Burnt Offerings (film)

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Burnt Offerings

Directed by	Dan Curtis
Produced by	Dan Curtis Robert Singer
Written by	Novel: Robert Marasco Screenplay: Dan Curtis William F. Nolan
Starring	Karen Black Oliver Reed Bette Davis
Music by	Bob Cobert
Distributed by	MGM Studios
Release date(s)	October 18, 1976
Running time	116 min.
Language	English
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Burnt Offerings is a 1976 horror film based on a novel of the same name by Robert Marasco. It is about a family who moves into a haunted house that rejuvenates itself with each death that occurs inside of it. The film stars Karen Black, Oliver Reed, and Bette Davis and was directed by Dan Curtis.

The movie won the 1976 Saturn Award for Best Horror Film.

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

A family from the City, possibly Los Angeles - this is unclear in the film, moves into a large Victorian Era mansion in the California countryside. The owner of the house is played by Burgess Meredith (Clash of the Titans, etc) although he only appears in the beginning of the movie. Meredith's role however, is important in that he informs the family of a particularly odd requirement upon which their rental is contingent: his elderly mother lives in the attic and they are required to provide her with food during their stay. he explains that she is obsessed with privacy and will probably not interact with them. The food is to be left outside her door. As it turns out, this task falls to the mother (Karen Black) who quickly succumbs to the allure of the ornate Victorian house and it's period decor. Various "accidents" occur during the summer, including the death of the renter's grandmother, played by Bette Davis. As the film progresses, the father becomes increasingly depressed and concerned while the wife becomes increasingly obsessed with the house, the old woman in the attic, and Victorian artifacts. Eventually it becomes clear that Karen Black's character is being possessed by the house somehow, and that a malevolent force is consuming the whole family. Eventually the house kills the father and son, Karen Black "becomes" the old woman in the attic, and the film ends with the house fully rejuvenated and glistening like new. The sacrifice has succeeded in its purpose.