Delusion (1981 film)

Last updated
Delusion
Delusion 1980 poster.jpeg
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAlan Beattie [1]
Written by
  • Alan Beattie
  • Jack Viertel [1]
Produced by
  • John Cofrin
  • Alan Beattie
  • Peter Shanaberg
Starring
CinematographyStephen Posey
Edited by Robert Leighton
Music byDon Peake
Distributed by
  • New American Films
  • International Picture Show
Release date
  • January 16, 1981 (1981-01-16)(U.S.)
Running time
82 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Delusion (also known as The House Where Death Lives) [2] is a 1981 American psychological slasher film directed by Alan Beattie, and starring Patricia Pearcy, Joseph Cotten, David Hayward, and John Dukakis.

Contents

The film's poster art is based on Charles Allan Gilbert's 1892 illustration All Is Vanity.

Plot

Nurse Meredith Stone recounts, in a letter to her father, her mother's recent death, and details a job she has taken at a Fairlawn estate caring for the wealthy, elderly Ivar Langrock. There, she is greeted by his butler, Phillip, and Jeffrey Fraser, Ivar's attorney. She finds herself almost immediately drawn to a locked room on the second floor of the house. She discovers that Wilfred, Ivar's mentally-challenged son, lives in the room. Meredith develops a friendship with Ivar, even confessing to him that her mother had been institutionalized and that her father had raped her mother.

Shortly after Meredith begins working at Fairlawn, Langrock's adult grandson Gabriel, who spent his life on a commune in Arizona, comes to stay after the accidental death of his parents. After his arrival, a series of deaths begin to occur; Meredith and Ivar discover his dog hanging from a tree in the garden. Wilfred also dies in what appears to be a suicide when he is found having jumped out the window of his room. Gabriel makes sexual advances toward Meredith, who finds herself increasingly uncomfortable around him.

Phillip is murdered in the wine cellar, having been crushed under a fallen wine rack and clobbered with a table leg; the police, however, conclude his death an accident, though Jeffrey accuses Gabriel of his murder. Later in the evening, the house gardener, Alex, is confronted at the Fairlawn estate by the detective in a garage, who tells him the coroner has deemed Philip's death a murder. After he leaves, Alex hears a commotion behind him, and upon returning, he finds the detective dead. The unseen killer also attacks Alex, beating him to death.

Meredith, while searching the house, discovers a bloodied table leg, and calls Jeffrey, panicked. He tells her he is on his way to the house. Just as Jeffrey arrives, she discovers Gabriel's body stuffed in a closet. Jeffrey confronts her, and tells her that he has just returned from the hospital where Meredith claimed her mother was kept, and reveals that her mother died during Meredith's birth; he also accuses her of the murders, telling her she had been institutionalized for murdering her father, who had molested her. She then attacks Jeffrey with the table leg, and storms downstairs to kill Ivar. However, Ivar manages to knock her unconscious with a cane.

The film close as Meredith narrates her letter to her father, saying that maybe she will be able to return to Fairlawn one day to take care of Ivar.

Cast

Production

Delusion was filmed on location in 1980 in Altadena, California. [3]

Release

The film was given a regional release in the southern United States in early 1981, opening on January 16, 1981 in Memphis, Tennessee, [4] Fort Worth, Texas, [5] and Alexandria, Louisiana. [6]

Critical response

Arthur Cabasos of the Abilene Reporter-News was critical of the film, deeming it "one of those boring horror movies where the creators couldn't even come up with some ghoulish method for offing characters other than a sturdy coffee table leg to the temple...  The only positive note to this movie is the psychiatric twist to the ending when the identity of the murderer is revealed." [7] Candice Russell of the Fort Lauderdale News was ultimately disappointed by the film despite praising its character development, feeling that its twist ending was derivative. [8]

Retro Slashers.net reviewer Thomas Ellsion gave the film a positive review, stating that "Delusion is a subdued slasher that relies more on the skills of a veteran cast, a deliberate pace, and a twist ending" and it is "worth seeking out for fans of slashers with a heavy dose of whodunit mystery."

AllMovie, however, gave the film a negative review, stating that "slow-moving and low-key." [9]

Home media

In 1984, the film was released on VHS in the USA by Embassy Pictures under the title Delusion and that same year was released in the UK by Sultan Video under the title The House Where Death Lives. The film was not released on home video for forty-years until Vinegar Syndrome released it on Blu-ray in 2024. [10]

Related Research Articles

<i>Dont Go in the Woods</i> (1981 film) 1981 American slasher film directed by James Bryan

Don't Go in the Woods is a 1981 American slasher film directed by James Bryan and written by Garth Eliassen. The film follows four campers confronted by a murderous woodsman slaying hikers on a wooded mountainside. It is one of the infamous "video nasties" banned in the United Kingdom in the 1980s.

