The House That Vanished (1973)

This is less a review of the movie, "The House That Vanished" as it is a response to the reviewer(s) who liked this movie. I was wondering what was the worst movie I ever paid to watch and without hesitation it was this movie. The only reason I saw it is that friends and I wanted to see an "R" movie before we turned 18. It was clear from the start that the writer and director had no regard for women, decency nor their audience. The original title, "Scream... and Die," pretty well sums up the plot as well as most of the direction for the film. The only reason I would give more than the one star this kind of anti-social material deserves is that I still remember two scenes vividly, so something must have been right. One was an endless slashing to death of a topless yet vapid woman-- not a happy memory-- and the other was when our heroine was in the cellar/attic and you get well and truly set up for a good scare. Give this pitiful effort a BIG pass and you'll be a happier movie-goer.

'Scream and Die!' is another woefully obscure Jose Ramon Larraz horror excursion from the early 70's that is entirely undeserving of its current position of lost title. All the requisite Larraz traits are in abundance here; libidinous, scantily clad buxom women, creaky, dimly lit houses and some elusive sexually 'unusual' maniac knocking off a series of shrieking, top-heavy females. The basic giallo-esque plot of some black-gloved killer doesn't stray from convention, but where Larraz succeeds and many other similar filmmakers fail is that he always manages to generate a palpably erotic and decadent tone among all the familiar heavy breathing stalk and slash; besides the abundance of candle-lit cleavage he also infuses the admittedly generic premise with oodles of genuinely unsettling Gothic motifs. After reading a few glib, dismissive reviews of 'Scream...and Die' I really wasn't expecting much, but contrary to low expectations the film proved to be entirely entertaining with a series of demonstratively eerie set pieces that managed to evoke a sweaty-palmed Poe-like, sepulchral chill.

I really wanted to like this film, but what a yawn-fest! It had an interesting concept with the beautiful girl and her boyfriend, but the story just staggered. The characters were so unrealistic, and came across as having their head in the clouds most of the time. It was playing in a double-feature after Ship of Zombies playing at the New Beverly and it seemed worthwhile to check out. I gave this film a two, because it was executed well and had some fun shocking moments. The extremely slow pacing however, was where this film suffered. I would recommend this film, but to people who could stomach something very slow. If anything, the House that Vanished is a great title.

SCREAM...AND DIE! (or "The house that vanished" (1973))is the unknown piece of horror and sex that the master José Ramón Larraz did in England in the seventees. It's an erotic thriller with psychopatic murderer (Karl Lanchbury) perfomed by a beautiful model called Valerie (terrific Andrea Allan)involved in a haunting mistery and sadistic murders occurred in a isolated manor in the forest at midnights. Scream and die has an excellent and very particular quality in images and atmosferes. The movie is slow, yes, but this thing is normal in Larraz's movies: the story is very slow and predictable, but it's too sexy (the love scenes are really good and erotic) and brutal sometimes, and has the mark from the director of masterpieces as "Vampyres" and "Symptoms", both from 1974. The fog, tne night, the sounds of the killer walking with his black gloves following Valerie, the anguish in her face in her firsts shots, the slowly music give to the film a personal sight. The first murder seen by the hidden Valerie and husband as intimate witnesses and the escape from the manor are a classic composition of horror shots, wonderfully executed by the "voyeurisitic filmmaker" with a rare and genuine talent. It's a really brutal moment of sophisticated murder and "naïve" sex. Scream and die has the very personal "touch" of the catalanian director, all the constants that are in the most part of his baroque, sensual and horrific world (Emma puertas oscuras,La muerte incierta,Vampyres, Symptoms,Estigma,Whirpool, Deviation or Deadly manor) are present in here. The spiral of terror and tension grows very slowly -step by step- describing the world of this sexy model for fashion photographers in a continuated state of danger. Larraz creates a really personal style in a very traditional thriller that must be remembered by the tension,the british locations in Kent in winter,the quiet and dead moments of inusually fascination, the use of the photography, the artistic colors and the incredible dark shots of nights, the typical "english" fog, the horror moments and the clever sex that impressed me a lot in my adolescence. Scream and die has a kind of elegance in the horror genre that others horror thrillers hasn't. All the personal obsessions of José Larraz are here in a fine lesson of cinematography in his best period of his career, the british period. The fans of José Larraz need to know his firsts features, as "Whirpool" (1970) and "Deviation" (1971)-nobody has said anything more specific about these movies? (Please: more information and reviews in IMDB or other places,webs, etc.) and his last contribution tot the terror lately in "Deadly manor"(Savage lust, 1990)produced by his old british friend Brian Smedley-Aston. When the fans of José Ramón Larraz, Brian Smedley-Aston (editor of "Performance" ,etc.), his actresses and his horrific world will have a web or a personal page about the director? Where are the fans of this spanish/british filmmaker?. Goodbye!