Middle aged New Yorker Mike Kelton (Gig Young) accompanies his young wife Susannah (Carol Lynley) to the New England island where she was born, where they visit the old mill that was her childhood home. While there, they run into trouble with a gang of hooligans led by loutish lunk Ethan (a glowering Oliver Reed), and uncover the terrible family secret harbored by Susannah's Aunt Agatha (Flora Robson).Although The Shuttered Room is billed as a horror movie, it is, for the most part, more akin to the rural thriller genre, Reed and his menacing cronies seeming to serve as inspiration for Sam Peckinpah's uncouth country ruffians in Straw Dogs. Only in its closing moments does the film enter genuine horror territory with that hoary old chestnut of a revelation, the deranged relative chained up in the attic.Director David Greene goes for the slow burn approach, intent on generating an atmosphere of foreboding and menace (aided by a wild jazz score), but his best efforts are undone by a rather silly script that sees Susannah and Mike repeatedly failing to take the proper precautions given their precarious situation (when a group of lecherous thugs clearly have ill intentions, don't go out of your way to let them succeed by taking a lonely stroll across a remote beach or by giving one of them a lift in your car!).

People always comment and make fun of the evil twin... I always thought the idea to be funny and to belong to comedy skits or parodies. But surprisingly somebody has taken this concept seriously and transformed it in one of the most tedious and soul-less films I ever watched.Nothing much happens during the whole snore-fest, a few scenes of attempted rape (no exposed skin), a bunch of hillbillies behaving in a very stereotypical way (they are always evil dimwitted troglodytes. There are as always people doing dumb things and the movie hero knows some karate moves, and he demonstrates his prowess in a very funny scene. And the conclusion was painful to watch, it was as stupid as possible, because all the bad things that happened were caused by an evil mentally deranged twin...Ah!, by the way, this has nothing to do with H.P. Lovecraft.The main actress has a very cute face. But it does not pay to watch this film because of her. It is good for insomnia, though.

A terrific and really creepy adaptation of an HP Lovecraft story. Carol Lynley and Gig Young inherit Lynley's childhood home and get hell from a local gang of hoods (led by a very young Oliver Reed). That turns out to be nothing compared to the secret the house holds. Lynley and Young are terrific and Reed is excellent as a psychologically scarred punk. David Greene's direction is suitably bizarre, with plenty of odd angles and shrieking music on the soundtrack. Set in New England though clearly filmed in ENGLAND, which only adds to the film's oddness. Flora Robson, looking very haggard, is Lynley's mysterious aunt and she brings a lot to the film. A true unsung horror sleeper boasting a lot of good things, including very far-out opening titles.

A friend of mine took me for a ride in Wisconsin and on a country road he showed me a rather old house that was hidden by a great deal of trees and bushes My friend proceeded to tell me that in this house August Derleth lived who was a great writer of mysteries and Sci-Fi books. Once I found out this information I started to read most of his books and this film shows his great talent for writing very scary tales of murder and the mentally ill. Gig Young, (Mike Kelton) and Carol Lynley, (Susannah Kelton) leave New York and decide to look at an old mill that Susannah had been willed which is on an island and with very few people living around this area. The people are not very friendly and warn them about going into the old mill and even staying the night. Oliver Reed, (Ethan) plays the role as a very horny man who is constantly after Susannah, even though she is married and this goes on throughout the entire film. Great entertaining film which will hold your interest. Enjoy.