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Delusion

  • 1981
  • R
  • 1h 31m
IMDb RATING
4.8/10
540
YOUR RATING
Patricia Pearcy in Delusion (1981)
Slasher HorrorSplatter HorrorHorror

A nurse goes to a house to care for a crippled old man. Then people in the house start being murdered.A nurse goes to a house to care for a crippled old man. Then people in the house start being murdered.A nurse goes to a house to care for a crippled old man. Then people in the house start being murdered.

  • Director
    • Alan Beattie
  • Writers
    • Alan Beattie
    • Jack Viertel
  • Stars
    • Patricia Pearcy
    • David Hayward
    • John Dukakis
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    4.8/10
    540
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Alan Beattie
    • Writers
      • Alan Beattie
      • Jack Viertel
    • Stars
      • Patricia Pearcy
      • David Hayward
      • John Dukakis
    • 14User reviews
    • 11Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Photos61

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    Top cast12

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    Patricia Pearcy
    Patricia Pearcy
    • Meredith Stone
    David Hayward
    David Hayward
    • Jeffrey Fraser
    John Dukakis
    John Dukakis
    • Gabriel Langrock
    Leon Charles
    • Phillip
    Alice Nunn
    Alice Nunn
    • Duffy
    Patrick Pankhurst
    • Wilfred Langrock
    Joseph Cotten
    Joseph Cotten
    • Ivar Langrock
    Louis Basile
    • Taxi Driver
    Abraham Alvarez
    • Alex
    Simone Griffeth
    • Pamela Barton
    James Purcell
    • Detective
    Shelby Leverington
    • Additional Dialogue
    • (voice)
    • Director
      • Alan Beattie
    • Writers
      • Alan Beattie
      • Jack Viertel
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews14

    4.8540
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    Featured reviews

    6drownsoda90

    Middling pseudo-psychological slasher

    "Delusion" (also released as "The House Where Death Lives") follows a young nurse who goes to work at the Langrock estate to care for a dying millionaire. After the arrival of the elderly man's troubled nephew, anyone connected to the home begins to die at the hands of an unseen killer.

    This pseudo-psychological slasher film has mostly been forgotten, and registers as one of the more obscure of its peers, though not entirely for good reason. It's not a great film by any stretch of the imagination, but it is reasonably well-shot and captures a claustrophobic, isolated atmosphere. The film falls in familiar trappings and does little to distinguish itself, but it does drum up a bit of intrigue with a couple of its murder scenes (each of which are clobbering administered by a loose table leg, oddly enough) which are well-executed.

    The acting is a mix of poor to decent, with Joseph Cotten playing the ailing patriarch, and Patricia Pearcy (of 1976's "Squirm"), who here seems to be overplaying catatonia a bit much, though she does a generally serviceable job. I actually found the letter voice-over narration an interesting way to frame the film, and certainly not one used often, especially in slasher films. The finale comes together a bit quickly and feels slapdash in nature, though it's mildly satisfying.

    Overall, "Delusion" is a middling slasher film, part psychological thriller and part murder mystery. It's certainly not original, but it is relatively well-shot and has a few moments scattered throughout that drum up a bit of suspense. Its limited locations exhibit what I presume was a low budget, but there is a hazy air about the film that leaves it feeling a bit like a fever dream. Not great, not terrible—certainly unremarkable, but worth a watch from slasher completists. 6/10.
    6HumanoidOfFlesh

    The house of psychotic killer.

    An attractive nurse named Meredith moves to the Langrock estate to take care of her patient:a crippled old man.She falls in love with sixteen year old grandson of Langrock named Gabriel,who returned from some kind of desert commune.A series of brutal murders in the gloom of the night is set in motion...Slow-moving but well-made and competent psycho slasher that often drags.The death scenes mostly involve head bashings and are pretty bloodless.I liked the main performance of Patricia Pearcy as I remembered her from Jeff Lieberman's "Squirm"."Delusion" is worth checking out for completists of 80's US independent horror.6 out of 10.
    Dave_Lawrence

    Painful

    It's very difficult to put into words just how poor & tedious this film is to watch. It was a chore to sit through such a dire, tiresome and insultingly substandard cinematic effort - I want to claim back the time it took to watch this, and the small amount of cash I bought it for. (Even though I think i picked it up for £1:99)
    5insomniac_rod

    Obscure but entertaining.

    I'm glad some local and old video stores still own VHS titles such as "Delusion". I remember watching it on a cheap video store located on a horrible social security living area. That was in the early 90's. Now, years later, to my surprise, I found the VHS of this tape.

    I regret I didn't watch it before. This is the typical slasher flick with the "whodunit?" premise. The plot is very simple and easy to follow. A young cute nurse arrives to a creepy mansion to take care of an invalid and creepy old man. But it's the family of the old man who gives really the creeps to our heroine; including the mysterious butler. Why? Because each of them has weird activities and personalities. Then, "strange" killings start to happen and it's only Meredith who can discover who is behind them.

    Well this is a standard slasher with a few decent death scenes and some bizarre sequences including nightmares and suspense.

    Watch it only if you are hungry of slasher flicks. I could've enjoyed it more back when the slasher craziness was at it's peek. To these days, it looks dated and cheap. Oh and the VHS copy I found was horrible in all the sense of the word.
    9GOWBTW

    Talk about a house of pain!

    Trying to find love and comfort isn't always easy. When this nurse goes to a house to take care of a crippled old man, the house of joy turns into a house of pain and death! The old man and his servant hired a nurse to help him out. He's been living in pain. Being paralyzed waist-down, has a son who is psychologically disturbed, has a grandson who lost his parents in a accident. What more can you say? What's worse is when the people living in the house started getting killed all of a sudden. Even the nurse has a tragedy of her own. She writes to her mother about her job and how things are going. However, it turns out that her mother died giving birth to her, and was sexually abused by her father. This movie has a lot of twists and turns. Not boring. It's a cult classic by my book. A must see. 2.5 out of 5 stars

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    Related interests

    Roger Jackson in Scream (1996)
    Slasher Horror
    Shawnee Smith in Saw (2004)
    Splatter Horror
    Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby (1968)
    Horror

    Storyline

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    FAQ14

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    Details

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    • Release date
      • March 1981 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • The House Where Death Lives
    • Production company
      • Trauma Associates
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

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    • Runtime
      • 1h 31m(91 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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