It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

A group of strangers wind up at a remote mansion one foggy night. Soon they are terrorized by a ghostly chauffeur and vampiric old woman.This is a pretty solid Spanish flick that combines the feel of a thriller with spooky supernatural horror. It opens in such a way as you would be forgiven for thinking that you were in for some giallo mayhem, seeing as it quickly introduces us to a selection of shady characters. But pretty soon after the action moves to the fog enclosed environs of an old dark house and creepy graveyard. The combination of the two strands of film type works pretty well all-in-all with a decent enough amount of intrigue in the set-up and some quite effective scary moments. The latter is covered almost exclusively by the appearances of the two ghosts, who are utilised well. In particular, a scene where a woman turns in bed to be confronted face to face with the scary old woman is pretty spine tingling. The focus is really more on spookiness in general, as there isn't a lot of sex and violence in this one. Which isn't entirely surprising really considering this was made in Franco's Spain, in a climate that was very conservative about such matters. The cast of actors is good enough, with the star turn being Evelyn Stewart who appeared in several Italian pictures from the time including a very memorable role in the excellent giallo The Case of the Scorpion's Tail.So all-in-all a somewhat under-appreciated film. It hardly breaks the mould but it does what it does well enough. Spanish films from the 70's tended to be poorer relations to their Italian equivalents. And while this one has its weaknesses, it is certainly one of the stronger Spanish thrillers from the period.

This minor and bargain-bin budget entry in the "travelers gathered in creepy mansion" genre is surprisingly good and effective.A bunch of characters wind up spending the night in a Gothic home near a cemetery, where legends about the undead abound. The film isn't very adept at introducing us to these people in a way that makes it clear who they are and how they're related to one another, but the only thing that's important anyway is that one of them is the wealthy wife of a dissatisfied husband with serious daddy issues and a history of nervous breakdowns. She's convinced that she saw a giant man dressed as a butler joined by an old woman lurking in the cemetery, a story that the hostess is only too happy to corroborate with her own tales about the dark and eerie history that surrounds the place. People start dying, a couple of the more curious house guests suspect that something's afoot and go investigating, and there you have your movie.By the time the film is over, it's more mystery than horror movie, but it's fairly cleverly plotted for the kind of movie it is, and it does manage to effect a couple of genuinely creepy moments. Keep in mind that this is super low budget obscure cinema we're talking about here, so everything is relative, but within that narrow definition, this film isn't half bad.Listed at IMDb as "Maniac Mansion," but the version I saw was titled "Murder Mansion."Grade: B

I just started working my way through the Chilling Classics 50 Movie Pack Collection and MURDER MANSION is the first movie in the set. MURDER MANSION is just my kind of old-fashioned, B-grade horror movie. It is an especially creepy thriller! In a series of convoluted happenstance, several people end up stranded in a mansion in the middle of nowhere. Apparently, to escape a fog-bound night, although one couple and a woman traveling alone claim to have been cut off by the same car – a Rolls Royce, no less! The mansion is next to a cemetery, where it seems that the undead abound… well, at least a chauffeur and his elderly mistress. Martha provides the back-story as one of vampires overrunning the town, which is used to explain the deserted village… but, hardly anyone is surprised to hear such a tale. Same with the story of her old Aunt, who is purported to be a witch. But, when Martha describes the death of her aunt; and, the death of her chauffeur, Elsa nearly suffers an apoplectic fit! Like other Italian horror films of its day, MURDER MANSION features beautiful cinematography. It also features a suitable mansion – surprisingly well-maintained public areas, sufficient living quarters; and, an abysmal cellar! The film is rather thin on plot; but, the dubbed-in dialogue (done after filming)is actually quite good.Ida Galli (Martha), Analía Gade (Elsa), and Lisa Leonardi (Laura) are exceptionally well cast; and, offer apt performances. The score can be a bit jarring; but, it serves the purpose of intensifying the atmosphere and the action.The film digresses into a sordid affair between Elsa's father and her classmate; a philandering, gun-toting drunk on the prowl for any woman with a pulse (or, perhaps without one); and, free-love between Fred and Laura, two young folks traveling by motorcycle.Yes, the plot reads more like a melodrama than a horror movie. But, I liked MURDER MANSION well enough.

Modestly entertaining spook-house chiller has a various group of motorists finding themselves crashed nearby a cemetery thanks to a thickening fog that has engulfed them. Near the unattended graveyard is a manor once home to a rumored-to-be witch who, along with her chauffeur, died in a car crash three decades earlier. Their spirits perhaps roam the grounds as a car, being driven by a man dressed in a chauffeur's uniform, almost runs over handsome motorcyclist Fred(Andrés Resino)who was attempting to flag the driver down. Fred is carrying a lovely hitchhiker, Laura(Lisa Leonardi), as they found themselves crashing near the graveyard. Before their unfortunate accident, wealthy heiress, Elsa(..beautiful red-head Analía Gadé), recently recovering from a nervous breakdown due to the death of her father(..who died of a heart-attack while having sex with a much younger woman), was driving to a village to meet clients, Mr & Mrs Tremont(Eduardo Fajardo & Yelena Samarina)but, also runs off the road and into an embankment near the graveyard, encountering two sinister beings shrouded in darkness, one in a chauffeur's hat and boots, with a female figure slightly behind him. Incredibly frightened, Elsa runs into Fred and Laura. The trio find the manor, discovering that the Tremonts inside, having been in a wreck with another motorist, a gun-toting, sports-car driving, alcoholic, skirt-chasing, weak-hearted Mr. Porter(Franco Fantasia)who came on to Laura a little strong when he had initially picked her up on the side of the road. This group finds that the manor has an owner, the mysterious, enigmatic Martha Clinton(Ida Galli;Case of the Scorpion's Tale, Seven Notes in Black), who carries a striking resemblance to her aunt(..her portrait hangs above the fireplace in the living room of the manor). Martha dotes on the folklore behind her ancestor, the claims of vampirism and witchcraft and how these things drove locals from the location elsewhere. Over the night, Elsa will be targeted by the eerie chauffeur and Aunt Clinton, as she slowly is driven mad, but why? Why would the spirits of Clinton and her chauffeur wish to drive Elsa crazy? Meanwhile Fred and Laura snoop around, wishing to understand more about their surroundings and the chauffeur who almost run him over.Important sub-plot is introduced in the early going, regarding Elsa's very unhappy husband Ernest(Alberto Dalbés), who is having an affair with another woman. Ernest was once wealthy as well, but spent his money on women and drink. Ernest mentions to his devoted lover how he'd like to split from Elsa, but her financial support is hard to give up. This isn't just thrown in the movie for filler, and could very well tie into the future events of the movie. The cast is decent and the dubbing is bearable. The film flirts with the supernatural, but the overall story isn't that overwhelming. The whole film lives and breathes familiarity...you have seen it all before, over and over. Perhaps the film offers surprises for viewers who are not accustomed to these type of old dark house mysteries where something's afoot, but I believe most will find this merely an adequate time-waster, nothing special or mind-blowing. Could've been a lot worse, but I have a pretty good feeling most will forget about this movie soon after it's over. Elsa's story is emphasized more than everyone else's.