A lot of horror movies rely simply on sudden jolts of sound to make you jump. I recently watched Friday the Thirteenth (2009) and it was literally all it had. Which is fine, no one can deny it gets the job done. The problem with it is that the movies become inseparable and which one is scarier can only be judged really on which made you jump the most.

Burnt Offerings instead creates an atmosphere. It creates it masterfully through character decisions and great use of music. There was a stage early on when I realized nothing eventful had even happened as yet and despite this my heart was pounding. Sure enough a moment later some frightening action took place and I realized for the first time in a long time a horror movie had alerted my sub-conscience and not my mind. These days in horror movies it's far too easy to predict when the event is coming (it's generally when the filmmaker is trying to make you think NOTHING is coming).

Burnt Offerings is more than watchable in this day and age. The lines are nowhere near as cheesy sounding as a lot of other pre-1980 films make them sound today and the acting, whilst not perfect, is anything but bad. The suspense will have your heart pounding and it's all building up to something so terrifying it deserves far more recognition among horror buffs. Not to be missed.

Well made little horror film. Nothing earth shattering or outstanding but quite effective in some spots and original. What's really remarkable about BURNT OFFERINGS is how much it looks like THE SHINING. Stephen King admits that he was inspired by the Robert Marasco novel (and definitely the movie) when he wrote The Shining and it's quite obvious. It's an almost exact copy. A couple with one kid rent a big mansion for the summer. They bring along the husband's aunt and the 4 start experiencing changes in character. The husband is violent towards the boy. The mother is angry towards the aunt, etc. Everyone starts changing after staying at the house for a while. The house itself is seemingly alive and it takes over the family. The last shot in BURNT OFFERINGS, the one with the photos, is identical to the one in Stanley Kubrick's THE SHINING. Truly shocking. Did the author of the novel sue? Anyway, the movie is a creepy little movie in some parts and somewhat dull in other parts. Watching Bette Davis dying was, eh, a bit unsettling. She really looked like she was dying, the poor old woman. Good but not great. I really love the idea of the house "shedding" its skin. If you've seen THE SHINING and not this film, watch it, you'll be more shock about the similarities than the movie itself.

Talky, but unusual and creepy haunted house movie concerns an ordinary family from the city who rent a country estate for the summer--at a suspiciously low price! A bit confusing at first, but whenever something bad happens (like the father cutting his thumb on the champagne bottle) something good immediately takes its place (the kid switching on what was previously a dead light bulb). The house absorbs the good (the sacrificial new family's spirit and energy) while its inhabitants wither away, physically or mentally. Bette Davis' Aunt Elizabeth ages suddenly (with frighteningly effective make-up),and Anthony James as the chauffeur who haunts Oliver Reed's head is a scary, freaky presence. Karen Black is even odder than usual: I'm not certain whether her not-quite-there expression is what was intended for the role of Marion, but she does something very gutsy for an actress, making herself into a gargoyle (only in her final scene does she overdo it). Superior to the source novel by Robert Marasco, "Burnt Offerings" (the title taken from a biblical reference) is a well-directed slice of the macabre. *** from ****