To it's credit, this uneven Horror flick makes the most out of its Shoe-string budget. During this time, the Ultra Low budget films often took their settings somewhere in the rural parts of California within a reasonable geographic distance of LA just to minimize the impact of Production costs. As we see here, the production values are scarce, but relatively effective at capturing moods with some arresting visuals.
A young woman, Lori (Pamela Franklin), suffers a stillbirth to her newborn. We soon learn that her husband Frank (Michael Onktean), has been hired by some enigmatic Toy Manufacturer Dr, Cato (Orson Welles), located in some small rural town in the Central Valley. As the wife is still grieving the loss of their child, she accepts her loser husband's new job as a chance to start over as he promises her. In the same seen, we also learn that she was "Born with a Veil'. For those who didn't capture the significance of this plot device, it means that a fetus actually exits the birth canal with the Amniotic Sac covering its entire body and intact. It's a phenomenon so rare that many cultures and religions consider it a divine gift that enables that baby to be endowed with psychic powers.
So, as this young couple is en route to their new destination, a couple of traumatic episodes take place along the way: they witness a car swerve off of an embankment crashing in flames over the cliff. Young Lori investigates the burning car up close and recovers a Rag doll. But the couple presses on and the car mysteriously runs out of gas. Frank walks to find a gas station as Lori sits alone in the stranded car. She is thus set upon by a Psychic hallucination where she witnesses a funeral Wake atop of a hill organized by a coven of witches. Later, we see all of this bears significance to the ordeal that thus follows. Terrified, she runs back to the car and in a panic tells her dopey husband. It is apparent that Lori is susceptible to Evil auspices. Needless to say, they reach the new town, move into their creepy new home and meet some of their new neighbors and Frank's new coworkers. Naturally, matters only become more bizarre and unsettling to Lori as she learns about what is really going on in this new arrangement. But her husband is too dense to notice or even care. because he's just a knucklehead who needs a job.
I'm usually pretty forgiving to Schlocky Horror films of the early 1970's, especially ones involving Demonic witchcraft. I would have easily given this movie 6 stars out of 10, if it had just taken the time to enhance the acting, improve the script, finetune the screenplay and maybe focus a bit more on characterizations to keep the plot from lagging. Orson Welles (Dr. Cato), although the central force behind this evil facade, has little screen time and looks like he's ready to fall asleep every time he delivers his lines. He even does an accent, but It's uncertain where this accent comes from. At 45 years of age he looks closer to 60 and about 120 pounds overweight. Michael Onktean can't act his way out of a paper bag so much that he appears brain dead through most of this. Pamela Franklin, although inappropriately pert, is the only acting asset to this movie while she holds this plot in place. The rest of the acting from the supporting cast ranges from dull to completely wooden.
A young woman, Lori (Pamela Franklin), suffers a stillbirth to her newborn. We soon learn that her husband Frank (Michael Onktean), has been hired by some enigmatic Toy Manufacturer Dr, Cato (Orson Welles), located in some small rural town in the Central Valley. As the wife is still grieving the loss of their child, she accepts her loser husband's new job as a chance to start over as he promises her. In the same seen, we also learn that she was "Born with a Veil'. For those who didn't capture the significance of this plot device, it means that a fetus actually exits the birth canal with the Amniotic Sac covering its entire body and intact. It's a phenomenon so rare that many cultures and religions consider it a divine gift that enables that baby to be endowed with psychic powers.
So, as this young couple is en route to their new destination, a couple of traumatic episodes take place along the way: they witness a car swerve off of an embankment crashing in flames over the cliff. Young Lori investigates the burning car up close and recovers a Rag doll. But the couple presses on and the car mysteriously runs out of gas. Frank walks to find a gas station as Lori sits alone in the stranded car. She is thus set upon by a Psychic hallucination where she witnesses a funeral Wake atop of a hill organized by a coven of witches. Later, we see all of this bears significance to the ordeal that thus follows. Terrified, she runs back to the car and in a panic tells her dopey husband. It is apparent that Lori is susceptible to Evil auspices. Needless to say, they reach the new town, move into their creepy new home and meet some of their new neighbors and Frank's new coworkers. Naturally, matters only become more bizarre and unsettling to Lori as she learns about what is really going on in this new arrangement. But her husband is too dense to notice or even care. because he's just a knucklehead who needs a job.
I'm usually pretty forgiving to Schlocky Horror films of the early 1970's, especially ones involving Demonic witchcraft. I would have easily given this movie 6 stars out of 10, if it had just taken the time to enhance the acting, improve the script, finetune the screenplay and maybe focus a bit more on characterizations to keep the plot from lagging. Orson Welles (Dr. Cato), although the central force behind this evil facade, has little screen time and looks like he's ready to fall asleep every time he delivers his lines. He even does an accent, but It's uncertain where this accent comes from. At 45 years of age he looks closer to 60 and about 120 pounds overweight. Michael Onktean can't act his way out of a paper bag so much that he appears brain dead through most of this. Pamela Franklin, although inappropriately pert, is the only acting asset to this movie while she holds this plot in place. The rest of the acting from the supporting cast ranges from dull to completely wooden.