User reviews

I thought the acting in this movie was great. Much better than your normal B-horror movies. Moorehead had a full sculpted character with perfect facial expressions, southern accent and dry, humorless yet honest remarks. I couldn't decide if I liked her or hated her, which is probably what she was trying to do.

The character of Luddy was unique, as well. She had an eerie presence to her, probably because of all the eye makeup she was in. Her character gave the movie more intrigue because you don't really understand what her purpose is. The young Luddy was interesting looking with her bad eye. I wonder why they didn't incorporate the bad eye into the older Luddy..??

I even liked Buffy and her line, "That's a big incompatibility between us because I could NEVER imagine drinking a martini without an olive!!" This is the angriest we see her, and it does a great job showing her optimistic, happy-go-lucky spirit amongst the white, spoiled, snobby people she's with. The disgusted glare she gets from Delilah when she puffs on a cigar was one of my favorite parts.

Even the characters of Grace and Marshall were well acted and unique. And Robert Gentry is pretty hot!

The acting and interesting characters make this movie more of drama than a horror. HOWEVER, these immensely gory scenes seem to come out of nowhere just to shake you up. I like this style! It's like a classy AND campy horror movie. Not that pure white-bred, rich, plantation owners in the south are really classy, but it gives you that illusion, anyway.

Rent this if you want to see a horror movie that strays from the usual b-horror path.

"Dear Dead Delilah" features Agnes Moorehead in her last role as Delilah Charles,who lives in a creepy mansion that her beloved father left to her when he passed away.The body of papa is buried in a mausoleum.When Delilah is close to death her dysfunctional siblings appear to gain the inheritance.They are hacked to death with an axe by a mysterious killer..."Dear Dead Delilah" was directed by famous horror writer John Farris.The cast is solid and there is a great decapitation scene which involves a sharp blade of an axe and a woman on a wheelchair.Her blood is spurting from the neck.Unfortunately the plot is relentlessly talky and dull sometimes.However if you are into cult 70's horror you can't miss "Dear Dead Delilah".6 rusty axes out of 10.

I found that the plot was rather unique, no one in the story is completely perfect. with the main character being a former convict. It would be interesting to see a modern day remake of it! The southern plantation is a little cliche but the gore and the classiness of the movie makes up for that. The acting is wonderfully good especially from a b-movie.

Luddy Dublin (Patricia Carmichael) is released from prison after 30 years for dismembering her mum with an axe. Now homeless, Luddy is taken in by Ellen (Elizabeth Eis), who lives in a mansion with her rich Aunt Delilah (Agnes Moorehead).

Luddy is soon employed to push Delilah around in her wheelchair.

Enter Delilah's other family members, who are a dubious collection of characters with not-so-hidden agendas. When Delilah announces her plan to give her house and land to the state, it doesn't sit well with these greedy relations. When Delilah also tells them about a hidden treasure in the house, all bets are off!

Obviously, we're supposed to be waiting to see if / when Luddy cracks and goes berserk. However, she's not the only one to worry about!

DEAR DEAD DELILAH is a true southern-fried gothic, filled to the rafters with avarice, multiple murders, and madness. Ms. Moorehead is her usual impeccable self, as is Will Geer...

'Dear Dead Delilah' is a twisted low-budget whodunnit horror exploitation flick blended with gothic melodrama and a dose of giallo elements thrown into the mix, creating a rather fun ride. The movie boasts some wonderfully gory death scenes, hammy acting and a macabre sense of humour. But what holds it back from being great is the lack of visual style and the sluggish pace where it takes an awfully long time to find its sense of rhythm, but once it gets there then it becomes a lot more entertaining.

The plot = An elderly southern matriarch Delilah Charles (Agnes Moorhead) invites her family to her Plantation estate to search for the money her late father left to her on her property, but soon enough someone starts killing off the family members one by one.

The movie has a rather quirky charm to it and a gritty gothic atmosphere with some enjoyable soap opera elements, effective red herrings and plenty of colourful characters. However, there are quite a few problems with this flick, for starters the clear lack of direction as the movie seems to amble from one scene to the next without any real structure and it takes way too long for something to happen, but once the murders happen, it does almost make up for the long boring dialogue scenes and lack of plot development. This feels more like an acquired taste sort of film that you got to be in the right kind of mood for, I found it okay though, not something I'd seek out to own or watch again though.

The cast here is rather decent with Agnes Moorehead in her final film role delivering an delightful and entertaining performance as the over the top matriarch Delilah, she clearly had fun with the role and so did the audience. Patricia Carmichael was also fun as the housekeeper Luddy with a murderous past and delivers a decent performance. Anne Meacham also delivers a standout and perfectly hammy performance as the erratic drunk Grace.

Overall 'Dear Dead Delilah' is a fine 70's low budget oddity that doesn't quite rank as a lost classic, but there's just enough entertainment value to it.

