of dry ice and what appears to be more dry ice, but the lighting is at times interesting. The cast members have stark and/or dark features, and the B&W medium in combination with dramatic lighting for scenes within the haunted mansion make for a very good effect. You usually come to 'like' a character in a movie, and in this movie there isn't anyone to like. It seems that everyone is a dumb creep with some kind of motive. Just how much that works to the film's advantage, however, is difficult to say because it might be lost on a more casual viewer, but I think that it makes the story interesting. There are a few sidelines to the plot which were either never developed or lost to editing, but they are minor enough to not affect the continuity of the film. The screams are great. Hollywood just doesn't have screamers like it used to. I would recommend this movie, if you can find it.

Hessian499 As others have said, this film deals with people trying to stay overnight in a house that has a reputation of being extremely haunted. While obviously made on a shoestring budget with unknown actors, this film has does some good points. The house itself is a neat setting with loads of strange pieces of artwork and gothic furniture. The storyline has echoes of other ghost tales, but the plot twists towards the end add some surprises to the story. The actors are not Academy Award contenders, but do an adequate job with the limited roles given to them; the young woman who plays Sheila probably gives the best performance and is quite pretty as well. However, there are also a lot of faults with this film, as the sound is particularly bad in places, there are weird sidelines to the plot that are incomprehensible, and the story as a whole seems implausible from start to finish. Having said that, this may appeal to some viewers who enjoy ghost stories or like to watch obscure films from the past.