Codeliusthe2nd

Burnt Offerings

Night 29 of 31 Nights of Halloween Burnt Offerings is a film that I have been meaning to watch for many years, and decided that it was just about time to watch it for my horror marathon. Knowing about this film for years, it's hard to keep away from some things about the film, specifically the comparison to The Shining. Now that I've seen the film, I can see some connections, but I wouldn't call it the "boring Shining" by any means. Taking the haunted house subgenera and turning it on it's head, Burnt Offerings offers a much slower, less terror driven haunted house, a house that slowly creeps up on you, so subtle that you may not notice it at all. While the film does move slow, it creates a fantastic atmosphere, filled with both terror and confusion. Of course, Karen Black is amazing, as well as Oliver Reed, and it's great to see Bette Davis in something again. The film does take a while to get into, but the dedication to the film is definitely worth it in the end. It's a film that I certainly will have to visit again, since it is a lot to unpack on one viewing. But, it's definitely a fantastic Halloween film and definitely is up there in the haunted house subgenera.