Burnt Offerings Movie Review 150

 Burnt Offerings is a horror movie from 1976 and it stars Oliver Reed and Karen Black. It also stars Burgess Meredith and Bette Davis. It is directed by Dan Curtis.

Ben Rolf(Reed) and his wife Marian(Black) and their son, David visit a house which they are thinking of renting for the summer. It is a huge house and Ben thinks that they will never be able to afford the rent for the whole summer. Marian falls in love with the place and when they meet the owners, Roz Allardyce(Eileen Heckart) and her brother, Arnold(Meredith), Marian is more convinced than ever that this house is for them. Ben is not so sure. He cannot believe it when Roz and Arnold tell him the rent and he wonders why it is so low. Roz tells them that her elderly mother lives in the house and all Marian will need to do is to feed her three times a day. The old woman never comes out of her room. They go away to think about it, but Marian convinces Ben to take it, so they do. When they arrive on moving day, the brother and sister have gone. They enter the house and they find that the fridge and pantry are fully stocked. They get everything ready.

Ben's aunt Elizabeth(Davis) is staying with them too. She is an energetic and witty old lady. Marian sets about getting the place into shape. She realises that the food she is bringing up to the old lady is not being eaten, so she tries to talk to her, but the door to her room remains locked. Ben and David clean the swimming pool and when they are messing around, Ben seems to change and he keeps dunking David under the water, almost injuring him. Later, he cannot explain what came over him. Marian reassures him that it is okay, but he feels guilty. Ben dreams of a his parents funeral and a sinister hearse driver. He makes it up with David but he notcies that Marian is changing a little. Elizabeth is also changing. She has lost all of her energy and she begins to get sick.Ben is haunted by his dreams. David is almost killed when a gas heater emits fumes in his room. Elizabeth tells Marian that she was in with David's room but she didn't touch the heater. Marion blames her for what happened. After that, Elizabeth becomes very ill and she dies.

Marian begins to change into a different person and Ben is worried about her. He wants to leave, but she won't hear of it. He grabs David and he tries to escape in the car, but they get blocked by a falling tree. He hits his head. Marian comes out and takes them back into the house. Ben has a breakdown and just doesn't seem to function. The doctor tells Marian that he should be in a hospital, but she wants to keep him in the house. He is sitting by the pool when David gets into trouble in the pool. Ben cannot help him. Marian jumps in and rescues him. After this, they decide to leave. Ben recovers. They are in the car when Marian decides to go back into the house and tell the old lady that they are leaving. Ben begs her not to as does David, but she goes. When she does not appear back, Ben looks for her and he finds what looks like an old lady up in the locked room. When he looks closes, the old lady is Marian........He is so frightened that he falls out of the window onto the car. David screams and runs out but the house is beginning to crumble and the last scene has David trying to shield himself from a huge stone coming towards him....

I really liked this movie. It was very entertaining and there were some scares too. It was very good and I am giving it an 8/10. I recommend this one...