The Mad American Wrote:Okay I watched "Burnt Offerings" tonight and liked it. The jury is still out for me to say if I really liked it. Oliver Reed and Karen Black were really good in it and Bette Davis can play creepy like no one. It was old school slow paced and had a decent payoff but I am still undecided on it as a whole.
Guess I should try and get some sleep and see how I feel about it after I let it stew for a bit.
Burnt Offerings is a slow building film that is richly layered and doesn't go for quick cheap scares. It works well because it is subtle and creepy and the house isn't overtly haunted, no slamming doors or windows, no moving objects, I like the way it just feeds on negativity and manipulates the inhabitants, slowly driving them mad.
This is a "living house" movie, not a "haunted house". They never get into the why, it just is. I think the lack of explanation is off-putting for some. Is it ghosts of previous occupants? Is it the devil? Who knows.
All I know is I was terrified of the chauffeur, creepy Sardonicus smile.