At the Meeting with Joyous Death (1973)

You may not have known that Luis Bunuel had a son, Juan Luis, and that he too had a filmmaking career.Any mystery as regards the source of this ignorance would be instantly dispelled by a viewing of his rare, early '70s haunted house movie, "Expulsion of the Devil" - which also features an appearance by a young Gerard Depardieu.You see, on the evidence of this film, the younger Bunuel is deservedly obscure. It is possibly the dullest haunted house movie I have ever seen.The set-up is typical: a family move in to some old house and spooky stuff starts to happen. Well, it's not really that spooky, at least not the way Bunuel Jr. shoots it: two or three times some stuff starts flying around.I understand that French movies are more concerned with mood than plot. This one has no mood. Juan Luis couldn't direct to save his life.There are some weird developments later in the movie: a camera crew comes to stay, and apparently, so do some primary school-aged girls. What are they doing there? It might have been explained, or it might not have been. Writing this sentence will be the last energy I ever expend thinking about this movie.

I saw this movie in its German version on TV when I was about 19 yrs old. The time to watch a movie (which you do not know absolutely), especially a horror movie, was optimal - as it was late at night. I did not have any idea that the TV broadcast such a disturbing film ever and expected just any entertainment but... Goodness, I was shaken with horror and probably did hardly sleep that night, at least left the lights on to have a short nap. This movie may prove slow and yet inflicts the deepest surprise with horror far beyond the Hollywood makings. It is a genius film, absolutely underestimated and obviously hard to get or even see. Since 30 (!!!) years I have tried to get hold of it since but did not succeed. Worth watching absolutely!

Directing debut for Juan Bunuel, son of revered filmmaker Luis Bunuel, is a disturbing but hollow, unsatisfying thriller about a haunted house in the French countryside. Married couple with two kids move into the dilapidated manor, and are rather slow to discover there are spirits afoot and they want the humans out. Film wasn't exhibited Stateside for years, though one can imagine Steven Spielberg seeing this and getting the idea for his production "Poltergeist"; the films share similar story points, though this one has no humorous undermining. Some spooky moments and a haunting finale can't really make it worthwhile. Ultimately, it's just a little too heavy and dense. *1/2 from ****

This is a clunky and rather slow, but mildly interesting French take on the family moves into a haunted house genre. The special effects which largely consist of furniture sliding around are strickly sub-Exorcist, but the film has a few quirky touches which keep the proceedings from being too predictable. Worth a look, if only because French horror films are such a rarity, but this doesn't hold a candle to the similarly themed The Haunting.