Brilliant and touching

A Brilliant Conflict

Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

I saw this film as Terror House, though it has gone by other names in its "legacy". Yes, it's low-budget, yes it's old and yes the acting isn't exactly perfect. Still, Terror House deserves a better rep.Regina is a college student home for the summer, and she gets a letter in the mail telling her she's won a vacation. Thrilled, she calls everyone and is on her way, but when she arrives at the inn she notices how strange the family is. Henry and Evelin and their adult grandson "Baby-John" have also invited over a few other girls. When the girls leave without saying goodbye, Regina believes the worst, but will she be next? I loved the soundtrack, the acting wasn't too bad, there were funny scenes such as Baby-John's reaction to the shark, not to mention the secluded and creepy house. You could also call this film the Mini-Fridge of Doom.I highly Recommend this film, but watch it with an open mind. If you grew up in the age of technology you may not appreciate it, but it's very nostalgic and funny and disturbing all at once. It has that Seventies TV movie feel to it as well.

A couple of the people in this movie can act. The rest are just abysmal. There are so many unresolved issues and so much lack of information that the whole thing drops from its own weight. It's the kind of story that might have been featured in one of those Creepshow episodes or some old anthology thing. As a movie, it gets caught in the sludge. A young college student is tricked into going on a vacation, all expenses paid. She even gets to travel in a private jet. Where do these people get all the money. Unfortunately, when she gets there, she is staying with a group of people who eat their guests. About one third of the movie takes place at a dinner table. Of course, our being in on it makes it repulsive. The young woman tries to get away, but does a bad job of it. Of course, the grandpa cares about his plants a bit. There's also the handsome psychotic grandson who likes girls but doesn't want to mess up the menu. If this sounds dumb, I'm not giving it half its due. There was a certain atmosphere about late sixties/early seventies schlock horror. Maybe it's the smell of cheap. Anyway, nothing much to recommend this.

I saw Terror House as it's called when living in New Jersey in the early 1980's on television. For some reason television in New York and New Jersey as I saw back then was more liberal and showed much more gore and nudity unlike what I have experienced while living here in California. When I first saw this movie it was called Terror at Red Wolf Inn. Even though it was a horror movie laced with comedic touches I found it gross and unsettling at the time. There was a scene in the movie that no longer exists in present prints and I don't understand why it was cut as I realize the movie was re-rated from R to PG later. This was an innocent scenario where the girls were weighed in the kitchen on what appeared to be a meat scale by the owner of the resort to see how much weight each had gained from their gluttonous feasts at the hotel. Another scene now missing was when Margaret Avery's character 'Edwina' after being drugged is carried into the walk-in meat locker and placed on a butcher's table. That's as far as I go with that description. Arthur Space and Mary Jackson I had known before as veterans of movies and television. I now realize that the movie was much more violent than as shown now and would like to see the original uncensored or R-rated version. It is a forgotten 1970's camp classic and should be restored. Compared to today's movies it is much more subtle and disturbing.

The Folks at Red Wolf Inn mixes cannibalism and comedy together surprisingly effectively. Regina (Linda Gillin) is the young student who win an holiday at the Red Wolf Inn, run by a nice old couple (Arthur Space and Mary Jackson). They have a somewhat retarded young grandson, about 18 years old, known as Baby John (John Neilson). It starts out wonderful for Regina, who really enjoys her stay and the wonderful food she is served. When the other young guests starts to disappear, Regina discovers that the nice old couple and Baby John is in fact carnivorous cannibals. She try to escape, but is caught and brought back. Baby John falls in love with the doomed girl and tries to help her escape, but they are caught."Baby John Smith," Grandma Evelyn angrily scolds him, "you've been a bad boy, get the belt !!" Baby John gets the belt and hands it over to Grandma Evelyn. Here we quickly understands that Baby John has been through this before... Without being told, as Grandma Evelyn stands with the belt in her hand, watching, Baby John pull down his trousers and pants. He bends over the front of the car they tried to escape in and put his hands at the far edge of the front of the car.Grandma Evelyn stands beside him, lifts up the tail of his shirt that has been concealing his bare bottom. She raises her arm in the air, then : "SMACK", as she slap the belt down across his bare bottom. She gives him nine slaps. During the spanking scene, the camera shifts from Baby John's embarrassed face as he's looks at the startled Regina, standing in front of him.After she has spanked him, she orders him to get in the house. He refuses, grabs Regina and runs away. The old couple run after them with their big mean dog, not intent on letting their dinner run away...! I have not given away the ending !! There are more, but this I can't tell... For those of us that loved the low-budget cult movie horror circus of the early 1970s....this is black comedy in a manner that quite simply doesn't excist anymore...Thanks mainly to excellent playing by the entire cast and a fair amount of genuine wit, as opposed to gross humour, the film actually works as that most difficult of generic hybrids, the horror comedy. Young John Neilson as Baby John makes a disturbing mix of horror and comic relief, including his hilarious spanking scene. Notice that the final credits are presented in the form of a menu. It`s another forgotten low budget horror classic from the glorious days of the early 70s, the decade when they really knew how to make low budget horror classics.