Sleep Well: The House Where Death Lives (1980)

The House Where Death Lives (1980) (AKA "Delusion")
Rating: **
Starring: Patricia Pearcy, David Hayward and John Dukakis

Meredith Stone, a hired home care nurse, comes to the aid of a disabled elderly male named Ivar Langrock, whose wealth is immense and his family estranged. This living arrangement will soon change when the man's adult grandson, Gabriel, arrives to stay with them and a series of murders start not long after. Due to the grandson's unusual behavior, suspicion and blame naturally fall on him, but could there be more to these killings than what it seems? It's only a matter of time before the truth is revealed...

Coming across as a gothic mystery with some shred of 80s slasher horror, The House Where Death Lives (1980) goes through considerable lengths to be a sophisticated and complicatedly fun thriller, though its approach is often lacking, borderline troublesome; the pacing, for one, takes its sweet time before anything of grandiose happens, all the while offering little to nothing to ease the wait. The resulting story is greater part uninteresting fillers and dialogues, a slowburn stroll that, while decently acted and leans favorably in character development, feels no more than numerous padding scenes.

It's mostly an affair of mild scares and brooding tension until its last act, which is the only thing that manages to salvage the movie. When it comes to murders and twists, The House thankfully pulls the right cards as though the killings can come out as bloodless and tame, they're at least a decent bunch execution-wise, leading to an ending -without giving away much- that has its side of cleverness, even if it's a tad predictable.

Though I like the film's murder mystery angle, it does feel as if the movie is holding itself back when it comes to its horror elements. The House Where Death Lives (1980), in turn, fails to make its efforts anywhere memorable, but as a B-grade classy oddity, it has its moments or two. Worth a little gander.

Bodycount:
2 bodies seen dead in car collision (unrelated death)
1 male gets a table leg blow to the head, dropped from window
1 male gets a table leg blow to the head
1male had his head bashed with a table leg
1 male bludgeoned with a table leg
1 male repeatedly beaten on the head with a table leg
Total: 7