House of the Long Shadows
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This will be a really simple review for me in regards to
Pete Walker’s House of the Long Shadows. I don’t think anything’s wrong with
Walker’s direction (particularly enjoyed the way he lights the house of the
title and introduces the four horror icons (five, if you include Sheila Keith
who had some strong performances and memorable characters in Walker’s movies)
for the first time), and while I felt the overall use of the horror legends
left me a bit disappointed, seeing them together playing off each other was an
absolute pleasure. Walker’s film has that amazing distinction and you can’t
take that away from him.
While the “plot within a plot” structure that works as a twist in the end may not have pleased me all that much, having the four horror icons together in an old dark house story regarding a damned family with a dark history brought a smile to my face. The clichés from Hammer and Gothic horror film that came before House of the Long Shadows are all here. As I previously mentioned, the story within a story offers up Vincent Price and Peter Cushing as the sons Grisbane of John Carradine’s Lord (although, the three are close in age!), with Keith as their sister. Christopher Lee (his true identity a twist in itself) is Corrigan, the person who will soon own the Grisbane ancestral estate, allowing the family to have one last night together in the house. However, the brother/son locked away in a room after killing a teen girl he impregnated in the house has haunted the family for 40 years. Meanwhile, a cynical writer, whose works seem to operate without a voice and services him financially only, barters a wager with his publisher over a complete novel written in one complete 24 hour period, taking place in a creepy dark house.
That dark house will produce the Grisbane family (and his publisher’s secretary who this writer fancies), with the writer and publisher’s secretary perhaps in jeopardy as the young boy in the locked room might be loose. When the Grisbanes start dying, the writer and secretary will need to determine the one responsible. Included in the victim list is a couple vacationing in the area. You get a hanging, suffocation, ax attack, acid splash (replacing water, which tricks the victim washing her face), poisoning, and heart attack are a list of “deaths”. All may not be what it seems, though.
While the “plot within a plot” structure that works as a twist in the end may not have pleased me all that much, having the four horror icons together in an old dark house story regarding a damned family with a dark history brought a smile to my face. The clichés from Hammer and Gothic horror film that came before House of the Long Shadows are all here. As I previously mentioned, the story within a story offers up Vincent Price and Peter Cushing as the sons Grisbane of John Carradine’s Lord (although, the three are close in age!), with Keith as their sister. Christopher Lee (his true identity a twist in itself) is Corrigan, the person who will soon own the Grisbane ancestral estate, allowing the family to have one last night together in the house. However, the brother/son locked away in a room after killing a teen girl he impregnated in the house has haunted the family for 40 years. Meanwhile, a cynical writer, whose works seem to operate without a voice and services him financially only, barters a wager with his publisher over a complete novel written in one complete 24 hour period, taking place in a creepy dark house.
That dark house will produce the Grisbane family (and his publisher’s secretary who this writer fancies), with the writer and publisher’s secretary perhaps in jeopardy as the young boy in the locked room might be loose. When the Grisbanes start dying, the writer and secretary will need to determine the one responsible. Included in the victim list is a couple vacationing in the area. You get a hanging, suffocation, ax attack, acid splash (replacing water, which tricks the victim washing her face), poisoning, and heart attack are a list of “deaths”. All may not be what it seems, though.
You have such potential here and a cast to die for. Walker’s good fortune of having this cast at his disposal, and his stylish compositions within the spooky setting are practically squandered by Desi Arnaz, Jr. Desi has this smart ass, insolent, prick douchebag character and performance that undermines the true value of accumulating a number of the horror genre’s treasured icons. I don’t understand how anyone thought that Arnaz, Jr. was a proper fit for the film’s writer and lead. Sure, the film features these famous names and perhaps a price tag to have all of them in it for a long period of time would have demanded a bit too much green, but if that is the case, why not cast a lead we spend most of our time with that is likable enough that will lessen the blow of not getting a lot more screen time with the actors we truly want to see?
From the moment Arnaz, Jr. appears until the final scene, he left me wanting. I realize his lineage, but all because his mother is Lucy, that doesn’t necessarily mean he can come across with the same likability as his namesake. There’s this snooty presence to him. He’s on screen with quite a cast and his work opposite them is tiresome, mainly because he has such a contempt and disregard for them. Sure, it has something to do with their interrupting the writing of his novel, but the way he addresses them and his constant dismissal of them as “these weirdoes” feels as much to do with the actor himself as the character. I get that he is the classic example of contemporary writer working to make a buck while integrity and passion for the characters and story of his work are missing and that as the story we watch transpire comes to close, we are to see that he has changed. All of a sudden this particular story means something to him. The characters and their stories construction--with the “actor’s studio” twist at the end that winks at us that it was all only a performance--supposedly introduced to the writer that joy and interest lost to him in previous efforts printed in a novel form. But I never felt like the actor is able to convey that genuinely. I’m not sure he even gave a damn about how important and significant this film he had a major part in was. It never felt that way.
Still seeing Price and Lee often at odds, with Cushing liquoring up, Keith offering hot punch, and Carradine grumpily addressing why Arnaz was on the premises provide lots of cool spots that somewhat alleviate the disappointment of the lead actor’s miscasting. The bits of “out of character” actor spots where the stars get a moment to sort of play themselves was a hoot, also. Seeing them assembled all together…this is quite a moment for a fan of horror now part of a beloved bygone era. Imagine how much better this could have been with the right actor in the lead...this could have been a classic. As is, it is at times a minor gem made valuable because of its casting and old dark house elements and photography. Again, I think Walker’s direction, and the legendry cast involved, is what will redeem House of the Long Shadows even as Arnaz remains a cancerous sore that works as a blight against it. Julie Peasgood is a delight as Arnaz’s love interest but what she sees in him is anybody’s guess.
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