User reviews

Wasn't expecting much from this, to be honest. Discovered it by chance on Prime Video.

I know this genre has been well used, but I found the film to be an enjoyable. Can't believe that I'd never seen it before, as it's some 33 years old now. Yes it does still stand the test of time.

Basically creepy grandparents, living on a creepy farm.

I'd recommend you watch this, if you've not done so already.

When I borrowed this particular film from a friend I was expecting something rather similar to the 1989 horror comedy "Parents" and "Grandmother's House" does start out like that aforementioned film, but in a much serious and second-rate manner. It does go for that psychological edge, but it lacks the finesse and deft touches to carry it along. It's quite straight-up, nothing subtle. But then it takes a sudden turn into mundane psycho-killer territory with one very long chase sequence, to only turn back on itself revealing one very demented, if sudden revelation that comes out of nowhere and which I didn't see coming. By this you can say it's a makeshift of ideas that cheaply executed (there's a made-for-TV feel), but does have its moments.

After the death of their father, David and his older sister Lynn go to live with their grandparents. One day David sees his grandparents dragging a bag, which looks like the shape of a person and strangely enough a body is soon discovered near the lake by their property. Suspicion arises for David even more, especially when he sees them dragging a body of a drifter lady.

Going further into the oddball plot can destroy certain twists. The stilted script has some dumb dialogues and ridiculous inclusions, but it stays entertaining. Suspense kind of comes and goes, being the highlight of a rooftop walk. So does the atmosphere, where it's the music arrangement that keeps it fairly eerie. Performances are ideal with the unnerving Len Lesser giving it his all. Eric Foster and Kim Valentine acquits themselves well enough as the two kids. Then there's Brinke Stevens in a small, but important role. Director Peter Radar does a steadfast job and producing this enterprise happens to be Nico Mastorakis ("Island of Death" & "Blind Date").

Two teens go to live with their grandparents after both their mom and dad die, but grandma and grandpa have a few skeletons in their closet that are about to explode. Film is tightly paced and well edited. It also has many shocking and most important believable twist and turns and once you think you have it figured out, it throws another surprise at you. Very unpredictable. Film also has Brinke Stevens only good performance, though the rest of the cast is so-so. A very little seen gem of a film. Not a horror film like many believe it to be, but more of a suspense film. My Rating: 8 out of 10. I still can't believe this film got so many negative reviews.

This movie kept my attention up until about 45 mins into the movie then it took a turn for the worst, all type of crazy stuff started happening that made no sense,it must've been at this point when the director said f### it im going home and then handed the rest of the director duty to his 7 year old nephew.

This movie reminds me of M. Night Shyamalan's The Visit but just a little different plot twist. It had brother and sister visiting grandparents on a farm except no modern day technology. I had fun comparing the two movies. Enjoy!

'Grandmother's House' is a mystery thriller about to kids going to live with their Grandparents, who are very happy to welcome them into their big home. However, the kids soon realize things are not what they seem.

I enjoyed the characters and the sense of mystery. The film also features good performances, especially the young boy, David (Eric Foster). 'Grandmother's House' is unpredictable and there's a constant eerie feeling. One can't help but always expect the worst. The film hits us with quite a few surprises! I must be honest, I enjoyed this film almost until the very end - until the film's final moments. The twist ending is not very clear (in fact, I had to read up about it to fully understand it), and ends so abruptly, it almost looks as if they ran out of production time or money. The ending could and should have been better explained. The viewer isn't even given time to process the information he's just been given. By the time you understand the twist ending, very little about the movie makes any sense. What a pity.

Would I watch it again? No.

"Grandmother's House" follows two teenage siblings who are orphaned and sent to live with their grandparents in their large Victorian farmhouse in California. Soon after arriving, a mysterious woman begins stalking the property, and the teenage son comes to suspect his grandparents might be murderers.

