The House Where Evil Dwells

Over a century ago a samurai kills his wife and her lover before committing suicide, so it moves to modern times where a Western family moves in to the home where it happened. Soon they find themselves under the influence of these spirits. After a beautifully presented opening consisting of tragedy, this haunted house tale just never gets off the ground becoming quite uneventful (as it seems to lull about) with its lightly scripted narrative and randomly silly supernatural circumstances (rambling crabs?!). Even from what develops, it shows a real lack of reasoning about certain characters' judgements. Its frenzied finale is risible, but effectively executed. However at least it was brave to go out on a powerfully bleak note. Director Kevin Connor resourcefully sets it up with certain crispness thanks to the lyrical shape of the camera-work and the pacing is rather restrained with its slow-burn styling. The exotically picturesque Japanese backdrop projects another dimension to the fold. But there's no disguising its formulaic nature and stage-bound set, despite its change of culture and folklore. Although I did like how the malevolently restless spirits manifested, waltz, conspire and interacted with the occupants of the house. Where they went about trying to repeat the re-enactment of their own harrowing ordeal. How they go about pulling their stings is toying around with possessions, manifestations and causing a mess by throwing things about. The cast is dependable, but sometimes look a bit out of sorts. Susan George remains pleasing, but Edward Albert and Doug McClure (who had work with director Connor many times before) are practical with their performances. It should have promised much more than what transpired, but this handsome production consisted of strange ideas amongst its standard clichés.

"I hate this house!".

Chock full of 70's B-television staples, House Where Evil Dwells is the perfect movie to watch while getting drunk with a bunch of friends. It's hard to beat ghosts who must open and close doors to get in and out of the house they're haunting (silly Susan George opens the door after a monk exorcises the house and lets them all back in!) and giant attacking crabs muttering in Japanese. And not to be missed is the last scene in which out-of-shape Doug McClure is possessed by the ghost of a Samurai and awkwardly kicks and chops at MOW stud Edward Albert (oh, Trampas!) High camp that is sure to please.

I won't pretend this isn't a bad movie. Luckily it's often so bad it's entertaining. First off, the ghosts are ridiculous. A man catches his wife cheating and kills her and her lover violently. He then takes his own life. Later after they become ghosts they must have decided to make up and be friends.The three of them haunt the house where the murders take place. Mostly they just stand around shouting in Japanees. Giant mumbleing crabs will make you laugh out loud and must be seen!!! A terrible fight scene climax tops it all off. There is some suprising gore in this film, but it;s not really scary. The scariest thing about this movie is the lead man mustache which seems to spread on forever.

Director Kevin Connor telegraphs every element of the simple plot: a ghost love triangle from 1840 Kyoto is doomed to remain at the house where husband killed his wife, her lover and himself. New tenants Ted (Edward Albert), an American photo-journalist in Japan plus his wife Laura (Susan George) and daughter Amy (Amy Barrett) fall prey to the pesky ghosts, who ultimately involve family friend Alex (Doug McClure) in a sexy and bloody reprise of the triangle.

Otami (Mako Hattori), the original adulterous wife, set everything in motion by stealing an ivory-carved fetish from a witch, that Laura finds in the house and keeps as a talisman.

Pic plods along, with the transparent, double-exposure ghosts periodically moving into and possessing the leads' bodies, while causing typically unsettling phenomena in the nondescript house. Only scare occurs when Amy and a femme friend are subjected one night to a plague of insects and large "possessed" crabs, a throwback to the cute rubber beasties Connor previously spotlighted in his series of Doug McClure sci-fiers such as "The Land That Time Forgot".

Contrived final reel is quite funny, with a local Zen monk performing a "house exorcism" on cue, but Ted disobeying orders and letting Alex in, allowing the ghosts to scurry back into the house. At first the ghosts act as a rooting section for the brawling Americans, but then possess their bodies to turn the fight into a karate match and ultimately a bloodbath.

Cast is earnest in this silly assignment, with George delivering a convincing U. S. accent and shedding her clothes ably (along with the other leads) for okay softcore sex scenes. Studio work (at Toei) and views of Japan are mundane. Malevolent "House" titles in the horror genre remain a durable format, with pic falling in the realm of Dan Curtis's "Burnt Offerings" and Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining" plus a nod to all those Nipponese ghost pictures such as "Kwaidan".

My review was written in May 1982 after a Midtown Manhattan screening.

This could have been interesting – a Japan-set haunted house story from the viewpoint of a newly-installed American family – but falls flat due to an over-simplified treatment and the unsuitability of both cast and director.

The film suffers from the same problem I often encounter with the popular modern renaissance of such native fare, i.e. the fact that the spirits demonstrate themselves to be evil for no real reason other than that they're expected to! Besides, it doesn't deliver much in the scares department – a giant crab attack is merely silly – as, generally, the ghosts inhabit a specific character and cause him or her to act in a totally uncharacteristic way, such as Susan George seducing diplomat/friend-of-the-family Doug McClure and Edward Albert force-feeding his daughter a bowl of soup!

At one point, an old monk turns up at the house to warn Albert of the danger if they remain there – eventually, he's called upon to exorcise the premises. However, history is bound to repeat itself and tragedy is the only outcome of the tense situation duly created – leading to a violent yet unintentionally funny climax in which Albert and McClure, possessed by the spirits of their Japanese predecessors, engage in an impromptu karate duel to the death! At the end of the day, this emerges an innocuous time-waster – tolerable at just 88 minutes but, in no way, essential viewing.