House of the Long Shadows – 1983 | 100 mins | Horror | Colour

Plot Synopsis

By the 1980s, idiosyncratic low-budget director Pete Walker had wisely invested his cash in property, and was becoming wealthy enough not to depend on making movies for a living. Discouraged by the lack of recognition for The Comeback (1978), he temporarily retired from filmmaking. It took producers Menahem Golan and Yoran Globus of Canon to drag him back behind the camera to direct the Michael Armstrong scripted House of the Long Shadows. Looking for a director and vehicle to embrace four legends of the genre; Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, John Carradine and Peter Cushing, Walker wanted to make a new version of Seven Keys to Baldpate (1935), an old dark house mystery that was a creaky stage play and one of his favourite movies.

Originally written by Earl Derr Biggers, it was a nice period piece but totally out of time for the 1980′s. Looked at now, the film does have some inspired moments, but overall it falls flat as there are not enough chills to justify the budget or the stellar cast of old horror stars who just go to waste. The script stacks up the old dark house clichés and tongue-in-cheek dialogue before revealing its campy spoof objective. At the end there is a plot twist upon plot twist, all adding to the utter absurdity of the story.

Kenneth Magee (Desi Arnaz Jr.), an American author, accepts a wager from his publisher (Richard Todd) to isolate himself in a dilapidated old house in Wales and write a Gothic novel in twenty- four hours. Having arrived, his efforts are interrupted by a constant stream of visitors. Two cadaverous caretakers (John Carradine and Sheila Keith) are already in residence, and they are quickly joined by Mary Norton (Julie Peasgood), the secretary of his publisher and tasked with assisting in the winning of the bet. Amidst all this arrives the oddball Grisbane family for a bizarre family reunion at the decaying Welsh manor. One final visitor subsequently arrives, Corrigan (Christopher Lee), a prospective owner who intends to purchase Baldpate Manor and tear it down for industrial development. Magee finds himself in the middle of a genuine mystery as the Grisbane family reveal the story of their homicidal brother, who has been locked in the attic for 40 years.