Like many a horror film, this starts off with a varied bunch of people seeking shelter once they discover that a bridge they need to cross has collapsed, and they end up at a spooky mansion (looks like a cheap model!) run by a guy who kind of looks like that guy out of No Country For Old Men.Our victims this time include uptight Giacomo Rossi-Stuart who hates his boozy, floozy wife (and she hates him back!), two cops who have just arrested murderer Spike, a doctor, his assistant and a local who provides the creepy exposition. Every single one of them smoke like troopers, including the doctor. The caretaker tells them it's probably not a good idea to stay the night but then doesn't seem to bothered as he has a naked chick in his room.After her suggestion of an orgy is turned down, Giacomo's wife then finds out that the house was owned by a lady who was accused of killing her husband, and also accused of being a witch. The wife thinks this is a good time to do a séance and that's where the film starts getting interesting as all of a sudden Giacomo becomes possessed and starts talking in the dead ladies voice. Seems that the night isn't going to be as boring as they thought… In amongst all the Gialli and Spaghetti Westerns I'm watching it's nice to watch a straightforward horror film, even if it is a bit patchy and slow. There's a nice atmosphere to this one, and although it's not great all the way through, there are some sequences that stand out, like when Giacomo's wife has a strange hallucination that she's stabbing Farley Granger over and over again while he laughs in her face, or the constant ticking of clocks throughout the house which makes me wonder if Lucio Fulci had this film in mind when making The House of Clocks years later.There also a guy getting attacked by a picture and some disembodied laughing, plus the end sequence is carried out quite well. You can add this one to pile of horror the Italian made set giant houses. Or do something worthwhile instead.

I originally bought this movie thinking it would be a giallo, which it is not, though clearly it is informed by such. It is actually an old- fashioned Old Dark House type of film. A motley band of characters are forced to assemble in an old creepy mansion on a dark and stormy night. Farley Granger is fabulous as a murderer, held captive by the police (the Police Inspector is great, too). A seance evokes what is evidently a ghost, and then spooky happenings ensue. It's the kind of a movie where everything seems creepy, but then not much actually happens. There are some acts of violence, even killings, but it's no gore fest. Go into it expecting heaps of atmosphere and not much else.

Being in the mood to watch a Giallo film,I started to take a look at a mountain of gialli DVDs.Getting near the end of the pile,I spotted a Giallo which I had heard Kim Newman & Alan Jones mention on a DVD commentary,which led to me getting ready to find out what is creeping in the dark.The plot:Arresting homicidal manic Spike on a busy road,police officers Sam and Inspector Wright get set to take Spike back to the police station. Preparing to put Spike in the car,the police are stopped in their tracks,when a bad storm causes the road to become flooded.Talking to all of the other drivers stranded on the road,Sam and Wright decide that they will take Spike and the guests to a near by mansion,where they can all stay for the night.Originally expecting the decaying mansion to be empty,the cops and drivers are shocked to find that it is inhabited by Joe.Attempting to make themselves comfortable in the mansion,the group are disappointed to find that the flood has destroyed the phone service in the area.Bored out of their minds,the residences of the mansion decide that the best way to pass the time is not to play pass the parcel,but to hold séance for the former owner of the mansion,who is rumoured to have had an interest in the occult.View on the film:Opening with a blunt stop/start credit sequence,writer/director Mario Colucci & cinematographer Giuseppe Aquari casts the film against a deep blue atmosphere,which along with subtly showing the mansion "drowning" in the flood,also creates a sharp,haunting atmosphere,as Colucci reveals something mysterious to be lurking in the corners of the mansion.Backed by a slithering score from Angelo Francesco Lavagnino,Colucci gradually scatters the hidden secrets of the mansion across the screen with ultra-stylised first person camera moves,which allow the viewer to feel the full sense of insanity gripping each of the unlucky guests.Keeping the film locked either on the road or in the mansion,the screenplay by Colucci attempts to cross the murder mystery elements with the Giallo and Supernatural Horror genres. Whilst Colucci does very well at using the Supernatural Horror edge to give the title a final sting,he sadly struggles to build any sense of the central mystery progressing,with each of the thinly-drawn characters appearing to have hardly any interest in actually uncovering the secrets of the mansion,which along with including some ill-fitting Giallo murder scenes leads to this being a film that sadly creeps back into the dark.

I recently watched this film and was really excited as i like films in an isolated place with ghosts etc. The film concerns f different groups of people (an upeerclass bickering couple, Two policemen and a captured felon, A doctor and his nurse and the house caretaker and his girlfriend)they all find themselves trapped in the gloomy mansion when the road they are travelling on is washed away during a bad rainstorm.They all have different agenda's and there stories intertwine but this film is just too talky with very little action it does have a few killings and a rather disappointing ending. All in all an OK film just do not expect too much.