The House of Seven Corpses (1974)

"Inside the house of seven corpses, is buried the memory of MADNESS!"

1974's The House of Seven Corpses has all the elements of the perfect early '70s fright film intact. Let's see, you have foggy graveyards, occasional deep choral chants for the soundtrack which are reminiscent of the Blind Dead films, more "library music" for the remainder of the soundtrack which can also be heard from The Outer Limits, nice pacing, Gothic atmosphere, a story-line that works, John Carradine...it's all here, folks! It's a shame that this movie is not more well-known as is the case with many horror movies of this nature, but here you have an ideal Friday night midnight movie that serves as a great appetizer before you sink your fangs into something more extreme later in the night and early morning. For some, this movie may come as a "slow burner", but for those of us from the generation of watching any and all horror movies from your local mom and pop joint this movie just simply feels like home.

The movie starts out with a colorful title sequence somewhat explaining how the house gets its reputation of being haunted; you see a man fall from the stairs, a woman who has drowned in a bathtub, a man getting shot, a woman hanging, a man being stabbed to death, and another man whose head is beaten in. A perfect place for the director of an occult horror drama to film his movie, right? Well, actually that is where the story picks up after the beginning credits; it moves on to a lady holding a strange ritual with candles and a pentagram drawn on the floor and right as a climactic event is going to happen someone yells, "CUT!" and you find that it's a movie within a movie kind of thing. As the story unfolds, you learn that the murders witnessed in the title sequence were occult related and John Carradine who plays the caretaker warns the movie crew that they should be careful of what they are messing with in this old, haunted mansion. Lo and behold, since the film they are shooting is occult related then you can imagine how the movie turns out. No, not their movie, THIS movie! Before I get to that, let me add that the murders they film for the movie are almost identical to those committed in the house years ago.

John Carradine as the caretaker warning the film crew of what they're dealing with in the old house

You can imagine that many aspects of the film are fairly predictable, but it works mainly for the cast and for the setting. I was surprised to learn that the movie was filmed in Salt Lake City, Utah because it really could pass for a cloudy, grey English countryside, and the house they used looks like it's yanked straight out of a Gothic Hammer or Amicus production. I'm still unclear as to if the image of the house appearing in the movie was the actual house used for filming, but either way it creates the perfect mood for the story and gives the film a nice cold and grey feel to it.

The house of seven corpses, indeed

Let's jump back for a second and talk about the cast besides our familiar John Carradine. This film also stars John Ireland (Satan's Cheerleaders) as the film director Eric Hartman, and Faith Domergue (This Island Earth, Cult of the Cobra) as Gayle Dorian - the lead actress in the film. I can't help but notice her character's name is a nod toward Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray. Ireland and Domergue give strong performances in the film and help make the movie watchable in parts where the story kind of drags. There aren't many parts though where the story falls short.

The talented Faith Domergue looking hauntingly beautiful in this behind the scenes shot

Ms. Dorian's cat. (I just had to put the cat picture on here)

Carole Wells also shines in her performance as the character Anne who is the gorgeous blonde co-star in the movie being shot at the house. She also helps make the ending of The House of Seven Corpses memorable. 

 Reading from the Tibetan Book of the Dead, filming is going good for this crew - until these words start to summon the dead in the nearby cemetery

Another take?

 The fake corpse isn't the only corpse stirring in this scene

Shooting for the day is complete, but it's too late for them...

!!!SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

There are some notable creepy parts in this movie. For instance, when the film crew is shooting the scene where the ladies are reading from the Tibetan Book of the Dead, the scene switches up from their filming and John Carradine taking notice to the stirring sounds in the cemetery. Little does the film crew know, but the words are reviving the dead in the nearby boneyard. There is a great shot of a foggy graveyard and it cuts to a decayed hand emerging from the dirt. Unfortunately, this is the end for Carradine's character as the corpse comes out of its grave and strangles him. As his death scene is happening, it cuts back and forth to the film shoot where the fake corpse is coming out of the coffin and killing the two leading ladies in the film.

The REAL corpse comes back from the grave 

More eeriness occurs toward the end of the movie after everyone is killed off when the creepy corpse finds Anne in a small creek and takes her body back to his grave with him. It's dark, it's unsettling, and makes for the perfect ending for the film. What you think would be a light ending, turns out to be very foreboding.

This movie may not be as good as films such as Burnt Offerings, House of Dark Shadows, or The Legend of Hell House, but I would certainly pair it up with any of them for a double feature. If you haven't seen this, and you managed to either skip or not care about the spoiler parts in this blog, then you should really grab a copy to see for yourself what a lost gem this movie really is. Luckily for you, Severin Films has a DVD/Blu-ray combo which is available from their website here: BUY THE DAMN THING!

But don't just take my word for it...!