House of the Long Shadows (1983)
Delightful homage to the great Gothic horrors of the golden era from Brit director Pete Walker. Over the years these have been quite commonplace, the difference with House of the Long Shadows is that Walker managed to get possibly the finest Gothic genre cast into the same room. Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Vincent Price and John Carradine. Not to mention Walker's own muse, the great Sheila Keith and English stalwart Richard Todd.
Based on the stage play 7 Keys to Baldpate, an American author moves into an eerie mansion for 24 hours to write a novel in a wager with publisher Todd. Once in the supposedly deserted house an assortment of oddball characters turn up. Although the film is a mystery / horror / comedy, the story is fairly minimal. The viewers enjoyment mainly comes from watching the horror legends interact with one another, often sending both themselves and the others up in the process. The mystery was easily guessable even for me, and the violence suggestive rather than outright bloody.
However none of this detracts from a hugely enjoyable film as it's the four horror heavyweights we came to see, making House of the Long Shadows a kind of fitting swansong for the classic Gothic horror film.
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