User Reviews

Well made little horror film. Nothing earth shattering or outstanding but quite effective in some spots and original. What's really remarkable about BURNT OFFERINGS is how much it looks like THE SHINING. Stephen King admits that he was inspired by the Robert Marasco novel (and definitely the movie) when he wrote The Shining and it's quite obvious. It's an almost exact copy. A couple with one kid rent a big mansion for the summer. They bring along the husband's aunt and the 4 start experiencing changes in character. The husband is violent towards the boy. The mother is angry towards the aunt, etc. Everyone starts changing after staying at the house for a while. The house itself is seemingly alive and it takes over the family. The last shot in BURNT OFFERINGS, the one with the photos, is identical to the one in Stanley Kubrick's THE SHINING. Truly shocking. Did the author of the novel sue? Anyway, the movie is a creepy little movie in some parts and somewhat dull in other parts. Watching Bette Davis dying was, eh, a bit unsettling. She really looked like she was dying, the poor old woman. Good but not great. I really love the idea of the house "shedding" its skin. If you've seen THE SHINING and not this film, watch it, you'll be more shock about the similarities than the movie itself.

I enjoyed this movie immensely. The creepy score, the precarious atmosphere, and the Erie flashbacks of the chauffeur with that huge grin. It was a great ghost story. Some say a bit slow paced, but It just added to the tension. Ben was played well by Reed. A man with many problems, compounded by this house from hell. And Karen Blacks performance from loving wife and mother, to the caretaker of the "old lady". Betty Davis comes off a bit aloof, but that also work well in the story. And the scene with the house "shedding", very creepy. Now for the ending. One of the best I have ever seen. I would even put it up against the original "Wicker Man".

I'm a kid of the 70's before all the CGI special FX. And this is still an old school fav of mine. I love spooky Karen Black. I always had an affinity for large creepy houses, especially when they become one of the characters in the movie. This is another 70's slow burn in the haunted house genre that more than likely helped fuel my NIGHT TERRORS and SLEEP WALKING issues. Still holds up decent for it's age, but if your looking for a GORE FEST, move on, cause this won't fill your cup. If you like psychological Gothic style horror then check it out.

Talky, but unusual and creepy haunted house movie concerns an ordinary family from the city who rent a country estate for the summer--at a suspiciously low price! A bit confusing at first, but whenever something bad happens (like the father cutting his thumb on the champagne bottle) something good immediately takes its place (the kid switching on what was previously a dead light bulb). The house absorbs the good (the sacrificial new family's spirit and energy) while its inhabitants wither away, physically or mentally. Bette Davis' Aunt Elizabeth ages suddenly (with frighteningly effective make-up), and Anthony James as the chauffeur who haunts Oliver Reed's head is a scary, freaky presence. Karen Black is even odder than usual: I'm not certain whether her not-quite-there expression is what was intended for the role of Marion, but she does something very gutsy for an actress, making herself into a gargoyle (only in her final scene does she overdo it). Superior to the source novel by Robert Marasco, "Burnt Offerings" (the title taken from a biblical reference) is a well-directed slice of the macabre. *** from ****

I had never heard about this film before, I saw it once at a video store once but hesitated to rent it. While at the store around Halloweentime, I happened to see it, and it was on sale for 10 bucks so I decided to give it a chance. And I actually enjoyed it, it was a fairly good movie.

"Burnt Offerings" is pretty much a typical haunted house story, but with a bit of a spin to it. It's about Marian and Ben Ralf (played by Karen Black and Oliver Reed) and their son, who move into a summerhouse in the country that is owned by a very strange brother and sister. The price is a steal, the only catch is that they would have to supply minimal food and care to the sibling's grandmother, who lives in an upstairs bedroom. Marian takes on this duty, and the family begins to prepare themselves to have a relaxing summer out at the old manor. Ben's Aunt, played by the legendary Bette Davis, also is staying with them at the summerhouse. After staying there for awhile, strange things begin to happen, and Marian becomes very secretive of the grandmother in the upstairs room. In fact, nobody in the entire house besides her have even seen the old woman. As tension mounts between Ben and Marian, strange events plague the family, including apparitions, strange sounds, etc.

The ending of this film was pretty different, it may be a bit confusing, but it's still good. Apparently the film is based on a book, which I may personally like to read myself. There are some parallels to "The Shining" too, even though this was released 4 years before that. But, Mr. Stephen King himself noted the novel as one of his favorite horror stories, so it leads me to believe he may have taken some inspiration from this story for "The Shining". Karen Black and Bette Davis give great performances, they are the most remarkable in the film. Oliver Reed was also great, and the kid, while a little whiny and unconvincing, was good enough for his role.