This offbeat flick was produced by Niko Mastorakis, perhaps best known for his utterly grotesque directorial debut, "Island of Death." Peter Rader, who wrote "Waterworld" some years later, directs the film, and it is a surprisingly stylish low-budget effort with higher production values than you might expect. The whole film takes place over a span of two days, largely in daylight, and much of the action is staged in orange orchards and irrigation canals, which make for an unusual but picturesque location for the action to unfold.

The performances here are mixed, with Len Lesser being a notable face as the demented grandfather. Kim Valentine and Eric Foster play the lead teenagers fairly well, and genre favorite Brinke Stevens is unexpectedly sinister as the mysterious woman following the kids' every move. The last act of the film is quite a lot of fun, replete with chase sequences in vintage automobiles, a vicious stabbing, and a firework explosion, though things do start to feel a bit clunky in the last fifteen-twenty minutes. Given that it all takes place in an approximately 48-hour period, the film feels something like an extended "Are You Afraid of the Dark?" episode, though with slightly higher stakes and a truly sick twist ending.

All in all, "Grandmother's House" is a real treat for fans of late '80s or early '90s horror. It ticks all the boxes for the horror flicks of this period, and has a gothic, sleek sheen to it that elevate the proceedings above a run-of-the-mill slasher flick. Despite some clunkiness in the final act, the plot twists alone make this one worth viewing. 7/10.

Kids get orphaned and have to go live with grandma and granddaddy,

How many times have you heard this premise? Never mind, this time it's gory 80s fun with a couple of twists

So get that the mousse on your hair, put on some spandex and enjoy crank up the cassette player, You'll enjoy this schlock.

The father of two siblings has just died. They now have no living parents, so the two must now live with their grandparents. In time the quiet David (okay performance by Eric Foster) starts witnessing things that lead him to believe his grandparents are murderers. Things are not always what they seem. The second half works much better than the first. It also does the ridiculous stereotypical garbage a lot of horror movies of the 80s did (e.g. tripping and falling down when being chased, car won't start when being chased). It is the second half though in two big twists that bring this movie out of the ordinary. Some things may have worked better if they were done differently including an ending that does seem a little abrupt once the final twist is revealed. So, it is a rather blemished horror movie and far from one of the best. Nevertheless, I still would recommend it. Also starring Len Lesser as the grandfather who I will always remember as Uncle Leo from SEINFELD and Brinke Stevens.

Better then you would expect picture about a two teenagers who have lost both of their parents. They are shipped off to their grandparents house to live, but the sudden arrival of a mysterious woman eventually results in an outbreak of violence. Twisty, complicated thriller with its fair share of surprises throughout. The movie is well plotted and thought out, but is negated by routine performances. Still, very suspenseful and thrilling at times.

Rated R; Violence, Adult Themes.

I feel compelled to advise any would be watcher of this movie not to. In the reviews some have marked it 10/10. The only people that could ever think this would be the actors in the movie themselves (although even they would consider this garbage) or some really deranged person.

The plot is ordinary, the acting worse than D grade.

Do your self a favour, avoid it at all costs.

It turned out to be a completely unpredictable and extremely curious thriller. Brother and sister don't always go in tandem, everyone has their own line of development in the plot, it's very interesting how the director breaks expectations, I was right impressed by the plot twists. As a result, the grandparents have completely different roles in the plot that one might think, this is a unique experience.

Although the film doesn't offer any real investigation, its narration and atmosphere are very good. Working with the characters here is much better than in many later representatives of the genre, even in the case of minor ones. But this movie is a natural thriller. And he made a strong impression on me. Visually, the film looks far from cheap, but on the contrary, it is extremely neat and attractive.

Terrible story. Ending is dumb. Bad acting. Bad writing. I opened this account just to rate this total waste of time.

'Grandmothers House' is an interesting little horror movie that I went into totally blind, I never even heard of this before or heard any sort of mention towards it whatsoever. After buying the newly released Blu-Ray of it, I was quite pleasantly surprised as it has some good tense moments, an interesting mystery surrounding the grandparents and some neat twists and turns throughout.

The movie has a surreal dreamlike quality to it, a strange and suspenseful flick that really keeps your attention throughout. Okay some of the twists were predictable and the ending was way too abrupt, but nothing here is especially bad, the performances are decent, the movie is well shot with some nice stylish scenes here and there and competently directed.

