Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

JinRoz For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Gary The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Coventry When it comes to horror/cult cinema, yours truly is a sucker for two things, namely long & lurid sounding titles and grisly looking vintage film posters! Half of my watch-list exists of films that are purely selected based on these two criteria, and in many cases I never really bothered to properly read what the actual plot is about. Thanks to the title and the poster, this particular movie stood extremely high on my must-see list. Admittedly the official title is the colorless and dull-sounding "Revenge", but there are the two awesome alternate titles "Terror from under the House" and "Inn of the Frightened People", and who could resist the filthy green movie poster with the image of a guy with glasses screaming and plenty of catch words and phrases like "be ready to scream!" or "you may never dare go in the basement again!" Of course I assumed this was a full-blooded horror movie, also because director Sidney Hayers already made a few great ones like "Night of the Eagle" and "Circus of Horrors", but actually this is a stern melodrama dealing with some harrowing themes like pedophilia, grieving over lost children, the hunger for justice but the lack of courage to actually kill, etc.… The film opens dramatically with the Radford family mourning at the funeral of their young teenage daughter. We learn she was killed by a child molester, but the police had to let him go due to lack of evidence. Together with another grieving father and his furious son, Jim Radford kidnaps the slimy and eerie SOB after having observed how he lives like a hermit and stops at the local elementary school to peep at the children. They beat him – Seely – up beyond recognition and keep him stashed in the basement underneath Jim's pub. The situation puts a lot of pressure on the entire family. They don't dare to release him, but neither do they dare to dispose of him for good. Meanwhile, the impact of hiding a pervert in the basement begins to have strange effects on the family relationships, notably between Jim's second wife and her stepson, and then suddenly it's not even sure anymore if Seely is really culpable. This may not have been the horror movie I expected, but it was definitely an uncomfortable and very confronting film to watch. The scenes at the beginning of the film, when the men are stalking the suspect and observing his bizarre behaviors from within the car, are eerily suspenseful and make you wonder (especially if you're a parent as well) how you would react. There are a couple of more powerful sequences, like when Seely awakens from his beating while the pub is full of customers or when Mrs. Radford has to prevent a scheduled beer delivery from happening. The acting performances are astoundingly good as well. Although one of the least flattering roles of her entire career, Joan Collins gives away a stellar performance as Carol Radford; - Jim's second wife. James Booth and Ray Barrett are terrific too, as the vengeful but petrified fathers, but Kenneth Griffith also definitely deserves to get mentioned here. Not only is his role as child molester suspect a very courageous one, he also manages to come across as simultaneously pathetic and weak and yet menacing and dangerous! Unfortunately "Terror from under the House" doesn't remain compelling throughout. The script loses a lot of its pace and impact in the second half, since the story doesn't develop. The lead characters don't make any decisions; in fact, the only thing they keep repeating when asked how to deal with their problem is: "I'll think of something". If you do manage to struggle through the disappointing second half, you'll be rewarded with a more or less strong climax but still you are left behind with the feeling that the film could have been a lot better overall.

Scott LeBrun The reasonably entertaining psychological thriller "Revenge" stars Joan Collins and James Booth as Carol and Jim Radford, a couple grieving over the rape & murder of their youngest child. Due to the insistence of his friend Harry (Ray Barrett) and son Lee (Tom Marshall), Jim ends up kidnapping the man, Seely (Kenneth Griffith), who was accused of the crime but ultimately let go due to insufficient evidence. Jim, a pub owner, keeps Seely in his basement, and this development sparks all kinds of dramatic conflicts between the people in the house, including Lees' girlfriend Rose (the lovely Sinead Cusack) and Jims' daughter Jill (Zuleika Robson).First off, a word of warning that people suckered in by false advertising, which attempted to sell this as a horror film (!), may be disappointed. (Although the horrors that man is capable of do figure into the plot.) The abduction of Seely merely serves as a catalyst for all the melodrama that results. Particularly of interest is the relationship between Lee and his stepmother Carol. It's likely to amuse some of those in the audience. The movie as a whole is nothing special, but its story (by John Kruse) is absorbing enough to carry it for about 90 minutes.The acting is generally solid, with Collins cast against type and doing a fine job. Griffith does illicit some sympathy for his character for a while; we're given doubts as to whether the man is actually guilty of such heinous crimes. Cusack is appealing in one of her earliest big screen appearances. Cult director Sidney Hayers ("Burn Witch Burn", "Circus of Horrors") guides things with efficiency if not style; the filmmaking overall is adequate. Effective pacing helps - the opening credits are over very quickly and Hayers wastes no time in getting things started.Towards the end, you DO start to sense where all of this is going.Seven out of 10.

HumanoidOfFlesh The premise of Sidney Hayers underrated "Revenge" is fairly simple:a bereaved family seek brutal revenge on the man who attacked,raped and murdered their daughter.He is kept in the basement,beaten and humiliated.Pretty dreary and somewhat upsetting revenge drama which deals with the themes of child molestation and grief.The acting is believable and there is some suspense.The violence is kept to minimum as is the sleaze,so if you want explicit exploitation flick you will be sorely disappointed.Personally I found this forgotten revenge drama to be intriguing and strangely compelling.Like it or not,you won't forget it.7 basements out of 10.

verna55 Joan Collins stars in this well-crafted British suspense-drama about a grieving family who take the law into their own hands and seek revenge on the man who raped and murdered their young daughter. Sidney Hayers' direction is smooth, the cast(particularly Collins and James Booth) is terrific, and there are some effective shock and suspense sequences, but it's all been done before, and it's pretty dreary and unpleasant stuff.