Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!

SparkMore n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Sanjeev Waters A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

timlunn14727 As many before have stated, I first saw this when I was about 12, and it definitely made an impression. I have been a big fan of the Horror genre since I was quite young (7 or 8). I must say I thought the film actually took place in England, it just has that feel to it and the soundtrack as well. I later found out it was actually filmed in England with mostly English actors. I searched for this for many years before I actually got a hold of a VHS tape (not great quality either). I recently was able to acquire it on DVD doubled up with "It" from the same period and on the WB title list. I think it is extremely underrated with a great score and ahead of it's time filming techniques to go along with a great HP Lovecraft story! If you get the chance, snag it! You won't be sorry, it destroys anything put out as horror these days!

Darkling_Zeist UK-shot 'The Shuttered Room remains one of the better Lovecraft/Derleth adaptations thus far, and has pretty bride Susanna Kelton (Carol Lynley) returning with handsome hubby (Gig Young) to her desolate, ancestral abode, only to find that any real possibility of emotional exorcism is not only unlikely; her return merely expedites a far more terrifying familial malaise. As is in all films graced with his barrel-chested presence, Ollie Reed chews through the scenery as if they were a mere prelude to an evening's orgiastic drinking. Flora Robson is particularly effective as the creepy, domineering patriarch whose dark, malevolent secrets refuse to be contained any longer.

Spikeopath The Shuttered Room is directed by David Greene and written by D.B. Ledrov and Nathaniel Tanchuck. Adapted from a story by August Derleth and H.P. Lovecraft, it stars Gig Young, Carol Lynley, Oliver Reed, Flora Robson and Judith Arthy. Music is by Basil Kirchin and cinematography by Kenneth Hodges.Returning to her childhood home, an old mill house on the island of Dunwich, Susannah (Lynley) and her older husband Mike (Young) are plagued by local rowdies led by Susana's cousin Ethan (Reed). Not only that but the local elders constantly keep telling them it would be unwise to take up residency in the old mill...It's funny that some film fans have expressed disappointment with the final revelation of The Shuttered Room, because the secret is revealed from the get go! Something which takes the mystery away and goes someway to explaining why director Greene then fills his film with 90% of narrative based around Oliver's Army being uncouth and seriously detrimental to the sexual well being of poor, confused, traumatised, Susannah.Here's the problem, even forgiving that it's about as Lovecraftian as a Rob Zombie remake, the film just doesn't have the requisite horror substance to make it viable as frightening. Don't get me wrong, had I watched this as a boy I'm sure I would have been spooked out by the spooky old mill that houses a secret, resplendent with holes in the woodwork where prying eyes watch goings on, and most likely be more terrified by Reed's bonkers over acting and Young's transformation into Bruce Lee than the iffy accents I wouldn't have recognised back then. But really, the shuttered room axis of the story is very much a secondary item, and not even the classy Flora Robson can wring out terror from such clumsy story construction.Still, on the plus side there's a unique unsettling musical score by Kirchin, a wonderful fusion of prog-jazz and medieval distortional beats, even if it's in the wrong movie! There's laughs to be had, though unintentional, especially with some of the dialogue being served on a dirty cheese board, and Lynley is good value as a troubled cipher. You have to wonder if Sam Peckinpah watched The Shuttered Room and thought he could do better and promptly sought out The Siege of Trencher's Farm novel to turn it into Straw Dogs, sensing that he knew he could make a similar themed film more frightening and controversial. But of course, The Shuttered Room wasn't meant to be a backwoods Gothic movie involving home invasion and the constant threat of rape. Was it? 5/10

wkduffy After two strange attempts to buy "The Shuttered Room/It" WB horror two-fer flick on DVD from Amazon sellers and neither of them ever making it to my mailbox over a two-month span (is Oliver Reed intercepting my packages?), I finally found an Amazon seller up to the job of actually getting this thing into my DVD player.Anyway, the digital transfer of "The Shuttered Room," as stated by others, is not so bad--some artifacts here and there (so the film for all intents and purposes was not cleaned up), but the flick is anamorphic and fills a widescreen, which is nice. For those who have not seen it (or not seen it recently), the film is very deliberately and carefully made--that means the technical specs are up to snuff for a film shot in the late 60s anyway. The focus is clear and crisp, the colors are sharp and vivid. The settings are very pretty--even with all the "horror" lurking about.Two random thoughts: 1. For some reason, I remember the chained-up individual (keeping it vague here) as being horribly disfigured. But nope--it's just a regular person having a bad hair day. That was a bit disappointing--guess my memories of this horror are a bit blurry.2. Last, and most interesting: This film looks much, much closer to an early 1970s horror film than one released in 1966 to me; it always has. The film techniques, use of hand-held perspective shots, extreme close-ups, the very progressive soundtrack, Lynley's "heroine" who is both sad and brooding but not entirely a weakling, and the lyrical, dreamlike extended credits/introduction--all of it adds up to a film that seems, in hindsight, to be ahead of its time. In some ways, the "dreadful feel" of the film, the style of it, the haunting quality of it, seems to predict so many 70s horror films that were yet to come--Zohra Lampert's sympathetic heroine in "Let's Scare Jessica to Death," or maybe the strange isolationist townsfolk in "The Brotherhood of Satan." While comparisons can be misleading, I'll just say this feels like a film DECIDEDLY NOT looking backwards toward the old days of Gothic Hammer horror (although "The Shuttered Room" has its Gothic moments); instead, it tries very hard to be...contemporary, looking forward to the next decade, which would be 1970. And I think it works. I presume credit for that goes to director David Greene. It seems odd then that Greene, who apparently showed a lot of promise early on in his directing career, would not amount to much over time (or, so says Phil Hardy in the Overlook Film Encyclopedia). Strange.