Shuttered Room, The (1967)

The Shuttered Room, by all accounts, should have been much better than it was. Carol Lynley and Gig Young star in this piece based on a Lovecraft/Derleth short story, but the film leaves behind its Mythos roots in favor of a more conventional mystery plot: Susannah Whateley (Lynley) returns to her rural childhood town with her rich husband to use her long-deceased parents' old mill as a summer cottage. A family curse is supposedly afoot, and a mystery lingers about what horror lurks in the shuttered room connecting house and mill. Lynley, an actress I've never really cared much for, plays the part no different from what I remember in other pictures - fragile, doe-eyed, stilted. Young plays her rich, older (MUCH OLDER) husband who has a Thunderbird and a knack for karate - this sounds like it ought to contribute more camp factor than it does, but sadly it does not. A somewhat redeeming factor is a pre-Devils Oliver Reed (employing his dreadful American accent) playing a lascivious country boy hellbent on getting with Lynley... whom I believe was also his character's first cousin. Basil Kirchin's jazz-steeped score is unsettling and interesting if not a bit out of place at times (he would go on to use a similar style to much better effect for Robert Fuest's camp masterpiece The Abominable Dr Phibes (1971) starring Vincent Price). While the production is pretty slick, the reveal at the end is rather unexciting - especially for those expecting something Lovecraftian - and getting to that point is a bit of a chore. I would only recommend this one to die-hard Oliver Reed fans, or Lovecraft cinema completists.

5/10

Deathtrap (1982)

A decade before Deathtrap, Caine made his mark in the diabolically clever film Sleuth. Deathtrap has very similar style twists, turns, and revelations, but loses its grip in the second half. The casting is a little off with Irene Worth turning in a barely intelligible performance (it was supposed to be funny) as a Scandinavian psychic and Dyan Cannon giving an absolutely grating performance as Bruhl's (Caine's) wife. Thankfully, the two main actors, Caine and Reeve, give it their all and were a great pleasure to watch. Without giving much of the plot away, Bruhl, a stagnating playwright, comes across a brilliant play written by a student. Because he is desperate for a hit, he considers murdering the student and taking it for himself. From there, it goes crazy. With these maze-like films it's fun to see just how everything plays out. Typical of Sidney Lumet films, the production is slick and the material is smart. Johnny Mandel's baroque score imitates Sleuth's soundtrack, but it's far more heavy-handed. Despite its shortcomings, Deathtrap is a clever, flawed film that serves as a good companion piece to Sleuth.

7/10--I was tempted to give it a 7.5, but I told myself I'd never give halves. I'd say the body of the film is an 8, but I was disappointed with resolution.