Architect Scott Campbell (Ron Foster) and his wife Nancy (Merry Anders) drive to the supposedly deserted Rochester Castle to survey the property; while there, they experience strange occurrences that suggest that they are not alone.
At barely over an hour long, it might seem reasonable to expect House of the Damned to be a well-paced flick with nary a dull moment, but barring one effectively creepy moment, in which a mysterious legless intruder sneaks into the protagonists' bedroom, the film moves uneventfully from one tedious scene to the next.
I had hoped that, after such a dull ride, House of the Damned would deliver long-awaited chills and thrills in its closing moments, but the resolution is a damp squib that leaves the viewer feeling cheated: there are no hideous monsters or evil villains in the film to justify the title, just harmless carnival folk hiding from the outside world.
3/10.
Look out for a young Richard Kiel - Jaws from The Spy Who Loved Me - as one of the carnival people.
At barely over an hour long, it might seem reasonable to expect House of the Damned to be a well-paced flick with nary a dull moment, but barring one effectively creepy moment, in which a mysterious legless intruder sneaks into the protagonists' bedroom, the film moves uneventfully from one tedious scene to the next.
I had hoped that, after such a dull ride, House of the Damned would deliver long-awaited chills and thrills in its closing moments, but the resolution is a damp squib that leaves the viewer feeling cheated: there are no hideous monsters or evil villains in the film to justify the title, just harmless carnival folk hiding from the outside world.
3/10.
Look out for a young Richard Kiel - Jaws from The Spy Who Loved Me - as one of the carnival people.