Death at Love House (1976 TV Movie) User Reviews (19)

Swipe of Dark Shadows

[wes-connors · 4/10 · 8 June 2008]

Attractive husband and wife writing team Robert Wagner (as Joel Gregory) and Kate Jackson (as Donna Gregory) arrive at the spooky mansion of actress "Lorna Love" (actually, silent film star Harold Lloyd's house). Mr. Wagner and Ms. Jackson are contracted to write the silent movie star's biography. Wagner has a personal interest in the project, since his father was once the famed star's lover. Mysterious events unfold, and Jackson must fight to save her husband from the spirit of the beautiful blonde, who is "perfectly preserved" in a crypt on the estate; moreover, the evil woman seems bent on possessing her husband, and murdering Jackson!

This is very much a "Night of Dark Shadows" variation, co-starring genuine "Dark Shadows" alumni Kate Jackson, who knows and plays her part well. Robert Wagner lacks David Selby's intensity. Sylvia Sidney (as Mrs. Josephs) sidesteps Grayson Hall. Marianna Hill is not a match for Lara Parker (or Diana Millay). Bill Macy (as Oscar Payne) is good in a part that would have been played by John Karlen (in a Dan Curtis production).

There are smooth cameos by Joan Blondell, John Carradine, and Dorothy Lamour. Ms. Lamour's delivery resembles Joan Bennett, which begs the question: why didn't producer Aaron Spelling get more of the original "Dark Shadows" regulars?

Director E.W. Swackhamer was Bridget Hanley's husband; he worked with Ms. Blondell on "Here Come the Brides", and with Jackson on "The Rookies". "Death at Love House" has, arguably, a tighter storyline than the "Night of Dark Shadows" film; it differs in the movie star angle; and, in its "Father Eternal Fire" ending, it more closely resembles the TVseries' "Laura the Phoenix" storyline.

**** Death at Love House (9/3/76) E.W. Swackhamer ~ Robert Wagner, Kate Jackson, Sylvia Sidney

Greatly Limited by the Made-for-Television Format

[Uriah43 · 5/10 · 20 September 2016]

"Joel Gregory" (Robert Wagner) and his wife "Donna" (Kate Jackson) are writing a book on a former movie star by the name of "Lorna Love" (Marianna Hill) who captivated audiences with her sex appeal before dying in the prime of her life. To help them with this project they are given permission to stay in Lorna's former mansion to collect more information pertaining to their research. What they soon discover is that Lorna spent a great deal of money to hire a specialist in the occult who could give her immortality along with her lover--who just happens to have been the father of Joel. Soon mysterious things begin to happen to both Joel and Donna which not only threatens their marriage but also their sanity and their lives. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a fairly entertaining mystery film which was greatly limited by the made-for-television format. Additionally, while it had some suspense here and there, it seemed somewhat subdued in nature as well. All in all though, I suppose it was an okay movie and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

good for a laugh

[blanche-2 · 5/10 · 14 October 2018]

I'm only giving this 5 stars because of the old-timers who appeared in this cheesy TV movie: Sylvia Sidney, Joan Blondell, John Carradine, and Dorothy Lamour.

Robert Wagner and Kate Jackson play a married couple researching a book on a silent old film star, Lorna Love, and her affair with Wagner's father.

This is a little like The Shining in that the spirit of the house takes over Wagner like five minutes after their arrival.

The actress playing Lorna Love, Marianna Hill, looked like something out of Charlie's Angels, not a '20s film star. After hearing for the entire film how irresistible she was, I still didn't get it.

Campy TV movie.

Campy, Creepy and just good clean fun!

[pmac1978 · 25 October 2005]

I saw this flick on video as a kid and just recently purchased a DVD copy. The film transfer to DVD is god awful proving grainy and scratchy. However, this film deserves it's place among the campy horror flicks of the 70's and early 80's. Along the lines of "The Monster Club" and "The Night Stalker" .

Starring The one and only Angel herself, Kate Jackson, this film is almost an exact replica of her earlier film debut, "Night Of Dark Shadows". Only better. I've always felt that Night of Dark Shadows is so lackluster because it never decides what it wants to be. Serious, Campy, artsy...you get the picture. Obscenely slow paced and with a rather mundane , molasses slow script.

