HOUSE OF THE LONG SHADOWS
It's like a horror all-star movie
You know, it is a joy to see Price, Cushing, Lee and even Carradine on screen together, even though all Carradine does is sit there looking wizened and Cushing putters about like an old ninny. But Price and Lee come across well in this movie - hell, they'd come across well in any movie. Movies could be carried by those two's voices alone.
The plot is a rather absurd setup - a hack writer (you know he's a hack because he makes a reference to how the money is what's important) bets his publisher 20K that he can write a Wuthering Heights-caliber novel in 24 hours. Hoo, boy. When he sets out typing at what I'd generously estimate is 35WPM, that's gonna be one hell of a 50,000-word book he'll crank out if he doesn't stop typing AT ALL. Not to eat, sleep, rest his fingers, stretch, think...this would be less of a challenge for him if he had set out to write an Emma-caliber novel.
Then all the weird people start showing up, making writing difficult. None of them are being honest about who they are, and there's deceptions piled on top of deceptions until you'd have to be brain-dead not to think there's still more. In fact, right up in the final scene we're treated to an exchange and a cameo (can you cameo in a film where you're already billed as a star?) which made me wonder what the hell was going on, because it contradicted all that came before it...just like all that came before it contradicted everything else.
The plot's okay, although I could see the "surprising" The Game/April Fool's Day kind of conclusion a ways off. It's amply telegraphed. The house where our writer hero chooses to spend the 24 hours in question (and he's played, terribly, by Desi Arnaz) is nicely photographed as a creepy place, though.
This is a rather absurd, extremely unlikely movie (give it some thought, and this is far more far-fetched than The Game), but it's largely enjoyable for two big reasons: Price and Lee. I could listen to Lee talk all day, and Price gets the two best lines in the film, his entrance (a florid "I have returned!", so hammy I had a craving for mustard), and his exit (where he calls Lee "Bitch.") (no, not a bitch.).
A middling film, with some poor casting and wasted use of good casting, but it's diverting enough for 100 minutes.