In the 1970 British film "The Beast in the Cellar," two unusual sisters, played by Dame Flora Robson and Beryl Reid, are dismayed when the mysterious whatzit that they have long kept imprisoned in their basement manages to escape and terrorize the countryside. But as it turns out, this wasn't the first time Dame Flora had done something of this nature on screen. Her previous film, 1967's "The Shuttered Room," another letdown of a horror outing from the U.K., has her playing a character named Aunt Agatha, who, for almost 20 years, has been protecting a mysterious whatzit in the attic of an abandoned mill house. Unfortunately, this creature, like the one in the 1970 film, turns out to be more than capable of committing murderous rampages when approached....
In the 1967 film, a very handsome couple, Mike and Susannah Kelton, comes to lonely Dunwich Island, off the New England coast, where Susannah was raised until the age of 4, when she was sent away. They have come to claim the now supposedly empty mill house where Susannah spent her early youth, but encounter only unwelcome comments from the townsfolk, not so subtle threats from the local gang of toughs led by Oliver Reed, and warnings of a curse from Aunt Agatha. And ultimately, the discovery of the corpse of a slain young woman in the mill house tips Susannah off that the Whately family curse just might be in full force indeed....
Before explaining just why I found "The Shuttered Room" such a disappointment, let me endeavor to state what I liked about it. I mentioned that the Keltons are a handsome couple, and as played by Gig Young (54 here, and one film away from winning his Oscar for "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?") and Carol Lynley (25 here, and in her first film since Otto Preminger's "Bunny Lake Is Missing"), they certainly are that; indeed, Lynley is quite astonishingly beautiful here. The acting jobs turned in by the four leads are exceptionally good and the look of the film is marvelous. DOP Kenneth Hodges has done a stunning job of lensing this picture, and the island scenery is often a treat for the eyes. (Wherever was this thing shot, anyway?) Director David Greene has also turned in some sterling work here, and his utilization of unusual camera angles, imaginative camera setups and thoughtful camera movements is most welcome. The picture is extremely atmospheric, and must have been wonderful to see back when on the big screen. That atmosphere is hugely abetted by the outre, jazzish soundtrack provided by Basil Kirchin; strange as it is, it yet works splendidly. In all, the picture is marvelous for its first 9/10, and the viewer is kept consistently on edge, and wondering just what the heck is lurking in that attic....
And then comes the denouement. As in "The Beast in the Cellar," which film also withheld a glimpse of the mysterious rampager till the very end, only dishing out occasional POV shots from its eyes, here, the ultimate revelation as to the creature's identity is sorely disappointing. The "Maltin Movie Guide" is being generous when it calls this disclosure "tame," and most viewers, I have a feeling, will be incredulous that this thing could possibly be responsible for all the physical mayhem shown or related. As it turns out, Oliver Reed and his gang of hooligans come off as much more threatening than the film's ostensible monster! To make matters worse, we are never given a backstory for this feral creature of any kind, and Aunt Agatha's actions at the film's end are completely bewildering and out of character. The final 10 minutes of the film effectively torpedo what up until then had been a great-looking exercise in slow-escalation suspense. And so, though the film is ultimately a failure, it is a completely watchable one, at least. One final word: "The Shuttered Room" is supposedly based on a short story by the great H.P. Lovecraft and his uberfan, the writer August Derleth. And yet, although I have read all the Lovecraft works, and own the complete Lovecraft in the four authorized Arkham House editions, I have yet to run across a tale called "The Shuttered Room." I am guessing that the story was written by Derleth alone, and only based on Lovecraft's classic earlier tale, 1929's "The Dunwich Horror." (Dunwich is a fictional town in Massachusetts there, and not an island.) Whatever the case may be, I can only imagine that Derleth's original was a LOT more satisfying than the British film treatment. Still, the sight of gorgeous Carol Lynley in her skimpy white brassiere is something that neither Lovecraft nor Derleth could ever provide....
In the 1967 film, a very handsome couple, Mike and Susannah Kelton, comes to lonely Dunwich Island, off the New England coast, where Susannah was raised until the age of 4, when she was sent away. They have come to claim the now supposedly empty mill house where Susannah spent her early youth, but encounter only unwelcome comments from the townsfolk, not so subtle threats from the local gang of toughs led by Oliver Reed, and warnings of a curse from Aunt Agatha. And ultimately, the discovery of the corpse of a slain young woman in the mill house tips Susannah off that the Whately family curse just might be in full force indeed....
Before explaining just why I found "The Shuttered Room" such a disappointment, let me endeavor to state what I liked about it. I mentioned that the Keltons are a handsome couple, and as played by Gig Young (54 here, and one film away from winning his Oscar for "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?") and Carol Lynley (25 here, and in her first film since Otto Preminger's "Bunny Lake Is Missing"), they certainly are that; indeed, Lynley is quite astonishingly beautiful here. The acting jobs turned in by the four leads are exceptionally good and the look of the film is marvelous. DOP Kenneth Hodges has done a stunning job of lensing this picture, and the island scenery is often a treat for the eyes. (Wherever was this thing shot, anyway?) Director David Greene has also turned in some sterling work here, and his utilization of unusual camera angles, imaginative camera setups and thoughtful camera movements is most welcome. The picture is extremely atmospheric, and must have been wonderful to see back when on the big screen. That atmosphere is hugely abetted by the outre, jazzish soundtrack provided by Basil Kirchin; strange as it is, it yet works splendidly. In all, the picture is marvelous for its first 9/10, and the viewer is kept consistently on edge, and wondering just what the heck is lurking in that attic....
And then comes the denouement. As in "The Beast in the Cellar," which film also withheld a glimpse of the mysterious rampager till the very end, only dishing out occasional POV shots from its eyes, here, the ultimate revelation as to the creature's identity is sorely disappointing. The "Maltin Movie Guide" is being generous when it calls this disclosure "tame," and most viewers, I have a feeling, will be incredulous that this thing could possibly be responsible for all the physical mayhem shown or related. As it turns out, Oliver Reed and his gang of hooligans come off as much more threatening than the film's ostensible monster! To make matters worse, we are never given a backstory for this feral creature of any kind, and Aunt Agatha's actions at the film's end are completely bewildering and out of character. The final 10 minutes of the film effectively torpedo what up until then had been a great-looking exercise in slow-escalation suspense. And so, though the film is ultimately a failure, it is a completely watchable one, at least. One final word: "The Shuttered Room" is supposedly based on a short story by the great H.P. Lovecraft and his uberfan, the writer August Derleth. And yet, although I have read all the Lovecraft works, and own the complete Lovecraft in the four authorized Arkham House editions, I have yet to run across a tale called "The Shuttered Room." I am guessing that the story was written by Derleth alone, and only based on Lovecraft's classic earlier tale, 1929's "The Dunwich Horror." (Dunwich is a fictional town in Massachusetts there, and not an island.) Whatever the case may be, I can only imagine that Derleth's original was a LOT more satisfying than the British film treatment. Still, the sight of gorgeous Carol Lynley in her skimpy white brassiere is something that neither Lovecraft nor Derleth could ever provide....