Death At Love House moves at a much faster pace and is 10 times more entertaining . It is a kind of "House on Haunted Hill" of the 70's! (The Vincent Price version, not the terrible remake). Even with it's low budget and production values . Stars such as John Carradine, Dorothy Lamour and Joan Blondell make the most of their cameo appearances and add to the films charm. The brilliant Sylvia Sydney is the perfect choice for the creepy house keeper a la Judith Anderson and Grayson Hall. My main complaint is that she does not get enough screen time. Just like Hall in Night of Dark Shadows, Sydney is not utilized enough.

Robert Wagner phones in his performance as the doomed love interest of Lorna Love, played by Mariana Hill. I agree with the previous reviewer, Hill (while stunning) is about as convincing as silent film star as Brittney Spears. Kate is Kate. She may be thinking, "why the hell did i agree to do this?! But gives 200% as the tortured ingénue .

The film delivers the goods when it comes to entertaining. Now, don't misunderstand me. Death at Love House is never going to receive any great acclaim, it's not any great piece of cinema. It is what it is. A very enjoyable TV horror romp from yester-year. Check it out.

Lorna Love looks like a '70s showgirl, not a 1930s screen goddess...

[moonspinner55 · 3/10 · 7 August 2015]

A biographer and his wife move into the old Hollywood mansion of 1930s movie star Lorna Love, who died at a young age and whose body lies in state on the property--embalmed and behind glass. The couple is writing a book on Lorna and want to be close to her spirit, but get more than they bargained for (surely other books about such a world famous star had been written before, but the movie doesn't take details like that into consideration). The agenda here is to have the writer, whose own father once had a torrid affair with Lorna, become hypnotized by the girl's portrait and turn against his wife, all while someone dressed in black is lurking around causing trouble. Tacky TV-movie from the prolific producing team of Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg, here working with a fifth-rate script, a cheap rehash of 1968's "The Legend of Lylah Clare" (itself a mishmash of movie memories). Kate Jackson runs from room to room in the mansion calling out for husband Robert Wagner, who isn't doing any writing; Sylvia Sidney is the faithful housekeeper, still on staff in the empty house; and Joan Blondell is a friend from the old days who hints that Lorna and she were involved in witchcraft. The sepia-toned flashbacks are well done, though Marianna Hill is all wrong as Lorna Love (she's too modern), and James Barnett's teleplay is full of dead ends and deadly talk. A twist at the finish line brings up more questions than Barnett or director E.W. Swackhamer could ever hope to answer, while Wagner's book (a MacGuffin, as it turns out) appears to be permanently shelved.

Everything I love in one movie!

[BandSAboutMovies · 5/10 · 20 May 2020]

Why did I watch this movie?

Was it my love of TV movies? Sure.

The fact that Robert Wagner was in it? Yes.

My enduring crush for Kate Jackson, whose looks, voices and demeanor made pre-pubescent me question why every other boy thought girls were gross? Of course.

The simple knowledge that I'll watch just about anything, no matter how bad it may be? Undoubtably.

Because John Carradine was in it? Come on. John Carradine is in everthing.

Or that it was directed by E. W. Swackhamer, who made the insane Lookwell with Conan O'Brien and Robert Smigel, as well as the TV movie Vampire?

Come on. Just reading the synopsis and learning that Marianna Hill plays a famous sex symbol actress murdered in the 1930's? That's exactly why, dear reader.

Joel and Donna Gregory (Wagner and Jackson) are investigating the death of Lorna Love (Hill). This leads them to her house, where they meet with housekeeper Clara Josephs (Sylvia Sidney, the caseworker from Beetlejuice) and agent Oscar Payne (Bill Macy, who isn't William H. Macy, but the husband of Maude).

Joel wants to know more because it turns out that his father was one of Lorna's many lovers. So they decide to stay at Love House, where John Carradine shows up as a director who Lorna ruined. He claims that Joel's dad was the only man to escape her before a mysterious creature attacks him, he has a heart attack and is then drowned in the garden's fountain. If you can say anything about this movie, you should say that it's pretty through with the brutal efficiency that it wipes out the seventy-year-old star of pretty much every horror movie made.

It's at this point that any normal person would leave. Donna then finds an occult blade and one of her photos ruined, but she still stays. At this point, obviously she and Joel are in it to win it.

Joel and Donna then visit Denise Christian (Dorothy Lamour, who owned Old Chief Woodenhead in Creepshow 2 and played herself in The Phynx), a former rival of Lorna who - surprise! - also used to have a bit of "how's your father" with Joel's father. Is this whole movie about Robert Wagner's dad engaging in adult congress with hot actresses? Yes, pretty much.

