Haunts (1977)

User Rating:

4.9/10   

Director:

Herb Freed

Writers:

Herb Freed (writer)
Anne Marisse (writer)

Release Date:

July 1977 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

A psycho-sexual thriller of a woman possessed.

Plot:

May Britt plays a seemingly innocent farm girl convinced that her slovenly uncle (Cameron Mitchell) is the man responsible for the bloody scissor-murders of several local girls. |

Plot Keywords:

Farm | Slasher | Village | Scissors | Death

Cast

May Britt	...	Ingrid
Cameron Mitchell	...	Carl
Aldo Ray	...	Sheriff
William Gray Espy	...	Frankie
Ben Hammer	...	Vicar
E.J. André	...	Doc
Kendall Jackson	...	Loretta
Susan Nohr	...	Nel
Robert Hippard	...	Bill Spry
Don Dolan	...	Hellman
Lette Rehnolds	...	Margaret
Jim McKeny	...	Bartender
Warren Peters	...	Howard Porter
Judy Franks	...	Mrs. Peterson
Bob Avery	...	TV Interviewer

Also Known As:

The Veil

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Mendocino, California, USA

Company:

American General Pictures

Haunts: A Well-Done But Somewhat Weird Thriller

HAUNTS is an almost forgotten film that would be better billed as a psychological thriller rather than a horror movie. One of the significant differences is the use of a slow build-up of complications and tension over a period of time in the average thriller; horror movies tend to deliver the scares much earlier, and often feature some element of the supernatural. HAUNTS details the events surrounding a serial rapist and killer in a small town, containing a fairly small body count and concentrating instead on character and plot development.

It begins with the rape and murder of a young woman, with the murder weapon being the unusual choice of a pair of scissors. After this brief introduction, the movie follows a very religious woman named Ingrid, played by Swedish actress May Britt (the synopsis on my copy of this movie refers to her as a "religious young woman," but given that Ms. Britt was in her mid-forties when this was filmed, "young" may be a relative term here). It isn't long before someone begins stalking Ingrid, and the mystery begins. It could be young punk Frankie (William Gray Espy), or Bill Spry, the young man who recently moved into town (Robert Hippard), or it could even be Ingrid's uncle, Carl (the late, great Cameron Mitchell).

My copy of HAUNTS is visibly aged, which really does add to the aesthetic of the film. It comes from Mill Creek's Chilling Classics 50 Movie boxed set. Fans of both older movies and the psychological thriller genre should get a kick out of this, as it is a reasonably well made film with lots of bizarre plot twists and plenty of suspense, although it should be noted that the movies that appear on the 50 movie boxed sets are usually NOT of the highest quality, so this is hardly what I'd call a "classic" in any sense other than age. As it is probably a public domain movie, it might be possible to find it online for free.