Drive-In Dust Offs: Burnt Offerings

This was ground zero. This was where the love affair started; all the sleepless nights, the cold sweats, the screaming. In 1976, at the age of six, my mom took me to the theater to see Burnt Offerings, my first horror movie.

Six years old. Up until this point my viewing memories consisted of Saturday morning cartoons and a matinee memory of seeing a giant octopus engulf a ship (submarine?). Little did I know that I was to be indoctrinated into a universe of monsters, vampires, guys with knives (girls too), killer critters, ghosts, goblins, and, in my inaugural visit to the screen of screams… the Haunted House.

Well, that description is a little off. The house in Burnt Offerings isn’t haunted exactly; it is…alive. A living, pulsing being that every so often needs a new family to love it. Cherish it. And to be consumed by it so that it may flourish and be reborn.

Ben (Oliver Reed) and Marian (Karen Black) Rolf, along with their son Davey (Lee H. Montgomery) are looking for a summer retreat, a chance to get away from the big city for the summer. The ad they follow up on seems too good to be true: a gargantuan mansion on a huge estate - run down, sure, but there is no way they could afford the rental. The Allardyces, Arnold (Burgess Meredith) and Roz (Eileen Heckart), owners of the property, tell them for 900 dollars it’s theirs for the summer; all they are required to do is some maintenance around the property. Oh, and provide three meals a day for their ailing mother, who never comes out of her room. She won’t be a bother at all. And the Rolfs will love the house in the summer; it really comes alive.

Against his better judgment (bad call, Ben) the Rolfs take the house and come back with Ben’s Aunt Elizabeth (a feisty Bette Davis) in tow. Marian feels an instant connection with the house; Elizabeth seems leery. Little by little the house lets the Rolfs know who’s in charge; a series of near-death experiences convinces Ben, Davey and Elizabeth that something is wrong with the house; that it is trying to inhabit them. Marian however, feels an obligation to look after Mrs. Allerdyce even though no one has ever seen her, to tend to the house, and nurture it back to health like a wilting flower. It will take almost the complete destruction of her family to snap Marian out of her obsession with the house; but will it be too late? Have you ever seen a horror movie from the ’70’s?

Director Dan Curtis is synonymous with horror of the era, but mainly TV horror. His many credits in the field include the Dark Shadows soap opera, The Night Stalker TV movie, Trilogy of Terror (starring Karen Black), as well as others. This leads to one of the main complaints that critics have of the movie: it looks like a TV show. And it does have that soft focus lens look of TV from the era (to save money Curtis used the same crew that he used for his TV projects). However, Curtis’ direction is so assured, and the story is so powerful that the viewer is drawn in regardless.

The pacing is also a concern; it was considered too slow for many critics at the time, and was long at 116 minutes. However, even at the age of six, I was absorbed in this family’s story. Try sitting through The Deer Hunter when you’re eight. I did. Now that’s slow.

The performances across the board are fun and heightened to suit the material. Oliver Reed brings his trademark bluster to Ben, trying desperately to keep his family (and sanity) together. Bette Davis is a blast of energy as Elizabeth, who feels the house draining her essence until it is too late, and Montgomery’s role as Davey is to not annoy the audience too much (he mostly succeeds). Karen Black is really the star of the movie; it is ultimately Marian’s journey that drives the narrative. Her descent from loving wife and mother to cold and distant caretaker is, for me, more believable than Nicholson’s performance in The Shining (as a side note, Stephen King is a big fan of the excellent book written by Robert Marasco that this is based on).

The six-year-old who saw this movie in 1976 was terrified. From the soundtrack’s cascading piano trills, to the imposing presence of the house (again, for my nickel, creepier than the Overlook) and especially, a tall, ashen, eerie chauffeur (you’ll see) who has haunted my dreams for, well, forever.

The 45-year-old who watches this yearly is still impressed with everything about this movie… from the acting, to the direction, to the hilariously downbeat conclusion (thanks again, ’70’s!). Burnt Offerings is a great example of ’70’s horror, spooky house division. Oh and one more thing… if you hear a hearse come rumbling towards your house, do yourself a favor and don’t answer the door.

BURNT OFFERINGS IS AVAILABLE ON DVD FROM MGM HOME VIDEO.

[Editor's Note: This is the first edition of a new weekly column that will highlight classic horror films. Tune in next week for Dead & Buried]