This is one of the most un-horror-like horror films I ever saw. It isn't until the mighty David Warner turns up as Payne, a Van Helsing-type that things begin to get interesting. The music is as jaunty as has ever been found in a 1970s American tea-time drama and the beautiful locations are wonderful to look at but distinctly un-horrific.
A slow spooky realisation dawns on the inhabitants of an Indian colony in New Mexico, mainly thanks to starchy Payne's information. Knowledgeable he may be, but he ain't no charmer: just that kind of character Warner excels at.
But things are too slow and too unspectacular and really need a few more scenes of jeopardy to liven things up. I'm a fan of restraint in films like this, but I'm left waiting for something to happen too often. When it does, the special effects sometimes strain to convince. Just when you think things have shifted up a gear, the pace returns to its leaden pace. My score is 5 out of 10.
A slow spooky realisation dawns on the inhabitants of an Indian colony in New Mexico, mainly thanks to starchy Payne's information. Knowledgeable he may be, but he ain't no charmer: just that kind of character Warner excels at.
But things are too slow and too unspectacular and really need a few more scenes of jeopardy to liven things up. I'm a fan of restraint in films like this, but I'm left waiting for something to happen too often. When it does, the special effects sometimes strain to convince. Just when you think things have shifted up a gear, the pace returns to its leaden pace. My score is 5 out of 10.