A writer living in the Big Apple (Robin Groves) needs to get away, so why not go where the orchards bloom freely? She ends up in the country where she rents an old mansion that soon after she is certain is haunted. The elderly owner (John Carradine) sees her and promptly has a stroke. The handyman goes nutso upon seeing her but is spooked into running into the lake where hands reach up and pull him into the abyss. Local historian Bobo Lewis refers Groves to a recluse who quickly decides to kill her.
This leads to a chase sequence where he is confronted by some spooky apparitions, and a reaper to the face takes care of him. Groves learns that the mansion was once a bordello, and the mystery of the house seems to be in the hands of one time madame, played by the one and only Gloria Grahame. Groves is pulled into the past where cotton cheeked Grahame (sounding like Droopy the Dog) gives her a tour of the mansion's sordid history.
What doesn't make sense about the supposedly agoraphobia Groves is that she constantly looks perfectly coiffed and looking like she's ready for a night on the town, running down Greenwich Village streets like she's in danger, but able to walk up to complete strangers when she needs to. I never once believed her as an agoraphobic. Grahame is barely a cameo, trying to be sultry even though the part doesn't really require it. Carradine is great though, less melodramatic and actorish than normal. Still a decent horrific ghost story even though there's some major plot holes.
This leads to a chase sequence where he is confronted by some spooky apparitions, and a reaper to the face takes care of him. Groves learns that the mansion was once a bordello, and the mystery of the house seems to be in the hands of one time madame, played by the one and only Gloria Grahame. Groves is pulled into the past where cotton cheeked Grahame (sounding like Droopy the Dog) gives her a tour of the mansion's sordid history.
What doesn't make sense about the supposedly agoraphobia Groves is that she constantly looks perfectly coiffed and looking like she's ready for a night on the town, running down Greenwich Village streets like she's in danger, but able to walk up to complete strangers when she needs to. I never once believed her as an agoraphobic. Grahame is barely a cameo, trying to be sultry even though the part doesn't really require it. Carradine is great though, less melodramatic and actorish than normal. Still a decent horrific ghost story even though there's some major plot holes.