Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Brendon Jones It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Leofwine_draca As far as Lovecraftian adaptations go, this one isn't bad at all and is a lot better and more subtle than trash like THE DUNWICH HORROR, thanks to the literate script and engaging performances from a varied cast. Filmed in England but set in New England, the scenery is barren but beautiful and good use is made of these locations to convey a loneliness and isolation. While it's not a perfect film (the ending is FAR from perfect), it is certainly more adept at achieving the actual aims of Lovecraft in terms of a creepy, brooding atmosphere than many other so-called adaptations have been.The acting is pretty much great, especially from the two male leads. Gig Young is the ageing, imported American actor who was on the way out but still impresses, while Oliver Reed was the up-and-coming actor who also impresses in his turn as a brooding, rebellious youth with one thing on his mind. Carol Lynley is fine as the typically pretty blonde girl caught up in all the chaos, and Flora Robson puts in a fun frumpy turn. It's also nice to see old faces like Charles Lloyd Pack popping up in a film mainly full of youths.Funnily enough, the actual creature in the room isn't where most of the horror comes from in this film. As a sideline, the plot introduces a gang of male youths who view Lynley as a sexual object and will do anything to get her. Much of the film consists of her narrowly escaping from these men (primarily Reed) before she is finally trapped and cornered and turns the table on them, with predictably fatal results. The action scenes are kind of amusing in an unintentional way as Young uses special karate moves on the bad guys.This film's main flaw is that while it successfully builds up a lot of suspense as it goes along, the payoff is a big disappointment. The thing in the shuttered room doesn't even turn out to be a monster or a mutant, just a normal human being - what a cheat! There are a couple of mildly gory death scenes thrown in there but this film's main obsession is the dark sexual undercurrent. This makes it an interesting, well-shot, well-acted, and watchable little film which deserves to be seen by many more horror fans than it has been, as it seems to have somewhat sunk into obscurity these days.

Ian Brown An offbeat curiosity, this laid back, quirky suspenser is based on a HP Lovecraft story set in New England but was shot, more or less convincingly, in (Old England) Norfolk. Apparently Ken Russell was originally slated to direct but the job fell to Canadian TV graduate David Greene. While intriguing to imagine what Russell would have made of it, Greene has endowed this underwritten yarn with a strange, dreamy quality that sustains the interest enough to transcend the slight story. And he uses landscape well - bare sandy heathland and rocky coastlines - to give the setting a rather other-worldly feel. Carol Lynley's doll-like beauty makes the vulnerable heroine seem even more fragile, but Gig Young as her older husband is just too square for the Swinging Sixties. Oliver Reed seems strangely subdued; he never quite gets a chance to really get to grips with his character, a menacing backwoods psychotic. Flora Robson also underplays her part as local witch, but her restraint is more effective. Greene stayed in Britain to make the equally original The Strange Affair with Michael York.

HumanoidOfFlesh "The Shuttered Room" is a Lovecraftian classic based on one of the 'joint' stories that August Derleth wrote from Lovecraft's unfinished notes after his death.It certainly uses 'Dunwich' and 'Whately' pretty often.The action takes place on a remote island.The old mill hides deadly secret in the attic.Sarah(Carol Lynley)brings her husband to visit her childhood home,but the community of the island is hostile and not very welcoming."The Shuttered Room" reminded me Sam Peckinpah's "Straw Dogs" with its central theme of sexual assault in a remote village.The air of menace is well-captured,the acting is impressive and several scenes have a strange,almost ethereal quality.The 'Old Mill' was an actual mill near Norwich in south-east England.On 30th May 1966 the mill was burnt to the ground for the film "The Shuttered Room".I can't believe that the filmmakers did this to such unique fantastic-looking watermill.9 out of 10.

preppy-3 Married couple Mike and Sussanah Kelton (Gig Young and Carol Lynley) go to visit her childhood home. It's on a small island named Dunwich (ho ho) Island off the New England coast. They discover the islanders don't want them--local tough guy Ethan (Oliver Reed) and Aunt Agatha (Flora Robson) try to warn them away to no avail. They discover the house is abandoned...but there seems to a lone inhabitant chained up there.I caught this many moons ago on a local TV station. It was cut to ribbons! All the violence (there isn't much) was gone and entire scenes were cut out leaving the story incomprehensible. Seeing it now uncut, letter boxed and with no commercials I realized I wasn't missing much. This is based on the writings of H.P. Lovecraft. His stories are scary and beautifully written--but have never transferred well to the screen ("The Dunwich Horror" came the closest to doing him justice). This is no exception. It's slow-moving and pretty dull. A few mildly bloody murders towards the end don't compensate for the rest of it. Also it has sequences that seem to be included just to make the film feature length. Do we really need the part where Lynley is sexually threatened by Reed and his gang? Adding to that is that the resolution of the story doesn't make a bit of sense. There's also a dreadful music score which doesn't even remotely match the tone of the film.I give this five stars mostly for the acting and beautiful setting. Reed tries faking a New England accent and fails--but it IS fun hearing him attempt it. His acting is very good--he's matched by Robson and Lynley. Young is good too but he seems to be (wisely) kidding the material. There are some nice scenes too dealing with the inhabitant of the house. But, all in all, this is a failed attempt to bring Lovecraft to the screen. It's really too bad. If they had a decent script for this cast it might have been great. Dull and forgettable. I give it a 5.