After many years of appearing in various horror movies, four of the genre’s biggest stars would finally come together under one roof as it were and give audiences something they had been wanting to see for decades. Christopher Lee, Vincent Price, Peter Cushing and John Carradine, all known for innumerable scary roles be it mad scientists or scary monsters or what have one, would appear in House of the Long Shadows, a film about a family reunion. Of course, it would not be what most would call a normal get-together of loved ones as things are not quite what they seem and murder is the name of the game.

Also starring Dezi Arnaz Jr, the film mixes horror and black comedy quite perfectly to make for a very enthralling watch. It would all begin with a writer making a bet with his agent, a gentlemen’s agreement stating that the former would not be able to write something commercial so to speak, in a single day. To do this, the latter rents him a house in the English countryside, away from the bustling streets of London so that said writer might concentrate. Right from the outset, this is not to be as he discovers that the house is not fully unoccupied and whereupon he meets a lovely young lady. It is not long before the rest of the players in this production appear, each a little more mysterious than the previous arrival and vexing Arnaz to no small degree. When all have made themselves comfortable, the reason for their gathering is revealed and soon they find themselves being picked off by a killer, though who that might be is just as mystifying as they are.

In many respects, this film is the closing of a chapter in horror cinema. The movie plays and feels like a Hammer production; audiences can thank director Pete Walker for making it so. It gives the picture an air of familiarity for both the audience and those who would appear in it, most of them Hammer stalwarts aside from Carradine, though he was hardly a stranger to the genre. As such, it would give these men a chance to take a final bow on that part of their lives as well as those films from the previous twenty-five or so years. Horror in the eighties was not what it was. Things were changing, tastes were veering away from that gothic-influenced fare of the past and becoming more visceral and those filmmakers who had the guts to do so were more than ready to deliver it. There are elements of it within, the movie trying to play to those on both sides of the aisle and Walker would deftly weave them together to make for a very captivating picture.

Adding in a bit of comedy would let the actors stretch a different muscle, each of them quite able at doing so if one is at all familiar with the lot of them, most especially Price who at one point would deadpan, ‘They must have heard her singing,’ when they find the dead woman’s body. It is a singular blink during the picture that would make the audience crack a smile and even give a chuckle as the dead woman was giving a recital earlier on in the movie, thus Price’s crack. There are a few other bits, but it seems like Walker would focus more on the horror of the picture than the comedy despite Cushing and his brethren being able to deliver whatever was needed. That being said, the horror was good and the movie suspenseful at times despite the focus upon Arnaz who would lighten the mood simply by being present. There was a bit of blood throughout, though not overly much and the kills were decent enough, but the audience was not watching to see how innovative the deaths in the movie might be, they were watching for the actors and they did not disappoint.

Having the calibre of actors present that they did, the makers of this film did a good job of utilizing them. Sure, they could have had more screen time and Arnaz less and had only two of them instead of four even more so but it all worked and worked well. Cushing was great with his subtle performance while Price was his usual flamboyant self. Carradine was exactly how one would imagine he would be and how he was in almost every single one of his films while Lee would play the straight man, at least to a degree. Walker makes it hard to discern whether Lee is the villain or not; Lee is always able to make his audience wonder just what role he would take unless expressly given away, such as Dracula and so forth. Factor in Sheila Keith and Julie Peasgood as well the film had more than enough talent for two movies.

House of the Long Shadows may not have been what everyone had been hoping for, in terms of content that is, after waiting to see these men all come together under one roof, it more than delivered for both the casual and avid fan. At times it was tense, had wit, provided a couple of good scares and let the Cushing, Price, Lee and Carradine do what they did best in what some might call a final hurrah. This would not be their last film, simply a goodbye to those days of yore where horror was more than just blood, guts and gore. A solid outing with a truly splendid cast.

4 out of 5