Chase_Witherspoon While it lets you off the hook too easily, there's still some moments of genuine suspense that should keep you engaged for the duration of this Spanish-Italian co-production. A group of motorists become lost in a fog and seek shelter in an isolated mansion nearby a cemetery. The gracious host (Galli) explains that the mansion belongs to her family and is allegedly cursed by the deaths of her aunt and a chauffeur following a tragic accident many years before. Unable to make it to Milan, the group accepts the kind invitation to stay the night, but will they survive to see morning? Yes and no.Galli is a stunning woman and her appeal is palpable, but she has little to do except be a courteous host, while Gade in the central role, does a reasonable job with her emotionally traumatised character, haunted by events involving her father years before (even if the emphasis on these events and her character seem to be trivial in retrospect). Franco Fantasia might be a recognisable face to some, and he adds some colour as a tail-chasing cuckold, barely surviving his mid-life crisis clutching at a hip flask and clumsily attempting to bed the fellow female guests. Finally, Leonardi as the young hitch-hiker is also very easy on the eyes, and unlike Galli, has more meat to her character, playing a plucky and sexy heroine.The make-up effects aren't bad, there's some spooky atmosphere at times and disconcerting encounters with apparently un-dead fiends, but the climax really - in my opinion - doesn't do the narrative, or film, justice. While it's unexpected, it's equally unsatisfying and diminishes the overall experience. Not terrible, but disappointing.

ma-cortes Fine Italian-Spanish Giallo packed with thrills , chills ,intrigue and twists and turns . Entertaining Giallo full of vicious killings , suspense and eerie events . This genuinely mysterious story deals with a couple (Andres Resiono , Lisa Lombardi), lost in thick fog, take refuge in an old manor next to a cemetery . In the mansion strange things start to occur and happens several murders with bloody and gruesome executions. There someone is killing people and some clues seem to implicate about anybody are dieing . Before their unfortunate accident wreck , rich heiress, weak-hearted Elsa( Analía Gadé), recently recovering from a nervous breakdown due to the death of her daddy (George Rigaud) . In addition ,wealthy Elsa's husband (Albert Dalbes) is away frequently, so she usually thinks for him . Meanwhile another coupled called Mr & Mrs Tremont (Eduardo Fajardo & Yelena Samarina) also runs off the road and into an embankment near the graveyard , encountering two mysterious, enigmatic zombie-alike shrouded in darkness, one corpulent man dressed in chauffeur style and a pale-face woman slightly behind him . The trio encounters the mansion , discovering that the Tremonts inside, having been in a car crash with another driver , a sex-obsessed , drunk Mr. Porter(Franco Fantasia). This group finds that the mansion has an owner, the sinister Martha Clinton (Evelyn Stewart or Ida Galli), who bears remarkable resemblance to her deceased aunt condemned for vampirism and witchcraft . Meanwhile the series killer goes on a real massacre on various unfortunate victims as a woman is hung , another attacked in the graveyard . Slowly more people are found dead and Fred (Andres Resino) investigates the strange killings with numerous suspects .Successful Giallo is compellingly directed with well staged murders plenty of startling visual content , though was submitted to limited censorship in Spain . This is a customary Giallo where the intrigue, tension, suspense appear threatening and lurking in every room , corridors and luxurious interior and exterior . The picture packs atmospheric blending of eerie thrills and creepy chills combined with a twisted finale . It displays lots of guts and blood but it seems pretty mild compared to today's gore feasts . It's a solid movie , a thrilling story plenty of suspense and intrigue in which the victims seem to be continuous . The staged killings are the high points of the movie , they deliver the goods plenty of screams, shocks and tension . The intriguing moments are compactly made and fast moving ; as the film itself takes place from various red herrings . It packs tension, shocks , thrills, chills and a little bit of blood and gore . There's plenty of moments of excitement and a number of scenes that are quite thrilling , resulting to be definitely the spotlight of the film the surprising ending situation . Well filmed in location in Madrid and Guadalajara surroundings . Good ambiance design and acceptable production design by Perez Cubero who along with Galicia created lots of sets in several Western filmed in the 60s and 70s . Colorful and brilliant cinematography in Maria Bava style by Mancori . Frightening and thrilling musical score by the Italian Marcello Giombani.The picture is professionally directed by Francisco Lara Polop in his first and the best film along with the prolific filmmaker Pedro Lazaga . Francisco Lara's so-so direction is well crafted , here he's less cynical and more inclined toward suspense and lots of killings , he's an expert on comedy though directed another terror film as ¨The monk¨, his last movie . Talented and versatile writer/director Pedro Lazaga has made a vast array of often solid and entertaining films in all kind of genres but especially comedies starred by Spanish comedian Paco Martinez Soria and made a successful Peplum , ¨The seven Spartans¨. Rating: Acceptable and passable , this is one more imaginative Giallo pictures in which the camera stalks in sinister style throughout a story with magnificent visual skills. This is a bewildering story , funny in some moment but falls flat and it will appeal to hardcore Gialli fans

catfish-er I just started working my way through the Chilling Classics 50 Movie Pack Collection and MURDER MANSION is the first movie in the set. MURDER MANSION is just my kind of old-fashioned, B-grade horror movie. It is an especially creepy thriller! In a series of convoluted happenstance, several people end up stranded in a mansion in the middle of nowhere. Apparently, to escape a fog-bound night, although one couple and a woman traveling alone claim to have been cut off by the same car – a Rolls Royce, no less! The mansion is next to a cemetery, where it seems that the undead abound… well, at least a chauffeur and his elderly mistress. Martha provides the back-story as one of vampires overrunning the town, which is used to explain the deserted village… but, hardly anyone is surprised to hear such a tale. Same with the story of her old Aunt, who is purported to be a witch. But, when Martha describes the death of her aunt; and, the death of her chauffeur, Elsa nearly suffers an apoplectic fit! Like other Italian horror films of its day, MURDER MANSION features beautiful cinematography. It also features a suitable mansion – surprisingly well-maintained public areas, sufficient living quarters; and, an abysmal cellar! The film is rather thin on plot; but, the dubbed-in dialogue (done after filming)is actually quite good.Ida Galli (Martha), Analía Gade (Elsa), and Lisa Leonardi (Laura) are exceptionally well cast; and, offer apt performances. The score can be a bit jarring; but, it serves the purpose of intensifying the atmosphere and the action.The film digresses into a sordid affair between Elsa's father and her classmate; a philandering, gun-toting drunk on the prowl for any woman with a pulse (or, perhaps without one); and, free-love between Fred and Laura, two young folks traveling by motorcycle.Yes, the plot reads more like a melodrama than a horror movie. But, I liked MURDER MANSION well enough.

highwaytourist You no doubt have run into this theme time and time again- some people get stranded on a VERY foggy night, and they're forced to seek refuge in this spooky ol' house. Of course, the house is in an isolated locale. Of course, it's located next to a cemetery. Of course, the owners are creepy people. Of course, the house is rumored to be haunted. And, of course, the guests' stay and slumber are disturbed by the strange and haunting goings-on that we've come to expect in stories like this. We've seen it all before, from Scooby Doo cartoons to the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland. And so the cast goes through the motions while the audience goes through the motions of watching them and pretending not to know what will happen. The closing scene is ludicrous- how many pistols can fire 17 shots without being reloaded? However, it's not a total loss. The acting is marginally better than usual for a low-budget film like this. The production and sets are fairly good-looking, the background music is satisfactory, and there is some atmosphere of eerie calm which actually works. So I would recommend this film to people who really like haunted house movies.