House of the Living Dead
House of the Living Dead
PG | 23 July 1976 (USA)
House of the Living Dead Trailers

On a South African plantation, a maniac is on the loose, first killing the estate's animals, then starting on the human members.

Reviews
BroadcastChic Excellent, a Must See
Casey Duggan It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny
Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
Scotty Burke It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review
Nick Duguay Shot in South Africa, the location of this film lends a unique air of mystery to am otherwise fairly typical early 70's British thriller. While the story plays it safe, the scenery and camera work shines. the inside of the Bradley house is both chilling and gorgeous, and the beautiful lanscapes create an odd contrast to both the dark mansion, and the frightening plot. While it isn't the most innovative film, I can't help but feel that much of the negative reviews and ratings to cloud this film's online presence are the result of disappointment over the misleading film title.
Red-Barracuda As I watched this one I felt something was odd about it. While the cast seemed to all be English, the terrain and deep blue sky seemed somewhat foreign, so I was interested to learn afterwards that this is a South African production. It's a pretty rare thing to find a horror movie from that country, and this was probably the most interesting thing about this one. It's another costume horror, of which there were many back at the time this was released. Set in the 19th century, it centres on a young woman who travels to the plantation home of her fiancé, whose family has a grim history. The mother tries to encourage her to leave, while the other brother is an unseen lunatic in the attic. As is so often the way, a series of murders start happening. But are they a result of voodoo? Is it mad science at work? Or is this the work of…a horse!? All, is eventually revealed.The combination of a hokey mad scientist plot-line with traditional voodoo is slightly unusual. As is the way that animals are sometimes presented, with a major character being what can only be described as a so-called devil horse which the locals actually believe could be roaming around in the dead of night committing all the killings. The science bit is covered by the not entirely interesting idea of human soul transferal. So the story has quite a few disparate ideas kicking about and there is undoubtedly some potential in the set-up but the presentation is often quite meandering and uneventful. But it's overall actually not bad really, as there is some atmosphere generated in some of the night scenes depicting strange goings on and there is a quite well executed chase scene involving a hooded villain too. The South African setting adds something new as well which definitely elevates the material by itself. As I say, it doesn't always maximise its ideas and it is a bit messy but it does also have a lively ending to round things off. All things considered, despite a few faults, this one is definitely better than its reputation would suggest.
Chase_Witherspoon While the title isn't strictly a misnomer as some reviewers have remarked, it remains misleading - this isn't a zombie movie per se but concerns a wealthy scientist, demented following a brain injury caused by a fall from an apparently primeval steed, conducting experiments on creatures in an attempt to capture their soul and transplant it into other beings. His aristocratic family run a farm in South Africa where the other son (Burns) is set to marry his English lass (Field), much to the chagrin of his fiercely protective mother (Inglis). A series of strange murders and rituals force Field to re-consider her commitment, as the enigma of the demented brother (locked away in the upper floor of the family mansion), becomes too much for her to ignore.It's pure tripe wasting Field's considerable talents, and those of supporting actor Oxley as a concerned doctor whom Field befriends on the journey from England. Initially an affable character, Burns quickly becomes an arrogant aristocrat and borderline Oedipus complex to mother Inglis, who plays the family matriarch with all the usual pomp you'd expect. It's a relatively small cast lacking depth and familiarity beyond the three leads (Burns, Field and Oxley).While the twist ending might leave some surprised, the revelations are lost potential, poorly executed and lacking suspense or thrills. Austin's movie relies on old-fashioned motifs like the club footed nut jobs who only come out at night and play the pipe organ, witch-doctors proffering sinister incantations that no one believes and chemical experiments that involve dozens of test tubes filled with colourful, smoky potions that make monkeys go berserk. Worse than dull, it promises a great revelation, then fails to deliver.
HumanoidOfFlesh The title of this film is very misleading,because there are no zombies here.This South African horror deals with science and magic.The script is actually decent,but the film is really boring and dull,and there's no gore at all.To be fair,there are two or three suspenseful scenes,and the ending is quite exciting-this is enough for me to classify "House of the Living Dead" as a decent horror film,so I'll give it 5 out of 10.
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