Agnes Moorhead's big screen debut was 'Citizen Kane' in 1941, an impressive way to kick off an acting career; her final silver screen appearance was in 'Dear Dead Delilah', a rather undignified way to end a movie career.

Moorehead was no stranger to the genre, having already appeared in 'Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte' in 1964 and 'What's the Matter with Helen?' in 1971, but those films had an experienced director, a decent screenplay, reasonable production values and a competent supporting cast. Dear Dead Delilah has none of those things: director John Farris's inexperience is more than evident (this would be his first and last movie behind the camera), the trite plot holds very few surprises, the budget was clearly extremely low, and the acting is weak.

Farris also wrote the script, and it's about as inspired as his direction, a wearisome Agatha Christie style thriller in which the relatives of a wealthy old woman search for a fortune in cash hidden somewhere on the family's estate, with one or more of them turning to murder to ensure that they get the lion's share. The prime suspect would appear to be Luddy (Patricia Carmichael), the newest employee at the estate, recently released from prison for chopping up her mother with an axe, but that would be far too obvious. Can you work out who the real culprit is before you fall asleep from boredom?

Only a modicum of hokey gore prevents this film from being completely worthless: I'm a sucker for an axe decapitation, no matter how cheesy, and the film also delivers a victim with a severed hand, an axe in the chest and a shotgun blast to the face. None of the effects are particularly special, but they're the only fun thing about this otherwise worthless mess.

Story of a heavily dysfunctional Southern family. They've all gathered at the mansion of the head of the family Delilah (Agnes Moorehead). She's dying and has hidden a large amount of money somewhere on the estate but won't say where. Someone starts killing off family members with an axe. Who's doing it and where is the money?

Pretty good movie. It's very low budget and was only previously available in edited prints in lousy shape. It's just been remastered and looks great. The script is interesting and the acting is very good--especially by Moorehead in her last theatrical film. As for blood and gore--there's not much but what is there is pretty strong. So--a good drive-in movie from the 1970s. It's great to see it uncut and remastered.

"Dear Dead Delilah", as far as I could tell, was one of those movies that wants to be something, but only succeeds in remaining a wannabe connection between several classic TV shows. It stars Agnes Moorehead (aka Endora on "Bewitched"), Will Geer (aka Grandpa on "The Waltons"), Michael Ansara (aka Barbara Eden's ex-husband who made three appearances on "I Dream of Jeannie") and Dennis Patrick (I believe that he's best known for a role on "Dallas", but I remember him as Susan Sarandon's father in "Joe"). The movie centers on a killing spree at a Nashville estate, but is mostly either a series of body parts getting lopped off, or long-winded conversations.

In relation to "Bewitched", you might say that this movie corroborates Darrin's worst fears about Endora, and makes Samantha want to distance herself from her mother. Oh, and did you know that Agnes Moorehead also played Citizen Kane's mother? "Citizen Kane" to "Bewitched" to a slasher movie. The things that we see in life...

1972's "Dear Dead Delilah" was a popular title during the television rounds of the late 70's, a regular on both Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater and Cleveland's Hoolihan and Big Chuck. Remembered chiefly as Agnes Moorehead's last feature film (though she had some TV roles plus a voice in 1973's "Charlotte's Web"), the former co-star of Bette Davis in 1964's "Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte" gets her own starring vehicle in a similar vein, but on a lower budget. Whereas the death of Bruce Dern in that film was shocking for its time, the violence in this 1972 follow up is far bloodier and more disturbing, a fitting finale for a decade of aging actresses in modern horrors. Like the Bette Davis characters in both "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" and "Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte," the Agnes Moorehead character, Delilah Charles, has lived her entire life in the service of her late father, in this case running a plantation in Tennessee called South Hall (shot on location by legendary Nashville songwriter Jack Clement, who never produced another feature). The eldest in a family of four siblings, Delilah has seemingly been at death's door for some time, and has gathered the rest of the clan for a reading of her will. Will Geer plays cousin Ray Jurroe, who almost married Delilah years before, Michael Ansara plays brother Morgan, a gambler about to be imprisoned on a $40,000 debt, Dennis Patrick plays brother Alonzo, a pathetic doctor who has also fallen on hard times, and Anne Meacham plays alcoholic equestrian sister Grace, who freely carries on with Richard (Robert Gentry) behind the back of his wife Ellen (Elizabeth Eis), Delilah's niece and trusted nurse for the past three years. Richard has been supplying heroin for sadly addicted Alonzo, and is also responsible for bringing in a reformed ax murderess, Luddy Dublin (Patricia Carmichael), who had served 30 years in an asylum after chopping up her abusive mother. While the family objects to Delilah's decision to leave the house and grounds to the state, they are especially mystified by her revelation that Poppa's mythical $600,000 not only exists, but is available for whoever finds it. One by one, the cast is killed off, occasionally in extremely gruesome fashion, and its always Luddy cleaning things up afterward, so no one among the household is even aware that there's a murderer in their midst (manservant Marshall simply disappears from the film). Noted horror author John Farris has very few movie credits, such as "When Michael Calls," a 1972 TV movie, and Brian De Palma's "The Fury," so it's something of a surprise that he would undertake to both write and direct this feature (the only one he ever directed), but his sharp dialogue, expertly delivered by a superb cast, makes the rather talky first half a real joy to watch. Agnes Moorehead delivers a wonderful performance confined to a wheelchair, a real tour de force of regal Southern hospitality, and her bitter confrontations with various family members are laced with sly humor. Dismissed in its time as a cheap Bette David knockoff, and further under appreciated today as just plain boring, the film's reputation is unlikely to improve with today's fast paced audiences. It aired four times on Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater, first on Nov 12 1977 (followed by second feature 1932's "The Mummy"), then solo appearances on Mar 1 1980, Feb 14 1981 (Happy Valentine's Day!), and July 24 1982.