But I do feel like it's missing that something special that could have made this truly great, maybe it's the sluggish pace at times or the flat ending, I'm not really sure, but anyway its still a decent time waster with a good build up.

When the film description on Amazon Prime contains NOTHING about the movie, but is a long cascade of praise for the Director and how it is a classic...PICK ANOTHER MOVIE!!

Right from the onset the "grandkids" are the most creepy thing about the plot. Given that their father has just died, you'd expect some sadness and melancholy, but they act as if they have never met their grandparents and are very unfriendly towards them.

Neither seems deterred from having fun with the girl looking for some romantic actions within the first 10 minutes of the film. And the boy gives off sinister vibes from the first minute!

The plotline is confused by scenes that turn out to be the boy's dreams or fantasies, so you are never sure if it was real or not, As the story DRAGS on to the ending one realizes that this is a 1980s "cause dejour" movies and the long strangles plot leads up to a "forbidden" subject that actually does not really make sense and the entire reveal last about 3 minutes before the credits roll!

The acting is pretty bad, especially the kids, but even "Uncle Leo" is not in top form for this one! Give it the skip!!!

When you come across a movie that no one else has heard of,even amongst fellow horror enthusiasts,and discover it to be both a tense and enjoyable romp,it gives a great deal of pleasure,grandmothers house gave me that feeling.The story itself is nothing to write home about,kids go to live with their grandparents,who have a dark secret, there's a mad woman in the house!! hardly original but then not many films are. But this film has some good heart stopping moments,yes there are some rather gaping holes in the plot and the ending is a bit of a let down but if getting the girlfriend to jump into your arms is a major benefit you can do a lot worse.

There is a decent premise in here somewhere but this plays out in ways that are utterly ludicrous. As the plot develops and spins into something else it becomes disjointed and the lack of emotion on display at critical moments lends itself to unbelievability.

This film was made in the late 1980's--basically at the nadir of the horror genre when most alleged "horror" films being made were either half-ass comedies with some wise-cracking Freddy Krueger knock-off, or softcore sextranvaganzas with a bunch of no-talent "scream queens" running around half-naked in some "haunted" house in the San Fernando Valley. This, however, is a genuinely spooky film. It kind reminded of a couple underrated slasher flicks from the early 1980's, "Silent Scream" and "Funeral Home". Like those films it's fairly bloodless, but atmospheric and creepy. But it also has a nice little sting in its tail with some surprising revelations in the final reel.

The plot involves a recently orphaned brother and sister who go to live in their maternal grandparent's house after the death of their father. The grandfather is played by Les Lesser, an actor best known as "uncle Leo" in "Seinfeld", but who was actually quite an accomplished drive-in horror actor, also appearing as a brutal murderous handyman in the lost 70's minor classic "Blood and Lace". He's equally effective here. Strange things begin to happen in the house--the boy thinks he sees his grandparents disposing of a body. Even more disturbing a weird young women seems to be stalking the children. The woman is played by Brinke Stevens, one of the most famous 80's scream queens. Like the rest of her ilk, Stevens was not much of actress, but she did have at least one talent beyond displaying her incredible naked body, and that was playing a mute psycho like she does here and in Fred Olen Ray's "The Haunting Fear". It might not be saying much, but this is easily Steven's best role--she is genuinely scary. The two kids are kind of weak link, but it's good to see Kim Valentine, a strikingly beautiful teenage girl, actually play a strikingly beautiful teenage girl instead of being typecast as a sub-Molly Ringwald type in a sub-John Hughes movie like she was in all her other roles (although I am sad to report that neither she nor Stevens has any nude scenes in this movie).

The best part though is the end, which I REALLY don't want to spoil in any way. Let's just say the film does a really good job keeping you guessing who the real villain(s) is/are. This movie ranks with "the Stepfather", "Parents", "Pin" and "The Reflecting Skin" as one of the best and creepiest films of its (admittedly pretty sorry) era.