But really, this is where we learn the secret of Lorna: she asked for eternal beauty and youth. She got it and never slept again, so Joel Sr. smashed all the windows of her house - why? - and left. Afterward, she was obsessed with a healer named Father Eternal Fire.

Of course, being the son of his philandering papa, Joel starts fantasizing about Lorna. At the same time, someone tries to kill Donna by carbon monoxide poisoning. She survives and finally wants to leave, but Joel begs her to stay so they can figure out the secret.

That's when they meet another follower of Father Eternal Fire, Marcella Geffenhart (Joan Blondell, who is also in The Phynx and, like everyone else in Hollywood pre-1950, Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood). She claims to be Lorna's best friend and when Donna wants to know more, Joel goes AWOL and starts yelling about how Lorna deserves her secrets. So why are you writing a book about her?

I'm not going to spoil the rest, but it's as ridiculous as you'd hope.

This ABC Movie of the Week originally aired on September 3, 1976. It was produced by Aaron Spelling, as were the occult-themed films How Awful About Allan, The House That Would Not Die, Crowhaven Farm, A Taste of Evil, Home for the Holidays, Satan's School for Girls (which also stars Jackson), Cruise Into Terror and Don't Go to Sleep.

Sunset Boulevard meets Rebecca meets the Legend of Lyla Clare.

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 31 October 2014]

While two of those films in my summary are all-time classics and the other one is a camp classic, this one won't fit into any category other than bad 70's TV movie of the week where a fictional 30's legend has become the subject of research by a married couple (Robert Wagner and Kate Jackson, how more 70's can you get?) for a book and possible movie. Wagner's look-alike father was once involved with the late legend whose portrait dominates the Beverly Hills mansion she lived in and whose body apparently lies in permanent state at the mausoleum where she intended to remain beautiful forever, much like "She who must be obeyed".

The problem with Lorna Love is that she looks nothing like any 30's love goddess, especially any of the tragic figures who died early on. Her whole style is 60's schlock, and with Marianna Hill playing the part in flashbacks, newly filmed movie clips and dream sequences, it totally defuses any indication that she would have out-done Jean Harlow, Rita Hayworth, Joan Crawford or even Dorothy Lamour who plays a rival here, seen filming a coffee commercial then telling both Wagner and Jackson how evil Love really was. Hill is never convincing in this part, and at one point, is filmed looking more like a department store mannequin than a human being, grossly made up and seriously badly acted in movies which are supposed to take place during the silent era and early sound era.

The cameos of 30's stars are more than welcome, with Lamour still gorgeous even without wearing a sarong, Joan Blondell totally outrageous as her fan club president who has an obvious obsession with the dead star, and John Carradine as her former director who was destroyed when no studio would hire him after Lorna had him blackballed. "Maude's" Bill Macy is briefly seen as Wagner and Jackson's agent. Veteran 30's leading lady Sylvia Sidney plays Lorna's all-knowing housekeeper, a mysterious woman who says little but drops enough hints to give away the plot twist at the end. A few scary moments including one where Jackson is locked in a bathroom with leaking gas are intense, but the continuous shot of a man in an obvious Satanistic robe is just plain silly and never resolved after a scene where Carradine sees this character during a rainstorm.

The 1970's had a lot of nostalgia with fond looks back at the past, several remakes of classic movies, and biographical looks back at stars like Gable and Lombard, W.C. Fields, a young Judy Garland, Bogart and Bacall and Rita Hayworth. This fictional Hollywood melodrama never captures the magic that was old Hollywood and ends up being more of a curiosity piece because of its inclusion of the older stars. The same theme would be better done without the horror elements when Billy Wilder went back down "Sunset Boulevard" movie with the underrated "Fedora".

A Golden Age 70s TV Movie that's more mystery than horror

[melvelvit-1 · 6/10 · 26 January 2008]

NYC writers Joel Gregory and his pregnant wife, Donna, move into the estate of long dead Hollywood sex goddess Lorna Love to research their latest book. Years before, Lorna had had an affair with Joel's artist father and when he left her she turned to witchcraft to ensure he'd come back to her one day...

