Post by petrolino on Nov 4, 2018 1:41:16 GMT
The mystery 'Burnt Offerings' is based on the horror novel 'Burnt Offerings' (1973) by Robert Marasco, author of the Catholic play 'Child's Play' (1970) which was filmed by Sidney Lumet in 1972. It's about a family who occupy a house for the summer that turns out to hold a bizarre secret.
Cast
Karen Black as Marian Rolf
Oliver Reed as Ben Rolf
Lee H. Montgomery as Davey Rolf
Bette Davis as Elizabeth Rolf
Burgess Meredith as Arnold Allardyce
Eileen Heckart as Roz Allardyce
Dub Taylor as Walker
Anthony James as the Hearse Driver
Oliver Reed as Ben Rolf
Lee H. Montgomery as Davey Rolf
Bette Davis as Elizabeth Rolf
Burgess Meredith as Arnold Allardyce
Eileen Heckart as Roz Allardyce
Dub Taylor as Walker
Anthony James as the Hearse Driver
I've heard many good things about the supernatural horror 'Burnt Offerings' over the years and have long-been keen to check it out. It's directed by genre master Dan Curtis, has a bona fide 'A' grade cast and draws from highly rated source material. It's also credited as a major influence on Stephen King who praised this movie in 'Danse Macabre' (1981) just a year after Stanley Kubrick's 'The Shining' (1980) had been released, a genre classic based on a King story about a family occupying temporary residence who enter into an agreement to look after it. There are some very strong parallels between the two.
"The Seventies! High inflation! Rising unemployment! The Oil Crisis! Spiking energy prices! The Recession! Desegregation of Schools! Which led to white flight! High crime! The Son of Sam! Everyone was worried about money! Which is why the Seventies were the decade when the haunted house novel thrived. There was The Sentinel (’74) about a model who moves into a new house…from hell. There was The Shining (’77) about an economically strapped family that took a last chance job in a hotel…from hell. There was The Amityville Horror (’77) about an economically strapped family that got a real estate deal…from hell. There was The House Next Door (’78) about nouveau riche suburbanites who built the contemporary home…from hell. But it all started with Robert Marasco’s Burnt Offerings (’73) about a family that escapes the city to move into the summer rental…from hell.
Marasco was a high school English teacher, which meant any illusions he’d ever had about human nature had long since been stomped to death. His two contributions to American letters were Child’s Play and Burnt Offerings. The first was a play about a war of wills between two high school teachers that involves self-mutilation, blindings, impromptu crucifixions, rumors of demonic possession, and a couple of defenestrations. Marasco said he wrote his play “to scare the hell out of everybody” and apparently it worked, running for 343 performances on Broadway. A few years later he delivered Burnt Offerings.
Originally written as a screenplay, Burnt Offerings is a slender 264 pages and was originally intended to be a black comedy, but, as Marasco said in an interview “It just came out black.” Reviewers either panned it or patronized it, but it didn’t matter. The book caught on and helped spawn the wave of haunted house novels that came out later in the decade. Stephen King’s The Shining and Jay Anson’s The Amityville Horror are both basically rewrites of Marasco’s book."
Marasco was a high school English teacher, which meant any illusions he’d ever had about human nature had long since been stomped to death. His two contributions to American letters were Child’s Play and Burnt Offerings. The first was a play about a war of wills between two high school teachers that involves self-mutilation, blindings, impromptu crucifixions, rumors of demonic possession, and a couple of defenestrations. Marasco said he wrote his play “to scare the hell out of everybody” and apparently it worked, running for 343 performances on Broadway. A few years later he delivered Burnt Offerings.
Originally written as a screenplay, Burnt Offerings is a slender 264 pages and was originally intended to be a black comedy, but, as Marasco said in an interview “It just came out black.” Reviewers either panned it or patronized it, but it didn’t matter. The book caught on and helped spawn the wave of haunted house novels that came out later in the decade. Stephen King’s The Shining and Jay Anson’s The Amityville Horror are both basically rewrites of Marasco’s book."
