Wednesday, February 17, 2010

The Shuttered Room (1967)

3.5 / 5  Feb '10
Tagline: N/A
Directed by: David Greene
Written by: August Derleth, D.B. Ledrov
Actors include: Oliver Reed, Carol Lynley, Gig Young
Genre: Horror
Length: 99 minutes
Banned: Nope




Review:
This was based upon a story written by Derleth of the same name which is based upon a portion of a Lovecraft story. We meet a young couple Mike and Susannah who are going back to Susannah's home to find out about her past. They are very clearly warned to stay the heck away from the townspeople and of course they won't listen. She goes back and stays where she was told to not and starts to learn of horrific murders that are happening. Worse still local thug Oliver Reed has taken a liking to pretty Susannah and his thug buddies are perfectly willing to distract Mike while he gets what he wants. Will the secret of the Mill be able to protect Susannah? It's a relatively simple mystery that they try to keep us in the dark about for most of the time but I'm sure you'll figure it out. Still pretty interesting storytelling once it gets going and some great chase scenes, just not thrilling throughout unfortunately.

Availability:  On DVD as part of a 2fer with It!

3 comments:

  1. Actually, this film was based on August Derleth's story of the same name which was based on a mere fragment by Lovecraft.

    Donovan K. Loucks
    Webmaster, The H. P. Lovecraft Archive
    http://www.hplovecraft.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. Just to be extra clear, it was Derleth that wrote "The Shuttered Room", not Lovecraft.

    Donovan K. Loucks
    Webmaster, The H. P. Lovecraft Archive
    http://www.hplovecraft.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you, sorry I read that wrong, all fixed now!

    ReplyDelete