Murder Mansion (1973)

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Great Film overall

Best movie ever!

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

"Murder Mansion" looks like a bottom-of-the-barrel version of "And Then There Were None", minus some little things such as character motivation and playing fair with the audience (NOT introducing, for example, a new character in the last 10 minutes!). Most of the movie is boring; when the horror finally starts, over an hour in, it becomes nonsensical. Despite its lurid English title (the dubbing is quite poor, by the way), it's also quite tame in terms of violence (there is little) and nudity (there is virtually none, unless I watched a cut version). Which is a shame, because the women in this film are very beautiful, and probably its only saving grace. *1/2 out of 4.

After watching this movie, I kind of find it hard to believe that two American distributors apparently thought well enough of it to release it twice to American audiences. Before I get any further, I feel I should say that this really isn't a BAD movie, just a kind of disappointing one. There is some genuine merit to be found in the movie. Though low budget, it spends its limited funds wisely. It is also often lit and photographed in ways that add some genuine atmosphere. Unfortunately, the movie is saddled with an inadequate screenplay. True, it adds some twists near the end, but before then the movie is very slow-moving and downright boring at times. For example, the body count in the first hour of the movie is a mere ONE person. If the story had been more fast moving and more eventful, we might have had something here. But as it is, while it isn't really a bad movie, it is disappointing.

"The Murder Mansion" may not be the best movie that I've ever seen, but it kept me entertained throughout the whole 83 minutes. The film is about a group of people who get fog-bound at a creepy old mansion in the middle of nowhere and are forced to stay the night. However, the group soon discovers that the mansion holds a deadly secret. I would have liked this flick better if it weren't for the ending that reminded me too much of "Scooby Doo", almost like a real-life replica of one of those episodes. This film has almost no gore or nudity, and would be considered very tame by today's standards. All in all, the it had an atmospheric and eerie setting and a few pop-out scares that will keep you entertained to the very end. Check this one out! Not Rated (But is equal to PG-13)for Violence and Sensuality.Grade: C+

You no doubt have run into this theme time and time again- some people get stranded on a VERY foggy night, and they're forced to seek refuge in this spooky ol' house. Of course, the house is in an isolated locale. Of course, it's located next to a cemetery. Of course, the owners are creepy people. Of course, the house is rumored to be haunted. And, of course, the guests' stay and slumber are disturbed by the strange and haunting goings-on that we've come to expect in stories like this. We've seen it all before, from Scooby Doo cartoons to the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland. And so the cast goes through the motions while the audience goes through the motions of watching them and pretending not to know what will happen. The closing scene is ludicrous- how many pistols can fire 17 shots without being reloaded? However, it's not a total loss. The acting is marginally better than usual for a low-budget film like this. The production and sets are fairly good-looking, the background music is satisfactory, and there is some atmosphere of eerie calm which actually works. So I would recommend this film to people who really like haunted house movies.