This is one of the truly great low-budget American semi-exploitation movies of the 70's, comparable (talking purely in terms of quality and shock-value) with other forgotten gems like for example "Blood and Lace", "The House that Vanished", "The Evictors" and "The Town that Dreaded Sundown". They don't necessarily revolve on common themes or substances, but they all feature a genuinely unsettling atmosphere and convoluted story lines you can't possibly predict. You continuously feel that anything can happen in this type of movies, from the most absurd plot twists to the totally unanticipated death of a pivot character. "Dear Dead Delilah" (that title alone!!) opens with a magnificently sinister sequence, supposedly taking place in a godforsaken Tennessee town in the mid-forties. We see how an eerie-looking teenage girl rebels vocally against her mother because she can't go on a date with a boy, but then the camera moves away from her room and we notice how chopped off body parts of the mother are spread around the hallway and the mother lies dead in the bathroom. Several years later the young teenager from the intro, Luddy, is released from the mental institution before the opening credits appear on screen. Almost naturally, you then expect the rest of the film to handle about the now matured woman reverting back to her old murderous habits, but that's exactly where the wicked imagination of 70's horror scriptwriters kicks in. Through a series of coincidental events, Luddy ends up working as a nurse in an environment that is even more demented as her own past. The crazed, wheelchair-bound spinster Delilah takes her into her mansion, just when there's a family reunion taking place to discuss Delilah's inheritance. The mean-spirited woman reveals the family fortune of nearly $500.000 is hidden somewhere on the estate, and this obviously generates a large-scaled treasure hunt as well as a sardonic killing spree. Delilah's greedy and troubled siblings are all looking for the fortune, but encounter an axe-wielding maniac rather than a pile of money. Probably not intended for the eyes of nowadays horror crowds, but "Dear Dead Delilah" is a gloriously nostalgic gem with delightfully insane character drawings, unusual suspense and – most surprisingly – outrageously gory make-up effects. The film is extremely bloody with, for example, an explicit decapitation and someone getting shot in the head. The cast is terrific, with Agnes Moorehead as the crazed matriarch on top, and the ambiance is just … thoroughly creepy! Very much recommended!

Thank you, Mr. Vomitron, for your help in obtaining this purely gold gem.

Dear Dead Delilah (1972)

** (out of 4)

Delilah Charles (Agnes Moorehead) has her family over to her estate when she informs them that she is dying. She isn't too fond of anyone in her family so she also announces that she will be giving the estate over to the state. One catch is that there's a large sum of money on the property somewhere and those who are getting nothing have a shot at finding it. Before long an axe murderer is killing people off.

This horror film also belongs to the "hag" sub-genre, which of course started with movies like WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? and HUSH...HUSH, SWEET CHARLOTTE, which this film owes a lot to. John Farris would make his directorial debut with this film and it would also be his last. He would eventually become better known for his screenplay for the Brian De Palma film THE FURY. With all of that being said, there are some very memorable moments in DEAR DEAD DELILAH but at the same time there are a lot of bland ones as well.

There are a few highlights scattered throughout the film and that includes the violence. The effects aren't ground-breaking as they were all done with a low-budget but there are some bloody deaths here, which pre-date the whole slasher craze. There is a decapitation that looks pretty good and there's also a shotgun blast to the face, which comes out of nowhere and really works thanks to the editing. I'd also argue that Moorehead was quite good in the lead role as was Patricia Carmichael who plays one of the many suspects.

The issues with the film? Well, the 97-minute running time certainly doesn't help and that's even more true because the film has a lot of dialogue scenes that just get dragged out to the point where you don't even care about what's happening. With so many of these scenes the running time feels twice as long, which really hurts the picture. Some of the direction was a bit stiff to say the least and many of the supporting performances were rather bad too.

DEAR DEAD DELILAH is still worth watching thanks to the violence, which was quite strong for its day.