This low budget Aaron Spelling ABC MOVIE OF THE WEEK has future boob tube icons Robert Wagner and Kate Jackson in the leads as writers who's marriage and lives are in jeopardy when it looks like Lorna's returned from the grave to pick up where she left off in her love life. It was filmed almost entirely on the old Harold Lloyd estate and has the late Miss Love's preserved body under glass in the garden tended by her sinister housekeeper (old-time Hollywood star Sylvia Sidney). 1960s starlet Marianna Hill is the lovely Lorna in flashback with cameo appearances by John Carradine as the movie queen's former director, Dorothy Lamour as her one-time cinematic rival, and Joan Blondell as her adoring fan club president. The story itself is more mystery than horror and nostalgia for Hollywood -and the "Golden Age Of TV Movies"- is the main reason for tuning in.

Too predictable

[bensonmum2 · 3/10 · 27 March 2006]

The 70s were without a doubt the golden age of "made-for-TV" horror. This is one of those that was probably churned out as an ABC movie of the week. It's the old story of a house and/or ghost possessing one of the new owners. The movie has promise, but it's never realized. Everything is rushed too much. Tension and suspense need time to build and grow. And there's nothing new. We've seen it all before and one better.

One final thought: I don't understand why Robert Wagner's character would fall for the long dead movie star when he's married to Kate Jackson for goodness sake!!!

OR LOVE IN THE MAUSOLEUM

[mmthos · 6/10 · 23 April 2021]

Fun TV Horror thriller bout dark scandals behind a bright star of Hollywood's Golden Age.

Lorna Love, the biggest screen siren of her time was also muse and mistress to Joel Gregory's (Robt Wagner) father, and now writer Joel, with wife (Kate Jackson) have returned to write the real story beneath the glitz and glamour by interviewing her old-time movie industry contemporaries: her housekeeper (Sylvia Sydney}, suspiciously mum as housekeepers always tend to be in these things; the Director (John Carradine) she loved and tossed away; her main Love Goddess competition (Dorothy Lamour--what a coup to get her cast in this part!) and her Biggest Fan (Joan Blondell, at 70 still the firecracker she was 17 starting out in the biz--and she went on to rack up 13 more credits in the next 3 years till her death at 73 in 1979!)

Bizarre over-the-top occult plot finds Joel seeming to fall in love with the ever-lovely ghost of his father's mistress while someone or something makes attempts on his wife's life to get her out of the picture, literally, at one point.

Some nice camerawork chasing up and down staircases and thru passageways. A lovely waltz, I call it Lorna's Love Theme, stolen straight out of Sondheim's "Night Music", but where better to steal from? And an impressive score that perfectly evokes the lush soundtracks of Hollywood in the 30's and 40's

Fun.

Kinda weird...even for an "ABC Movie of the Week" film.

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 26 October 2016]

Robert Wagner and Kate Jackson play Mr. and Mrs. Gregory, a couple who are writing a biography of a famous silent film star, Lorna Love. Apparently decades before, Mr. Gregory's father had an affair with Love but ended up leaving her....and the son is really fascinated with the lady. However, during their research they find some contradictory things--some folks thought she was practically the Devil herself and another said she was terrific! In addition, they find various Satanic paraphernalia about the Love mansion as they stay there as well as learning about Lorna's guru, Father Eternal Fire. What also is there is a weird glass coffin in which the dead Ms. Love resides! Weird, huh? Well, also weird are an attempt on the life of Mrs. Gregory as well as her husband becoming bizarrely infatuated with the dead woman! What's going on here?

This film suffers from a bad cliché, as Robert Wagner plays the son as well as the father in flashback scenes. The notion of a father and son who are identical is something you see in some TV shows or films, but it's rather ridiculous. Also ridiculous is much of the movie and the plot is just strange in so many ways. It also didn't help that Lorna looked nothing like a silent film star but like a woman right out of the 1970s...SOME effort to make her look like a silent era lady would have made sense. Overall, it's a very, very strange and goofy film...one that left me confused and annoyed because it sure could have been better.

had it figured out from the beginning

[manicgecko · 3/10 · 17 October 2005]

Don't worry - no spoilers here, just saying there is a very predictable plot. A couple decide to live in his father's love nest so they can write a book/article/newsletter on his fling with a famous tragic Hollywood starlet. This whole production ran kind of like a high school troupe doing an episode of "Murder She Wrote". The only acting I was sold on was the old fogy's they interviewed for sources in the story. Apparently the directors thought the movie was getting too long, so towards the end they stopped pointing their camera to a kind of creepy image of the starlet and brought in plot enhancers to wrap this thing up. Don't waste your time - even the tried and true horror/intrigue classics fail in this movie.