<i>Incubus</i> (1981 film) 1981 Canadian film

Incubus is a 1981 Canadian supernatural slasher film directed by John Hough and starring John Cassavetes, Kerrie Keane, and John Ireland. The plot focuses on a small Wisconsin town where a mysterious figure is raping and murdering young women. It is based on the 1976 novel of the same name by Ray Russell. The screenplay for the film was originally completed by Sandor Stern, though it was so significantly rewritten by star Cassavetes during production that a pseudonymous "George Franklin" received the official credit as screenwriter.

<i>Schizoid</i> (film) 1980 film by David Paulsen

Schizoid is a 1980 American slasher film directed and written by David Paulsen, and starring Klaus Kinski, Marianna Hill, Craig Wasson, Christopher Lloyd, and Donna Wilkes. It follows a Los Angeles advice columnist who is subject to a series of threatening anonymous letters, while members of a group therapy she attends are being stalked and murdered by a killer armed with shearing scissors.

<i>Happy Birthday to Me</i> (film) 1981 slasher film by J. Lee Thompson

Happy Birthday to Me is a 1981 slasher film directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring Melissa Sue Anderson, Glenn Ford, Lawrence Dane, Sharon Acker, Frances Hyland, Tracey Bregman, and Lisa Langlois. Its plot revolves around brutal murders of the high school members of an elite clique.

<i>The Amityville Curse</i> 1990 film by Tom Berry

The Amityville Curse is a 1990 Canadian supernatural horror film directed by Tom Berry and starring Kim Coates, Cassandra Gava and Jan Rubeš. It is loosely based on the novel of the same name by Hans Holzer. It is the fifth film in the Amityville Horror film series.

<i>Hospital Massacre</i> 1982 film by Boaz Davidson

Hospital Massacre is a 1982 American slasher film directed by Boaz Davidson and starring Barbi Benton. Its plot follows a woman who becomes trapped on an empty floor of a hospital, where a murderer posing as a surgeon attempts to kill her.

<i>Last House on Dead End Street</i> 1977 American exploitation horror film by Roger Watkins

Last House on Dead End Street, originally released as The Fun House, is a 1977 American exploitation horror film written, produced, and directed by Roger Watkins, under the pseudonym Victor Janos. The plot follows a disgruntled ex-convict who takes revenge on society by kidnapping four acquaintances and filming their murders in an abandoned building.

<i>Madman</i> (film) 1982 film

Madman is a 1981 American slasher film written and directed by Joe Giannone and starring Gaylen Ross and Paul Ehlers. The plot focuses on an axe-wielding murderer named Madman Marz who, after accidentally being summoned by a group of campers during a campfire tale, begins to stalk and murder the young adults.

<i>Mothers Day</i> (1980 film) 1980 American rape and revenge slasher film by Charles Kaufman

Mother's Day is a 1980 American rape and revenge slasher film directed, co-written and produced by Charles Kaufman, brother of Troma Entertainment co-founder Lloyd Kaufman. The plot focuses on three women on a camping excursion who fall victim to two deranged, murderous young men and their unhinged mother. The film contains elements of the satire, thriller and slasher genres.

<i>Frightmare</i> (1981 film) 1983 American film

Frightmare is a 1983 American supernatural slasher film written and directed by Norman Thaddeus Vane. It stars Ferdy Mayne, Luca Bercovici, Jennifer Starrett, Nita Talbot and Barbara Pilavin, along with Jeffrey Combs in his horror film acting debut. The film's plot follows a group of drama students who decide to kidnap the corpse of a recently deceased horror movie star. By disrupting his tomb, they unwittingly release an ancient black magic that begins consuming them one by one.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Dukakis</span> American actor and music executive

John Dukakis is an American former actor, entertainer, music executive, and political aide.

<i>Horror House on Highway 5</i> 1985 American film

Horror House on Highway 5 is a 1985 American slasher film written and directed by Richard Casey. Its plot follows three college students researching the case of a missing scientist and possible Nazi in a small California town, who fall prey to two insane brothers, as well as a killer donning a Richard Nixon mask.