- Grady Hendrix, 'Forgotten Bestsellers : Burnt Offerings'
Bette Davis & Karen Black
'Is That All There Is?' - Peggy Lee
The stately pace and sedantry life cycle of 'Burnt Offerings' is something I needed to adapt myself to, I'm generally quite an energetic person. But even though I was on the verge of falling asleep several times, it was in a good way, I just had to keep coming back to what I was experiencing (and enjoying). The polite atmosphere built with the aid of soft focus photography in 'Burnt Offerings' is gently intoxicating and carries with it a slight fuzz that's tangible. This is authentic American gothic, drawing inspiration from Edgar Allan Poe's earth-shattering tale of the grotesque 'The Fall Of The House Of Usher' (1839) which shook society to its very core. I'd proffer 'Burnt Offerings' as being a film for lovers of past horror creations like 'The Cat And The Canary' (1927), 'The Haunting' (1963) and 'The Legend Of Hell House' (1973), as well as for fans of future genre creations such as 'The Amityville Horror' (1979), 'Witchtrap' (1989) and 'The People Under The Stairs' (1991). These are all horror films in which the central buildings become living, breathing entities.
"When he wasn't directing epic TV miniseries like The Winds of War, Curtis' tastes decidedly leaned toward the horror genre on both the small and big screens. He created the classic supernatural soap opera Dark Shadows, directed the two feature films based on the show (House of Dark Shadows and Night of Dark Shadows) and also directed legendary horror TV movies like The Night Stalker (1972), its sequel The Night Strangler (1973), The Norliss Tapes (1973), Dracula (1974) and the beloved Trilogy of Terror (1975). His forays into theatrical filmmaking were few, but perhaps the best-remembered one is Burnt Offerings."
- Don Kaye, SyFy Wire
Lee Montgomery
'Micro-Kid' - Level 42
Amazingly, 'Burnt Offerings' was scripted in just 2 weeks and shot in around 30 days. Oliver Reed was often drunk and had to be forcibly restrained from impersonating his hero Burt Lancaster during his buff torso-bearing, summer shorts sequences. Karen Black was pregnant and lost in a world of her own which fits her role like a glove. A visibly out-of-breath Bette Davis was said to have kept busy warring on set while contemplating a life of cigarettes and alcohol. Unfortunately for the principals, they'd been hired by the king of the low angle shot and Dan Curtis films much of the picture this way. As Joan Bennett put it, "... and with Dan Curtis directing, it's good advice to always clear your nostrils."
"It’s no five-star classic by any means, but Burnt Offerings is still one of the more underrated horror outings of the last 40 years. Some impatient viewers may call it boring, but those with a taste for slow-burn horror will find much to appreciate here. Director Dan Curtis, best known for the gothic soap opera Dark Shadows that aired in the late ’60s and early ’70s and which is currently being remade by Tim Burton for Warner Bros., works up a suitably tense atmosphere in the early going, imbuing the sunny summer setting with a sense of gauzy, unquantifiable dread. The film is light on overt shocks until late in the third act, during which Curtis once again utilizes star Karen Black’s unnervingly off-kilter gaze to spine-tingling effect (something he similarly accomplished in the final shot of his 1975 TV anthology Trilogy of Terror). As for the cast, what can I say?"
- Chris Eggertsen, Bloody Disgusting
Burnt Offerings
'Mr Pink' - Level 42
There are highlights galore in 'Burnt Offerings' despite the safe pacing. Bette Davis blows up a big balloon with cigarette smoke, Dub Taylor goes batsh*t crazy as the home caretaker and Anthony James flashes a delightfully toothy grin as the Devil's chauffeur. So strap in and take a ride, it's all in good fun! "Hey, little lark, get outta the dark, foul owl on the pro-oowl ... Hey little jay, stay out of his way, foul owl on the prowl ..."
