In episode one ("Fright House") of this creepy-crawly two-parter, devil worshippers try to get away with murder by making it look like suicide. Police detective Les Moran (Paul Borgese) discovers he has a personal stake in the case when his brother--an occult buff who suspects the gates of
hell may soon be added to the local tourist attractions--becomes the latest pawn in Satan's master plan. Beginning to see a pattern in a recent rash of college student suicides, Moran wonders why the patients of psychological counselor Dr. Sedgwick (Jennifer DeLora) have had such a high mortality
rate. Included among the dead is the son of police captain Levi (Al Lewis), Moran's superior. Meanwhile, the college campus is buzzing with news of a spooky mansion that's been donated for use as a fraternity house--little do the jocks and cheerleaders know what initiation rites await them. As for
Moran, not only is his fiancee temporarily possessed during a visit to the fright house, but his female partner is slain while investigating. Although the somewhat untrustworthy Levi advises him to give up the case, Moran is soon tripping over lots of dead, dismembered college kids on the eerie
mansion's premises. While Dr. Sedgwick conducts brutal sacrifices, Moran teams up with another young woman and encounters the ancient owner of the house, who dispenses vital information on how to defeat the devilish fiends with a powerful crystal. Soon Satan himself is about to surface, but Moran
saves the day and sends the cult to a warmer climate--permanently, although apparently not in time to reclaim the spirit of his fiancee.
Episode two ("Abadon") concerns the beautiful, ageless Madeline (Jackie James), who has benefitted from her late scientist-husband's experiments with retardation of the aging process, and who now presides over a posh school at her own sinister-looking mansion. When drilling for reconstruction
begins, something evil in the bowels of the mansion is awakened. At this point, students start mysteriously disappearing, and the film intercuts between the mansion's old custodian, who warns Jackie to destroy the malevolence afoot, and Charles Harmon (Duane Jones), who decides to head for this
den of iniquity and for Jackie, his old flame. Arriving in the college community, Harmon--a tarot card reader and occultist--immediately feels a kinship with coed Debbie (Robin Michaels). A part-time vampire, Harmon wants to mend his immortality-seeking ways, even if it means shriveling like a
prune and upsetting Jackie, who's enjoyed decades of good looks without benefit of plastic surgery or trips to Elizabeth Arden. A flashback reveals that the two were lovers 75 years earlier in Paris. Now Jackie, in her lust for a wrinkle-free existence, is robbing young students of their lives,
and the evil schemes of her late husband are spinning out of control. Although Debbie has discovered some vital scientific data (about energy polarization, which has allowed Jackie and Harmon to stay young) in the house's basement, she finds herself in danger of being energy-sucked by Jackie. When
Harmon arrives in the nick of time, Debbie discovers that the energy vampires are actually her long-lost parents. In minutes, she gets to see them grow very old and gray together. In a coda, we realize that she has inherited her mother and father's vampire ways.
This nifty fright-night package offers two times the thrills of most horror movies and exemplifies low-budget filmmaking at its most resourceful. Making excellent use of creepy locales, FRIGHT HOUSE's two short tales convey a sense of evil most effectively. The title episode suffers from cut-aways
that pad out its length while compiling an overabundance of collegiate victims, and, after their initial impact, the scenes of Dr. Sedgwick's savage rituals lose their suspenseful impact. When it zeroes in on its main characters, however, "Fright House" has maximum impact, and also offers an
intriguing glimpse at devil worship while touching on the contemporary issue of suicide among young people--it's ROSEMARY'S BABY meets HEATHERS. In a successful change of pace, Lewis (Grandpa on "The Munsters") is convincing as a cop who deserves to go to hell. Borgese exhibits strength and
no-nonsense charisma, and DeLora looks fetching enough in her witch's robe to build enrollment in satanic cults nationwide.
Part two's better-structured script helps flesh out its elegant supernatural tale, enhanced by eerily gliding camerawork, a pounding rock score, and vibrant color photography that recall Dario Argento's horror classic SUSPIRIA (1977). Although desperate efforts to maintain immortality are a
science-fiction stock-in-trade, "Abadon" is a refreshing dip in the fountain of youth, neatly cross-breeding its mad scientist and vampire motifs. Jones gives a polished, authoritative performance, investing the film with credibility. Drawing strength from the precept that unseen terror is more
shattering than overt gore, "Abadon" scores some of its most suspenseful moments in an oblique manner, particularly in the shuddery scene in which two students are sucked from a bedroom caress into the embrace of the unknown.
With plenty of thrills and chills (and enough gratuitous nudity to satisfy those who like a little prurience in their horror films), FRIGHT HOUSE delivers the scary goods--a perfect excuse for grabbing onto your date on a Saturday night. After seeing FRIGHT HOUSE, you'll think twice about
venturing into basements of creepy mansions, where you're always a footstep away from death. (Nudity, violence, sexual situations, profanity.) leave a comment