Overall, "Burnt Offerings" has a pretty good story, good acting and a well known cast (primarily Black and Davis). One of the better classic haunted house tales, with a different twist on it that makes it stand out a little in my mind. 7/10.

My 10 out of 10 vote for this movie really stems from the first time I'd seen it. I was an 8 year old at the drive-in with my parents. The assumption was I would watch the first movie of this double bill and fall asleep before the scary movie started. I cannot remember the first movie but I can tell you I will never forget this one. I played like I was sleeping in the back seat but watched the whole movie without my parents knowing. I had nightmares for months to come. Images of the creepy Chauffeur driver and the foggy lighting and lens effects really stuck with me. And the last scene was terrifying. I'm much older now but when revisiting this horror classic I'm reminded of that night in the backseat of my parents car...I still get chills. I also had the same experiences with "Seizure" "From Beyond the Grave" and "The Sentinel".

Without a doubt, one of the scariest movies that I have ever seen. The scene with the undertaker and coffin coming up the stairs still gives me nightmares. The final scene in the attic throws you out of your seat; a scene that I have never forgotten.

I've been a big fan of this movie for years, ever since I was about 12. And I've watched as time and time again people have complained about this movie, and I just didn't get it. Now I'm grown up and I see the flaws, but I still don't care. I love Oliver Reed and Karen Black and don't think it could have been acted better. Watching her grow more an more attached to the house is very interesting. The best part I thought was when she surprises her son who drops a crystal bowl that smashes on the floor, and she kneels there, holding the fragments in her hands, sobbing hysterically, almost like a child had died. The boy, Lee Montgomery, I've never had a problem with. The kid from the Shining, now HE was annoying. hehe. And above all, I LOVE how the movie ends. Although it's predictable, it was VERY welcome. Movies with sad, creepy endings that leave you with a shiver always work for me.

Ben Rolf (Oliver Reed), his wife Marian (Karen Black) and their son David (Lee Montgomery) visit a country manor for renting to spend summer vacation. They are welcomed by the weird siblings Roz Allardyce (Eileen Heckart) and Arnold Allardyce (Burgess Meredith) that offer the mansion for nine hundred-dollar only for the whole summer. The only condition is to feed their mother Ms. Allardyce that lives recluse in the attic three times a day. They move to the house with Ben's Aunt Elizabeth (Bette Davis) and soon Marian becomes obsessed for Ms. Allardyce and the house. Meanwhile evil things happen to the Rolf family and Ben feels that the house is absorbing their life forces. After the death of Ms. Allardyce, Ben decides to live the manor but he realizes they are trapped in the real estate. What is happening to the family?

"Burnt Offerings" is a horror film with an original storyline of haunted house. Instead of ghosts, the house is an evil force that drains human life to renew. There are curiosities on the Brazilian DVD, such as Bette Davis hatted Oliver Reed; or the director's daughter had used PCP (angel dust) and jumped off the highest LA building to fly a couple of days before the shooting of the last scene. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Mansão Macabra" ("The Macabre Manor")

The film is about a family who comes to live at a creepy mansion for two months. However, throughout the film, there is tons of foreboding music and you know SOMETHING bad is going to happen as the personalities of everyone (but the boy) seems to change the longer they live in the house. Unfortunately, it only really heats up in the last half hour of the movie.

I usually like long movies and can't complain if a film merits a three hour running time or longer. However, at the same time, I hate films that go on too long given that the story is actually very, very simple and just doesn't merit the lengthy running time--like this film. BURNT OFFERINGS is only about two hours long, though it seems like a three hour film because it moves at a snail's pace. At least 45 minutes could have been edited out and the film would have improved as a result of tightening up the script--especially if they'd taken it from the first 2/3 of the movie. For so much of the film, nothing particularly scary or important happens and the tension doesn't exactly build--it slogs along. Now I understand that some of this slower pacing is good for a horror film--you need some build-up--but not THIS much! This was especially bad because the ending was almost exactly what I'd expected about 15 minutes into the film (though the level of blood did surprise me a bit).

Oliver Reed and Karen Black play husband and wife and this casting just seemed odd. Why the English Reed with Ms. Black--especially when their chemistry seemed, at best, awkward? And why did much of Reed's performance (especially late in the film) consist of him shaking convulsively and looking very red-faced (like he was really constipated)? And, why would they include Bette Davis in this film when her role was really rather bland and unimportant? In other words, why is such a great actress given a role that could have been as easily played by any supporting actress or perhaps even a parrot?! As for Lee Montgomery as the boy, he was probably the best in this film. While I hated this child actor in films such as BEN (yuck!!!), here he was decent--and the most credible member of this family--mostly because he didn't seem stupid like his parents!

