By Geno McGahee
The made for TV horror movies from the 1970s were usually pretty good. I bought an 8 pack of horror films for 5 bucks and the majority was found footage shit films, but this one was mixed in. The distributor gave it a shitty cover…so I didn’t have high hopes. I expected another found footage ad-libbed garbage film, but a made for TV 70’s haunting film? My five bucks wasn’t totally wasted.
THE HOUSE THAT WOULD NOT DIE is about Ruth (Barbara Stanwyck) inheriting a house with a dark history. Moving in with her is her niece Sara (Kitty Winn), and immediately, the house makes an impression on the two. As they rejoice with their new living arrangement, the neighbor lets himself in. Pat McDougal (Richard Egan) talks to the two and speaks of his love of the house. Sparks fly between he and Ruth. If this was R rated, I’m sure those two old birds would have bumped uglies.
Pat, a teacher, sets up Sara with one of his students. Stan (Michael Anderson, JR) has the world’s best mustache and it wins Sara over immediately, but things begin to get strange…stranger than the mustache of death. The family agrees to a séance and this allows the evil spirit of the house to possess Sara, but it doesn’t stop there. Pat also becomes consumed by the evil and tries to get some from Ruth. Never trust a man with the last name “McDougal.”
In the end, THE HOUSE THAT WOULD NOT DIE was a decent made for TV horror film. It was pretty straight forward and simple. With no CGI to saturate the film with, they relied on dialogue and atmosphere to create the suspense and it worked at times. It’s pretty tame but it had to be. It was interesting and some of the stuff was creepy and it kept my interest. Even if you do not like this film, you have to enjoy Stan’s mustache and Pat’s perfect hair. That alone makes this worth a watch. His hair is haunting.
Rating: 5/10
