Burnt Offerings

I always love a seventies horror movie. This one has connections to the past (clear influences from The Old Dark House), and the future -- I'm pretty sure that the creators of Amityville Horror must have seen this and said, "what if Burnt Offerings were actually scary?" Because, mostly, this movie is more weird than scary. In short, happy family rents a house at an unexpected price, but with unexpected obligation of taking care of and old lady in the attic that no one ever sees. Then they all go crazy, with horrific results. But, with Bette Davis and Burgess Meredith* its a really fun movie to watch. On top of all this, it has Karen Black in it -- one of the hardest working women in show business. Oh -- and it was based on a novel -- and it shows. There are several parts that probably made sense in the novel, but don't make ton of sense here. Anyway, it's fun and trippy.

 
*Weird side note regarding Burgess Meredith's name. For some reason, my whole life, I can never recall his name! It's not that I forget the man, I can just never remember his name! I remember having this problem in third grade when we talked about Rocky, and I still have it now -- I had to look it up on IMDB -- I just could not recall it to mind? Why in the world is that? Sometimes, when I try to recall him, I come up with Sterling Holloway, who sounds a *little* like him, but, I don't know... Anyway, I can never remember Burgess Meredith's name.