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Youngsters Tony (Greg Rhodes), Helen (Claudia Franjul), Rod (Mark
Irish), Susan (Liz Hitchler), Peter (Jerry Kernion) and Anne (Kathleen
Patane) are on their way to an obscure lake for a weekend of wall-to-wall
partying, but lose their way, and sinister hitchhiker Jack (Clark Tufts)
they pick up can only tell them that they won't reach the lake before
nightfall - so they stop at a probably abandoned manor to spend the night.
Now the manor is creepy from the get-go, what with its enshrined crashed
car in the garden, and it being littered with photos of just one
(admittedly beautiful and sometimes naked) woman, Amanda (Jennifer
Delora), in every room as if whoever lived here was obsessed with her. And
then, there are coffins in the basement ... well, suffice to say, this
proves too much to Helen, and she rather bolts on her own and on foot than
staying for the night. When her boyfriend Tony goes after her only a short
time later to persuade her to come back but cannot find her anywhere -
well, that's weird. Of course, the audience knows she has been killed by a
person unknown. Soon enough, the kids fall one by one, while Jack, who
happens to pack a gun, acts more and more suspicious. But once the truth
is revealed, it actually proves to be much more gruesome and sinister ... Now
I won't lie here, Deadly Manor is not on par with José Ramón
Larraz' masterpieces like Vampyres: Daughters
of Darkness or Whirlpool,
to name but two, as the film is way too caught up in the then contemporary
slasher formula, but that doesn't make this a bad movie as such - for
once, it puts more emphasis on atmosphere as your usual genre fare, and it
sometimes at least dabbles in the grotesque (what with the enshrined
crashed car), all the while never forgetting about tension and suspense.
Sure, to properly enjoy this, one has to be into old school slasher cinema
to at least some extent, but if so, this is a really fun ride.
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