Run of the mill '70's TV ghost story.

[Poseidon-3 · 22 June 2004]

Even at a trim 70 or so minutes, this TV-movie seems a bit slow and padded at times. Wagner and Jackson are married writers doing a book on "legendary" 1930's screen star Hill. They move into her estate (governed by a Mrs. Danvers-Lite type of housekeeper played by Sidney) and begin to research the life and career of this tempestuous talent. On the grounds of the estate, Hill's body is carefully embalmed and visible through a glass tomb. Wagner, whose father was her lover, slowly becomes enraptured by her appeal and begins to have flashbacks (possibly enhanced by witchcraft) of his father and Hill while Jackson frets and faces various spooky obstacles. The story is somewhat intriguing, but the execution is routine in the extreme. Hill exudes all the 1930's glamour and presence of, say, Cheryl Ladd or Suzanne Somers. With anachronistic hot-rolled hair and contemporary demeanor, she hardly evokes the necessary period details. Wagner and Jackson do okay jobs, though their roles are sketchy at best. It's nice to see Sidney in her usual crusty, tight-lipped mode (wearing what has to be THE reddest lipstick available!) There is also an opportunity for real-life Hollywood veterans Blondell, Carradine and Lamour to do something other than "The Love Boat" and keep their health insurance going. All in all, it's a mildly clever story with familiar actors, hampered by murky photography and a lackadaisical approach.

Kate Jackson and John Carradine

[kevinolzak · 5/10 · 27 July 2017]

Although broadcast on Sept 3 1976, "Death at Love House" carries a 1975 copyright, an indication that, for once, producer Aaron Spelling figured he had a real loser on his hands (this wasn't "Crowhaven Farm"). It works to some extent as nostalgia, aided by some expert casting and shooting on the fabulous Harold Lloyd Greenacres estate. What doesn't work is just about everything else, in particular the poorly filmed footage meant to be from the 1920s, which looks as modern as actress Mariana Hill, whose unspectacular career would end sooner than veteran costars Sylvia Sidney and Dorothy Lamour. Robert Wagner also looks out of place in the flashbacks, and not too well in the current storyline, leaving the dependable Kate Jackson to do all the heavy lifting, with an assist from MAUDE's Bill Macy. Wagner and Jackson are not only married, they are also collaborating on a biography of the mysterious Lorna Love (Mariana Hill), a Clara Bow-type silent screen siren adored by all, except for the few who really got to know her well before her untimely death. As movie director Conan Carroll, who had actually been in love with Lorna before she betrayed him for another, John Carradine is able to share some of his bitterness with the would-be authors before expiring near Lorna's shrine of beauty. Dorothy Lamour gets good mileage as Lorna's greatest screen rival, and ever vivacious Joan Blondell displays her darling dimples yet again as the president of Lorna's now defunct fan club. The prime cast member turns out to be Sylvia Sidney, her career actually dating back to the 20s, as the longtime caretaker of Lorna's estate, who knows just how deeply the star truly loved her departed Joel, lookalike father of Robert Wagner's character. Had there been more meat in the script we might have had reason to fear as Kate Jackson does, but Wagner's writer comes off as a cold fish, hardly worthy of any women's eternal devotion. As weak as the whole thing plays out (nothing supernatural or ghostly goings on) the climactic twist is actually worth the wait, though DARK SHADOWS veteran Kate deserved better, and had shared the screen with Carradine in one episode of her earlier triumph THE ROOKIES, just before CHARLIE'S ANGELS took off.

"Sorry, Honey! It Must've Been The Wind!"...

[azathothpwiggins · 6 July 2019]

Joel and Donna Gregory (Robert Wagner and Kate Jackson) move into the huge mansion of late silent film star, Lorna Love. Researching a book about her, the Gregory's are quite taken with the old place, complete with a shrine containing a perfectly preserved Lorna Love!

Upon perusing her library, Joel discovers some tomes concerning witchcraft. Enter Mr. Conan Carroll (John Carradine), who attempts to shed some light on Lorna's... dark side. Let's just say that this could be Carradine's shortest role, ever! Diabolical chicanery unfolds. Will Joel and Donna survive long enough to write their book?