Overall, this film is creepy and atmospheric but too much emphasis was placed on this. The "bang" at the end just didn't provide enough thrills to merit sitting through the previous 90 minutes of bland "action". Worth seeing as a time-passer or if you must see everything Miss Davis ever did (even her poorer films of the 1970s), otherwise this one is easy to skip.

It may sound like a round of toast gone wrong but it's actually a religious term: a "burnt offering" occurs when an animal is incinerated on an altar as a sacrifice. The consumption is absolute – soul and all – which may give a clue as to where this 1976 gem, written and directed by horror veteran Dan Curtis, will ultimately go.

Marian (Karen Black) and Ben (Oliver Reed), along with their son Davey (Lee H. Montgomery) and Aunt Elizabeth (Bette Davis) move to a rundown California mansion for the summer. The landlords are creepy siblings whose reclusive mother, Mrs Allardyce, is locked in an upstairs room. For a knock-down rent, the incoming family need only take care of the building and leave a tray of food each day for the mad woman in the attic.

The tenants move in and initially enjoy the peace and majesty of the great old house. But tempers quickly flare. Ben becomes uncommonly angry; Marian increasingly obsesses about the unseen Mrs Allardyce; and Elizabeth falls prey to a terrible manic illness. Is Mrs Allardyce the cause of all these tensions? Or could it be the house itself, which seems to bloom into life as its inhabitants succumb to mutually assured destruction?

For fans of The Haunting (the Robert Wise version, obviously) and The Shining, this is a must-see psychological horror which has been relatively "overlooked" (Shining joke). In a way, Burnt Offerings is a relic from a time where scares were more understated whilst, paradoxically, performances were more melodramatic. It doesn't parody these genre aspects in the way that Kubrick's monolithic milestone would do four years later, but instead plays everything straight. Which is why it seems such an oddity, coming at a mid-70s moment after the dawn of the new allegorical horror of Romero, Hooper, and Craven and before the seedy/gory horror heyday of the 1980s. It's more like The Exorcist, pagan style.

The film relies principally on atmosphere and gradually growing sense of menace and madness. For the first two thirds it's impossible to tell where the insanity lies. Is it in Marian, with her discomforting interest in Mrs Allardyce? Or Ben, whose visions of his mother's hearse are pushing him to hysteria, manifesting as rage? The dynamics work not only thanks to strong lead performances, but because Curtis takes time and care to portray a functioning family, comfortable with each other's foibles; so when the fractures appear, it's genuinely disturbing. When the playful, protective Ben starts wrestling his son in the pool to the point of drowning, it's not only intense but feels terribly wrong. Moreover, the dialogue throughout is well written, so when the silliness kicks in we take it seriously.

Support-wise, Anthony James – a know-his-face actor who played many a memorable creep – rocks up occasionally to smile sinisterly, and there's a supremely creepy cameo from Burgess "Penguin" Meredith, playing Mrs Allardyce's son, who watches Davey playing from the window whilst practically dribbling.

The framing, lighting, and production design is top-notch, and the editing is meaningful. This is a work of poise and control; and these qualities are consistent all the way to the final Hitchcockian scene, which is scary in spite of being, by that point, predictable. Burnt Offerings is a slow, stately, dense psychological horror, low on gore and obvious shocks – and all the more impactful for it.

Actress Karen Black and director Dan Curtis reteamed for this spooky ghost story following their great success the year before with the TV thriller TRILOGY OF TERROR. This theatrical release isn't completely up to that triumph, but all in all it's a pretty good chiller, with a terrific cast doing marvellous work. Though she is given surprisingly little to do, Bette Davis does wonders with her role as the tormented aunt. At any rate, this film is a classic compared to THE AMITYVILLE HORROR which came along three years later.

I saw Burnt Offerings at a local last run theatre in '76 when I was about 12 and it scared the hell out of me. It is a film that proves you don't need gallons of gore and cheap jump scares to be an effective horror film.

It's been a long time since I've seen it but I will never forget several key moments in the story that left a lingering effect after leaving the theatre,namely the creepy chauffeur with his dark sunglasses and a demented smile fixed on his face. Every time he appeared on screen my spine just stiffened. He speaks not a line of dialogue (at least to the best of my memory) but he is as nightmarish as any mask-wearing mad slasher. The reaction of Oliver Reed perfectly captured my own sitting that theatre. For a PG-rated film it is quite scary. It's a slow burn, building gradually as the family slowly succumbs to the evil of the house. It is never explicitly stated what the source of the evil is and is really about how it is working on each family member,especially the Oliver Reed character. There is one particular scene (I will not spoil it here) involving Reed, his mother played by Bette Davis, and the chauffeur that had me clutching the arm rest of my chair. It is a film that should be rediscovered by horror fans. It might lack all the tropes of modern horror films but it is all for the better. Be patient and let the story unfold and adjust to the pace....it is worth the effort.

