La casa del sortilegio

This post-AMITYVILLE HORROR haunted house film directed by porn director Armand Weston occasionally delivers the goods, but is more-often-than-not lame, overpadded and a little cheesy.

Writer Lauren Cochran goes out to the country to try and get past her agoraphobia, but when she moves into a frighteningly familiar octagonal house, she finds that there's things to be afraid of inside as well! First off, I'm rather disappointed that the film didn't make the main character's agoraphobia more of a main plot point. The idea of an agoraphobe renting a haunted house, unable to leave because of crippling panic attacks but unable to stay because of haunting specters, would make for a pretty claustrophobic watch. Instead, Weston's script takes the plot in many different directions, implementing slasher elements, prostitute ghosts and a CHANGELING-like mystery unraveling.

Sometimes, it works; there are some actually pretty spooky scenes here and there, and the mystery moves deftly enough to keep you involved. There are also some really fun set-pieces involving sickles and high-rise rescues.

Unfortunately, the over-the-top acting and dialogue from most of the supporting characters ruins any atmosphere the film could've created (the writer's quippy boyfriend had me about ready to turn off the film 20 minutes in). The unraveling of the mystery reaches a silly, melodramatic conclusion. And I often found the sound design to be distractingly amateurish, a gripe I do not have very often. Overall, you could do a lot worse with '80s haunted-house flicks (HOUSE WHERE EVIL DWELLS, any AMITYVILLE film), but you could also do better (CHANGELING, SILENT SCREAM).

Fun fact: The octagonal house where the film was shot is still standing in New York state and may be the only domed octagonal residence still in existence in the United States!