cinema history class: burnt offerings

Session: Get Your Haunted House On, Week 3
Movie: Burnt Offerings (1976)
Directed by Dan Curtis

As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL

Plot:
Looking to get away for the summer, a family rents a huge, isolated old mansion. They get more than they bargained for.Hilarity ensues.

Reaction:
First I note that this was the first time that everyone in the class gave the movie a 10.* I should also point out that this wasn't the best movie we've seen in this class. Night of the Living Dead is arguably a better movie. And so is Freaks -- if you grade it on a curve that acknowledges when it was made and the state of film at the time. But the fact that we all gave it a ten, despite the differences in how we each judge these movies is indicative of how good a film it is.

The thing with BO is that the tension starts out in a subtle way. But it builds. And it builds and it builds. At first, you're simply noticing things and thinking, "Huh...that's odd." But by the end you're on the edge of your seat in rapt fascination, wondering what the fuck is going to happen next.

One thing that I really enjoyed was the way the characters were portrayed as aging prematurely. AT first it's almost imperceptible. You wonder if you're imagining it. But as it goes on, they age more and more, until you're forced to realize it. This is most obvious with the old eccentric aunt played by Bette Davis. At first, she's energetic and irascible. But by the end of the summer she's old and decrepit.

Worth noting is the scene (part of which is shown in the trailer above) in which the trees on the grounds stop the family's escape. This is something that could have been unintentionally comical, and yet it was handled well enough that it worked.

Interestingly, BO started life as a made-for-TV movie, but was rejected by the networks for being too intense. So it ended up in the theatres. Despite it being too intense, it isn't simply one big extended adrenaline rush. It has the ups and downs that a good horror film needs. And, despite having those ups and downs, it was never slow.

Ratings:

Me: 10

Dave: 10

Ethan: 10

Joe: 10

*Sean, who rates movies on a scale of 1-4, was absent. He probably would have scored this 3 out of 4. Hah! Just kidding. Sean would have given this either 3 or 4 out of 4.