Purely Joyful Movie!

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

A group of teens … well, that's a less than promising start. Vest-sporting, gum-chewing and riddled with hormones and attitude, I find such characters far more terrifying and off-putting than any demonic forces they will probably bluster into. This bunch are just exactly that – impossible to like and pure fodder for 'whatever is out there', hopefully to be despatched in the foulest way possible, and yet this cast lack the confidence and assuredness to keep their characters from attaining the true heights of swaggering numb-skullery of other 'teen' ciphers. To coax me out of this uncharitable view is the fact that this is directed and co-written by José Ramón Larraz, the man behind 1972's legendary 'Vampyres'.The one character who emerges from the melee of manicure and highlighted hair is a comedy stout fellow Peter (Jerry Kernion) who quotes scenes from famous horror films much to the amusement of his cohorts. "At least it's dry," says one hunk as they enter an abandoned building in which they feel compelled to shelter from the storm. "I hear coffins are dry too," he replies. When it eventually happens, his demise is the goriest and most effective of them all.Unusually for Jarraz (this was his last horror), there is little sex or gore. When such scenes do come around, however, they are powerfully staged. Two of the group are having sex, and the beautiful young woman featured in many unnerving photographs hung on the walls appears to be watching them. Interspersed with other photographs, this time of corpses and disfigurement, the scene is one of quiet, effective horror.Hitch-hiker Jack – a dreadful Clark Tufts – looks like he may be responsible for the deaths, when they eventually happen. In an arena where most performances are static, his awfulness excels.This is not unenjoyable if you don't take it too seriously. It is impenetrably under-lit during some key scenes, and is sprinkled with moments of spectacle, but is too slow for its flashes of inspiration (the climactic crumbling wall spewing out corpses for example) to raise it from clichéd, horror melodrama. Jarraz's penchant for doomy atmospherics only occasionally materialises and the resulting whole makes it seem as if the slasher genre – already dying in 1990 – perhaps wasn't really where his heart lay.

"Deadly Manor" is an odd little entry that came out during the end of the slasher craze, and while it is a fun throwback to the 80's heyday and plus mixed in with something quite perverse, but sadly it's mostly a misfire.The plot a group of 20 something teens travel across the open road and get stranded at an old mansion, which turns to be a funeral home, seemingly on their own they start to get picked off one by one by someone in a white mask.While it does start out quite well, we get an interesting bunch of characters and the mansion is very creepy looking and when they start looking round the house and finding various clues to the original owner, was quite interesting, but sadly this soon runs out of steam very quickly and then we get endless strange scenes of talking and freaky dream sequences to pad out the running time. Then when we finally get to the murders, they aren't exactly exciting and due to the poor lighting, it's hard to tell what exactly is happening.The one saving grace is the final climax when the killer is revealed, which actually is quite funny and over the top and the burned face makeup was actually quite fun, but very unrealistic and bad. The killer(s) do chew the scenery perfectly though each more hammy than the other.All in all an odd entry in the genre and only see if you're a big fan of slasher movies.

"Deadly Manor" is a strange slasher flick directed by Larraz. Other Larraz films I've seen took place either in England or in Spain ("Deviation", "Vampyres" "The coming of sin" and "Black candles") and featured sophisticated and ambiguous characters, but "Deadly Manor" was filmed in the USA and its characters are a bunch of stereotyped American teenagers.The story runs like this: A group of teenagers are heading for a place situated by a lake with a strange name, but they don't know its exact location. On their way they pick up a hitcher that seems to know the area. But the lake they are going to is still hours away and they take refuge in a seemingly abandoned old mansion.This mansion has something sinister - by dusk it looms there menacingly. They decide to remain there for the night. And then....I think that "Deadly Manor" was made with an eye for the American market, but it still has that distinctive Larraz touch - It has that zen feel that pervades all his films. The sex has been toned down and there's not much gore to speak of, and the film may feel kind of slow for the usual slasher film fans, but the strange atmosphere, the beautiful and minimalistic soundtrack, may turn some of them on.Those that like Larraz films should give this one a try. Even if the characters may seem shallow when compared to those of his other films, "Deadly Manor" is still interesting if you like films for their atmosphere.

I was not expecting much when I rented this from my corner store. I rented it anyway because I'm a huge horror movie fan. Most of the time when I rent crappy looking films, they turn out being crappy. This time I lucked out. This movie was really, really good. The plot is nothing new but it is very fast paced and suspenseful at times. The acting is good too. Give it a look if you see it. It is surprisingly enjoyable. A lost gem that deserves more attention.