A lot of horror movies rely simply on sudden jolts of sound to make you jump. I recently watched Friday the Thirteenth (2009) and it was literally all it had. Which is fine, no one can deny it gets the job done. The problem with it is that the movies become inseparable and which one is scarier can only be judged really on which made you jump the most.

Burnt Offerings instead creates an atmosphere. It creates it masterfully through character decisions and great use of music. There was a stage early on when I realized nothing eventful had even happened as yet and despite this my heart was pounding. Sure enough a moment later some frightening action took place and I realized for the first time in a long time a horror movie had alerted my sub-conscience and not my mind. These days in horror movies it's far too easy to predict when the event is coming (it's generally when the filmmaker is trying to make you think NOTHING is coming).

Burnt Offerings is more than watchable in this day and age. The lines are nowhere near as cheesy sounding as a lot of other pre-1980 films make them sound today and the acting, whilst not perfect, is anything but bad. The suspense will have your heart pounding and it's all building up to something so terrifying it deserves far more recognition among horror buffs. Not to be missed.

What, exactly, was the cause of Aunt Elizabeth's death? Was it death by moaning and groaning? Some of the sounds coming out of Bette Davis were unintentionally comical. The swimming pool scene where Ben finds the eyeglasses would have been much more interesting if Oliver Reed had been nude. He always did nude so well.

I remember seeing this movie on cable when I was a kid and being completely terrified. I rented it tonight with a friend who had not seen it (I'm now 36, by the way), and found it quite disappointing. There were a few eerie scenes and disturbing moments, but otherwise it was pretty slow-paced and a few things weren't explained or didn't make sense.

I was hoping that it would at least be campy or atrocious enough to entertain on that level, but sadly I was disappointed there also. Come to think of it, I probably found Scooby Doo kind of scary when I was 10 too!

1976's "Burnt Offerings" may not be accepted fare for dismissive critics like Roger Ebert, yet viewers who saw it at the time were essentially traumatized for life by its undeniably effective mood. Robert Marasco's 1973 novel was the result of an unproduced screenplay (the only novel he ever wrote), and director Dan Curtis was not enamored of the inconclusive ending, yet accepted the challenge of doing a rare foray into theatrical films using much the same personnel that he worked with on the infamous "Trilogy of Terror," in particular leading lady Karen Black, beefing up an impressive cast with burly Oliver Reed, screen legend Bette Davis, and brief appearances from Burgess Meredith, Eileen Heckart, and Dub Taylor. The accursed Dunsmuir mansion was located in Oakland, California, built in 1899 for $350,000 as a wedding gift for his bride by Alexander Dunsmuir; unfortunately, he himself died on their honeymoon while the widow only lived another 18 months before cancer claimed her young life (this locale would later be seen in "Phantasm" and "A View to a Kill"). Ben Rolf (Reed), wife Marian (Black), son David (Lee H. Montgomery), and elderly Aunt Elizabeth (Davis), accept an offer to rent a rundown estate for the summer at a measly $900, so long as they look after the grounds and provide regular meals for an invalid on the top floor (the owners curiously vanish before they arrive, but leave the kitchen fully stocked). Ben cleans out and refills the pool, but a friendly swim with his son turns deadly when he inexplicably holds the boy beneath the water, the lad fighting back by striking his father's bloodied nose. The alert and cheerful Elizabeth begins losing her vitality, David almost dies from a gas leaking heater in his locked bedroom, and Marian's increasing avoidance of family (and bedroom) obligations puts her husband on the defensive. The son is just as much a cipher on screen as he was on the printed page, and Karen Black's subpar, one note performance assures an utterly predictable climax, so it's up to Oliver Reed and Bette Davis to shoulder the acting burdens and neither disappoints, allowing for some degree of audience empathy (Anthony James as a grinning hearse driver offers additional chills). There's little intrinsically scary about the house itself, but its ability to 'shed' shingles to renew itself is certainly an interesting touch, helping it stand out from similar fare such as "The Legend of Hell House" (the hidden cemetery is one intriguing subplot that sadly goes nowhere). Like its downbeat source material, the picture can accurately be described as a 'slow burn' best recommended for patient viewers, its underwhelming box office assuring that Dan Curtis would confine himself to television for the remainder of his career.