<i>Silent Night, Bloody Night</i> 1972 American slasher film by Theodore Gershuny

Silent Night, Bloody Night is a 1972 American slasher film directed by Theodore Gershuny and starring Patrick O'Neal, Mary Woronov, James Patterson, Astrid Heeren, and John Carradine. The plot follows a series of murders that occur in a small New England town on Christmas Eve after a man inherits a family estate which was once an insane asylum.

<i>Blood Mania</i> 1970 film

Blood Mania is a 1970 American horror film written by Peter Carpenter and Tony Crechales and directed by Robert Vincent O'Neil, and starring Carpenter, Maria De Aragon, Vicki Peters, Reagan Wilson, Jacqueline Dalya, and Alex Rocco. The film stars Carpenter as a doctor whose mistress, an heiress, murders her terminally ill father to help him pay off a debt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alice Nunn</span> American actress (1927–1988)

Alice Elizabeth Nunn was an American actress. She was born in Jacksonville, Florida, and died at her apartment in West Hollywood, California of a heart attack. Although she played many roles across her 31-year career, appearing in more than 50 films and TV series, she is primarily remembered for her role as Large Marge, the ghost of a storied truck driver, in Tim Burton's 1985 film Pee-wee's Big Adventure, which is number 5 on the IFC list of the 25 scariest moments in non-horror film history, and earned her a cult following.

<i>Terror at Tenkiller</i> 1986 American slasher film

Terror at Tenkiller is a 1986 American slasher film directed and produced by Ken Meyer, and starring Stacey Logan, Michelle Merchant, Michael Shamus Wiles, and Kevin Meyer. Its plot follows two female college students spending their summer vacation at Lake Tenkiller in rural Oklahoma where a rash of grisly murders are occurring.

<i>Fatal Games</i> 1984 American film

Fatal Games is a 1984 American slasher film written and directed by Michael Elliott and starring Sally Kirkland, Lynn Banashek, Sean Masterson, Michael O'Leary, Teal Roberts, and Spice Williams-Crosby. The film follows a masked slasher, wielding a javelin, killing off members of a high school gymnastics team.

<i>Disconnected</i> (1984 film) 1984 American film

Disconnected is a 1984 American psychological slasher film produced and directed by Gorman Bechard, written by Bechard and Virginia Gilroy, and starring Frances Raines, Mark Walker, and Carl Koch. Its plot follows Alicia, a young video rental store clerk in a small Connecticut town who is tormented by bizarre, unearthly phone calls. Meanwhile, a string of violent serial killings are occurring amongst locals.

<i>Rest in Pieces</i> (film) 1987 Spanish/U.S.-made slasher film

Rest in Pieces is a 1987 horror film directed by José Ramón Larraz and starring Scott Thompson Baker, Lorin Jean Vail, and Dorothy Malone. Its plot follows a young wife and her husband who inherit her wealthy aunt's mansion, only to find the home harbors dark secrets.

<i>Auntie Lees Meat Pies</i> Horror film by Parker Finn

Auntie Lee's Meat Pies is a 1992 American comedy horror film directed by Joseph F. Roberston and starring Karen Black, Pat Morita, Kristine Rose, and Michael Berryman. Its plot follows a devil-worshipping woman who employs her four nieces to lure virile young men back to her farm where they are butchered and their bodies ground into meat pies that she sells to the community. Its supporting cast includes Pat Paulsen, Ava Fabian, Teri Weigel, and Huntz Hall, in his final film role.

References

  1. 1 2 Stanley 2000, p. 136.
  2. ↑ "Delusion (1980)". British Film Institute (BFI). Archived from the original on April 21, 2017. Retrieved December 28, 2016.
  3. ↑ Dear John: An Interview with Actor John Dukakis (Blu-ray documentary short). Vinegar Syndrome. 2024.
  4. ↑ "Current, Coming Shows". Memphis Press-Scimitar . January 14, 1981. p. 24 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ↑ "Delusion: Starts Friday!". Fort Worth Star-Telegram . January 15, 1981. p. 6C – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ "Starts Friday: Delusion". The Town Talk. January 14, 1981. p. C-7 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ↑ Cabasos, Arthur (January 18, 1981). "Movie Disgraces Joseph Cotten". Abilene Reporter-News . p. 3-B – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ Russell, Candice (March 5, 1981). "'Delusion' gives illusion good horror film, but disappoints in the end". Fort Lauderdale News . p. 12C – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ↑ "Delusion (1980) Synopsis". AllMovie . Retrieved August 12, 2013.
  10. ↑ "The House Where Death Lives". Vinegar Syndrome . Retrieved April 1, 2024.

Sources

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.