THE HOUSE OF SEVEN CORPSES (1974)
Article 3262 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 5-25-2010
Posting Date: 7-20-2010
Directed by Paul Harrison
Featuring John Ireland, Faith Domergue, John Carradine
Country: USA
What it is: Scary house/zombie flick

A horror film is being shot in a creaky old mansion that was the site of occult-related murders many years ago. When the director decides to add authenticity by borrowing chants from a book of the occult found on the premises, he unwittingly unleashes great evil…

The cast is pretty good in this one, and it’s nice to see John Carradine with a role that takes up more than a minute of screen time. In fact, the opening scenes gave me some hope for the movie. The problem is that the movie takes its own sweet time to get things moving, so we’re treated to an hour of the cast and crew making the movie and yelling at each other or at the caretaker, and this gets old very fast. Things pick up a little when the zombie shows up, but his rampage and the events surrounding it are more than a little confusing. Still, I have to admit to a little fondness for a moment towards the end of the movie when the director, surrounded by all the carnage caused by the zombie, discovers the REAL tragedy. No, the movie isn’t very good, but it does have its moments, and I’ll give it credit for that.