Dan Curtis always had a thing for haunted houses, didn't he? After milking the horrors of Collinwood for about 5 years, he wasn't quite done with the subgenre yet, opting to turn this novel into a feature film. Funny enough, trivia says that he read the book years before getting the offer to direct, and thought that it was less than ideal for a screenplay. Fortunately for us, he put his magic touch on it and turned it into one of the best haunted house movies of all time.

The story is about a family who rents a summer home with the simple condition that they take care of it. Notably, this is the same house they used in the original Phantasm, as well as the 1985 Bond flick "A View to Kill". The place is a bit of a wreck when they get there, so it may seem a bit daunting at first, but no matter. Things seem to work themselves out... at the cost of our family's sanity.

The cast is what makes this film work. Karen Black is the mother who gets too interested in the upkeep of the place, often prioritizing it above her family's wellbeing. Oliver Reed plays the father, and this dude oozes charisma in everything he's in. He's a regular guy who starts to understand that the place is getting to everyone's head, including his own. He wants to fight it, but it's never that easy when the place seems to have a mind of its own.

The film also features a troubled Bette Davis who finds mind and vitality are challenged by the place, but at her age, no one believes she has a valid reason to be alarmed by the madness she bears witness to. Burgess Meredith has a bit part as the man renting the home out, and he enthusiastically overlooks any wrongdoing so long as the house will flourish.

It's easy to think that this film could have influenced The Evil Dead. You have a creepy old house in the middle of nowhere that doesn't seem to want its guests to ever leave. It wants to swallow their souls even, not to mention a bit toward the end when they try to leave in the storm, but the trees block their path and the vines wrap around old Ollie and smack him around a bit. Plus, there's also the theme of being possessed, which while not as prevalent as in Evil Dead, it's a more gradual approach that goes along with the theme of people going mad.

At about two hours, this movie maintains a decent pace because our lead actors are so easy to watch. Hypnotic, even. The ending is fantastic and makes it all worth it. Quite a chilling little horror story for those who are willing to dig a little deeper into the genre.