DEATH AT LOVE HOUSE is another made-for-TV horror / suspense film from the wondrous 1970's. The fiendish fun begins almost immediately, blending both supernatural and occult elements. No, there's not a large body count, or shambling ghouls, but there is a nice, haunting atmosphere of mystery. Wagner and Jackson are great, as are the cameo appearances by Dorothy Lamour and Joan Blondell!...

Aaron Spelling thinks he's Dan Curtis!

[thomandybish · 12 April 2001]

Aaron Spelling attempted to dabble in horror with this flick, concerning two married journalists doing research on a long-dead Hollywood star. Lorna Love was the top star of her time, and it seems that she employed more than charm and talent to get to the top, namely, witchcraft, and seems to be employing it from beyond the grave on the husband(Robert Wagner), who is the son of Lorna's former love. Will Lorna prevail? Or will the wife(Kate Jackson)save her husband? It's a surprise. It's a decent film, but if Dan Curtis HAD been doing this, it might have been much, much better.

House Of Rotten Memories

[Lechuguilla · 11 February 2012]

Cheezy but kinda fun, this low-budget TV movie is set mostly in and around a 36-room Hollywood mansion, dark and sinister, wherein long ago lived a silent movie goddess named Lorna Love, but who now is entombed in a glass "shrine" on the mansion's grounds. Into this creepy world comes husband and wife writers researching Lorna Love for a book. The plot is simple and straightforward, but very campy. Subtle clues in the dialogue and visuals point to the twist at the end.

Color cinematography is terrible. The images, grainy to begin with, seem blurred or out of focus, which conveys the impression that the producers used cheap film stock. Or maybe the transfer to DVD made the visuals look bad. Sound quality is even worse. For insertion of TV commercials, each plot sequence fades to black, which makes the plot choppy. And background music is your typical nondescript, off-the-shelf elevator music.

Probably the best element is the casting of several older actresses including animated Joan Blondell, and wonderful Sylvia Sidney, whose gruff voice and thick red lipstick give her a unique, one-of-a-kind image. As husband and wife, Robert Wagner and Kate Jackson have minimal chemistry together. Jackson tries hard, maybe a little too hard. Wagner seems bored.

This film looks and feels very 1970s. The story's underlying premise isn't bad at all. Indeed, pick any fairly young deceased Hollywood celebrity. With major changes in the film's plot, geared to realism, might we envision the film's premise about Lorna Love being applied to that deceased person?

While doing research for a book about a long-dead Hollywood Star, strange and sinister happenings take place.

[wetreverb · 27 July 2011]

This movie, made for TV was very well cast, with excellent players, including Robert Wagner, Kate Jackson, John Carradine, Bill Macy, Joan Blondell, and others.

The screen writing was WEAK and failed to provide believable scenarios. EG: A serious, nearly successful attempt to murder Kate Jackson's character happened with no-one calling the Police, no questions asked, when there were ONLY three people in the mansion at the time - implausible at the least! Transitions and segues were too abrupt, or in some instances, totally inadequate, especially the denouement/climax of the storyline, at the very end of the movie's 74-minute duration.

As one reviewer noted, costuming and make-up left a Hell of a lot to be desired, in the flashback shots, which presumably were meant to take us back to the late 1920's. Our Silent-Era Hollywood Star was dressed and groomed more in keeping with the styles of 40-50 years LATER than when the scenes were supposed to be taking place. Someone really dropped the ball on their historical research, which should have been as easy as pie. Instead of modeling Lorna Love closely after Clara Bow or Jean Harlow, in this production, she more closely resembled Madonna.

It was almost too painful to watch, as this cast was made up of some of my favorite actors and actresses. Spelling and Goldberg should have been sued for wasting a golden opportunity to have produced a classic horror film.

I rate Death at Love House "5" strictly based on the valiant efforts of the cast, to overcome shoddy direction and lousy production values.

Must for film fans!

[deh-5 · 14 October 2004]

An incredibly dumb young couple move into the gorgeous mansion of long dead movie queen. They soon find that her legend is more powerful than they ever imagined, possibly more powerful than their own love. To be blunt it plays like an extended Fantasy Island segment, which is no surprise since the movie and the show are from the same creators. But it's worth a look for some clever stunt casting of Hollywood legends. And it's filmed at the Harold Lloyd estate which alone is worth the time. TV fans might find some interest in a young Kate Jackson who is really quite attractive with a mid 70s natural look and Robert Wagner who either is trying to play extremely cool or is just plain bored.