Burnt Offerings (1976) 6/10

I really like haunted house stories and films. When I read that Burnt Offerings was just that, and stared Oliver Reed and Burgess Meredith, I knew I had to check it out.

Burnt Offerings is about a young family that finds a wonderful old house to rent. Its huge and its cheap and the only catch is that they must look after an old woman that lives upstairs in a room. Or is it?

Burnt Offerings is more of an old-school horror flick. There is nothing really concrete that we see. There are no ghosts or ghouls, no axe wielding crazy people. Its more about atmosphere and the influence a person's environment has on them. The mother becomes obsessed and possibly possessed with the house, the older Aunt begins to lose her mind and the father becomes more hostile and the little boy gets trapped in the house. If you ask me its just a supernatural allegory of the potential negative effects of family living. This makes perfect sense given the time in which it was made. In the late 1970's divorce sky rocketed after the no-fault divorce became legal in most states. Birth rates dropped dramatically as well. An anti-family movie was ripe for the making. Thankfully given its old-school style its not rubbed in your face and painfully obvious. The film is much more subtle then that. The scares as well are subtle, and to me, that made the film that much more creepy. The problem is that the film is about 2 hours long and the pace is pretty slow going. The film was shot in this odd soft focus style that was popular in that era as well and dates the film instantly. Good performances abound with the excellent cast, and saves the film from the 70's trash bin.

Burnt Offerings is an interesting film, but for those horror fans with patience and willingness to sit through a 2 hour film with no gore.

Nudity- none

Gore- none

Overall - 6/10