Supelice Dreadfully Boring

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Salubfoto It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Stephanie There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

kapelusznik18 ***SPOILERS*** It was back in Colonial times when this accused witch Lise, Shelby Leverington, was burned at the stake on the testimony of the village elder, now reincarnated in 1971 Staten Island New York, Peter Vroot, Adam Phillips, who claimed that he saw her having sex with the Devil himself. Now some 300 years into the future Lise is back seeking revenge against Vroot and his entire family for what he did to her. Getting friendly with the Vroot family Lise plans to off them in a series of brutal and ritual-like murders that she planned for them. But when it came to Jake played by Norman Paige, who looks a lot like former New York Yankee 1st baseman Joe "Pepe" Pepitone, who's engaged to Aaron's daughter Coral, Rhonda Russell, she plans more then killing him but in talking the guy to death with her stories about a tribe of cannibalistic man eating women that she claims to be a member of.It was Lise's first victim young Roger Vroot, Denver John Collins, who she put to sleep with her ramblings about the tribe of wild man eating women that caused him to lose his head over it. But when it came to do the same to Jake he wanted to hear nothing about it since what he really wanted from Lise was a lot more then the BS talk she was slinging on him. All Jake wanted was a romp in the hey or bed with Lise which, when he started to come on to her, broke her concentration and rendered her witchcraft-like powers utterly useless.***SPOILERS*** With Jake now in control and checking out Lise's apartment he comes upon the shocking sight of young Elly Vroot, Lesley Knight, whom Lise had previously murdered and dismembered stuffed in a plastic bag in her closet. As everything in the film is starting to go to pot all of a sudden out of nowhere old man Aaron Vroot burst in with a hatchet and ends up getting chopped up himself by some unseen force with both Jake & Lise looking on! Totally mindless film that tries to tie in Aaron Vroot suffering with the Bible story of Joab but messes up on it's ending by what seems like having not enough time or film or money to finish it.

HEFILM This film does have the feel of an Andy Milligan movie from around this same time zone of 1968-1974. But it rises above that level in spots. It starts rather lamely with a protracted witch trial sequence but then effectively and abruptly cuts to modern day. The modern story plays off the troubles of the times, the family breaking apart with the hippie children and 50's era work ethics of the parents and their strick religious belief--which mirrors a bit the witch trial beliefs. The modern day version of the wronged witch uses these tensions to help her revenge. As in other films like this the same actors appear in the modern day story who are also in the "flashback" opening. Parts of the flashbacks continue through the whole film and eventually we see more of the flashback story than is presented at the start. Though some of this flashback stuff does just seem like padding in spots. There is also an underplayed and non-nudity sexual element to the film-- also part of the era. Would the film be more powerful if it had more nudity? Probably given how the story would lend itself to that. I say all this just to give some context to the film as those elements will all seem alien to people watching it now, by and large anyway.The acting is not great, but not inept either, which is pretty much true of the whole film in most regards. I saw this on TCM and the description says it's about an ax murderer which it isn't, though an ax figures into one scene. Though slowish the film has some memorable things, a double murder, a head floating in a bag full of blood, odd attempts at comedy in one office scene, and the story of the Brazilian tribe of female hunters. That's probably the most memorable scene in the film and is well acted by the generally good looking female lead Shelby Leverington, who went on to a full-on career in acting. The film has that poverty row NYC feel in spots in a good way. It also features that oddly thick blood from the era. Yes this is for fans of the fringes of filmmaking and indie horror, but what's wrong with that? The ending is good and unexpected. The music score is odd and usually dated and ineffective but it too has some good moments. The film has a very thin sound mix and sometimes uses only music in an effective way. If you like this kind of supernatural revenge story and the feel of films of this era give it a shot, it has a few shocks and value amid the clumsy or dullish bits.

utgard14 Laughably inept movie about a witch's hippie descendant named Lise (Shelby Leverington) who takes revenge on the descendants of those who burned her ancestor at the stake. I've seen this plot done before and better. Terribly directed, edited, acted, written...you name it, this movie sucks at it. Does have some merit as an unintentional comedy, however. My favorite scene is Lise's monologue where she tells this sad sack Roger about how women used to run things and then this one big guy took over and the men started running things so the women killed the big guy and ate him. When she was done with her long-winded story, she seductively says "Hand me the ashtray, Roger." It was supposed to be erotic or something, I guess, but it just made me burst out laughing. This is strictly amateur hour stuff, so avoid unless you're into that sort of thing.

lor_ Back when I was involved in the film industry circa 1980 I used to see many unreleased films, and they often had common defects accounting for their being shelved. Though it actually achieved a release in 1971, DEATH BY INVITATION displays similar problems.It's a case of poor execution -the standard horror theme of centuries-old-curse leading to lame-duck revenge is trotted out, but delivered so crudely as to have no effect on the viewer. Films operate through tension and release, and when it's all flat (like this baby) or all tension/no release (as in the current sci-fi stinker NEVER LET ME GO) the viewer is left high & dry.After a truly clumsy opening sequence set in times supposed to suggest the Salem Witch Trials (but on a zero budget), film settles into a rather tedious family drama set in modern Staten Island. It's a corny format of an outsider (striking looking Shelby Leverington, whose career as a character actress managed to overlook this unfortunate debut assignment) preying on a family. Script does a poor job of establishing her relationship, and the subsequent grisly murders are very poorly done, offering little meat for a genre fan to nibble upon.It devolves into a shaggy dog exercise, not unlike what one would expect if the Coen Bros. made a send-up of low-budget horror films, including the usual cryptic elements. The story is neither compelling nor suspenseful, at best creating a sense of dread. The musical score tries to whip up some tension, but one can't help but gravitate towards a "who cares?" position. I saw THE CURSE OF THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN and CARNIVAL OF BLOOD from the same producer/distributor at drive-ins back in the '70s, but never saw this one get booked. It would have to be shown early in the evening when the sun was still out, because if it was shown late in the program no one would have stayed to the end.And the climax is very clumsily edited, with a terrible fight sequence and poor sound. As with many films that never made it out of the lab, one feels that the needed re-shoots or coverage of a "scene missing" were not provided for in the low budget.Telling is a pointless sequence where our hero wanders around an office building, given the runaround by secretaries, and finally arrives at patriarch Vroot's office only to have their inane conversation drowned out by loud Muzak that Vroot proudly has piped in. This idiotic footage goes on & on and gives one the impression that the director had strayed off the set.Almost as bad is a preposterous gimmick wherein the detective investigating the family's murders is written to be not merely incompetent but aggressively stupid, so as to prevent the culprit from getting caught, and to keep the story's pot boiling. Even Something Weird's resident presenter Frank Henenlotter cannot alibi this lousy development, which is even worse than some of the outlandishness he tries to slip into his own horror films. Ironically, I did see director Ken Friedman's next film, MADE IN U.S.A., in first run in 1987 and enjoyed it immensely. He never got a directing career going, but did write a number of very entertaining screenplays like MR. BILLION and WHITE LINE FEVER. So chalk this misfire of a supernatural effort up to lack of experience.