User Reviews

Director and writer John Farris had three of his books made into movies: Because They're Young, When Michael Calls and The Fury.

In 1943, a pregnant Luddy Dublin (Patricia Carmichael) murdered her mother with an axe. When she gets out of jail years later, she's walking through a college when she's knocked over by Richard (Robert Gentry) as he plays football. His wife Ellen (Elizabeth Eis) is a nurse and invites her to heal at their plantation home where they live with her elderly aunt Delilah (Agnes Moorehead).

As you can imagine, rich people have wild problems. Ellen finds out that Luddy killed her mother and holds it over her head while everyone wants to get at Delilah's money. Richard is also cheating on her with Grace Charles (Anne Meachum), Delilah's brother Doctor Alonzo Charles (Dennis Patrick) is a heroin addict and oh yeah, people start getting killed, starting with family attorney Roy (Will Greer) as Luddy finds an axe in her bed and wanders outside where she finds his body, which makes it seem like she killed him. Morgan (Michael Ansara) and his girlfriend Buffy (Ruth Baker) are next and Delilah soon goes missing.

Grace decides to roll around in Delilah's wheelchair and gets her head cut off with Richard revealing himself as the killer. Working with Ellen, they've found the rumored money buried on the property and are taking care of everyone else in the family, starting by overdosing Alonzo. They make love to celebrate and Richard killss her. He plans on making it seem like Luddy did it. But not everyone is as dead as they appear.

Shot in Nashville, Tennessee - which is the home of producer "Cowboy" Jack Clement, the writer of "Ballad of a Teenager Queen" and "Guess Things Happen That Way." He also discovered and recorded Jerry Lee Lewis. This was the only movie that he produced and its a weird piece of psychobiddy exploitation.

It's also a gory soap opera mixed with regional horror. There's not much else like it, a dialogue heavy trip through the strange world of a wealthy family. Everyone is going for it with their performances and I ended up loving every minute of it.

This is one of the Nightmare Theater movies. That collection of movies also has Damiano Damiani's The Witch, José Antonio Nieves Conde's Marta, Raúl Artigot's The Witches Mountain, José María Zabalza's The Fury of the Wolfman, Mario Bava's Hatchet for the Honeymoon, Peter Sadsy's Doomwatch, Francisco Lara Polop's Murder Mansion, Carlos Aured's Horror Rises from the Tomb and The Mummy's Revenge, Joe D'Amato's Death Smiles on a Murderer, Claudio Guerí's The Bell from Hell and Amando de Ossorio's The Night of the Sorcerers. They all aired on Chiller Theater. I'm obsessed by each of them.

Southern fried hokum that, despite the presence of a few A-list talents, offers up very few thrills. Wealthy Agnes Moorehead rules her family of ne'er-do-wells with an iron fist and taunts them into finding a stash of loot somewhere on their sprawling estate. Mayhem ensues. While Moorehead is quite good and Will Geer and Dennis Patrick offer able support, much of the cast act as if they're appearing in an amateur production of a Tennessee Williams' play. They're not helped by the unimaginative direction of John Farris. There are no scares, only silliness. It's awkwardly made and awkwardly scripted. Most ridiculous: somehow, Moorehead has the dumb-luck of hiring a recently paroled ax-murderess as a caregiver. Michael Ansara, Robert Gentry and Anne Meacham (awful as Moorehead's soused sister) are in it too.

Made fun by one of the last appearances of Agnes Moorhead, this entry into the hag horror genre is defeated by a trashy low budget and excessive gore. Its back story starts with an obviously demented plain young woman (Patricia Carmichael) talking to her dead mother's bloody corpse while making herself up for a date which obviously never occurs. Released from a mental institution, she goes to work for imperious southern matriarch Moorhead whose greedy clan seemingly can't wait for her to croak. Moorhead, their stepmother, announces that she's dying and that the estate will go to the state and a bequest of $5000 will go to each of them. She then sets up a rave to find money their father hid on the estate, leading to a series of gruesome killings that seem to point to nurse Carmichael.

With the role of a cranky goose and a brief run in the Broadway musical "Gigi" awaiting her, this was Moorehead's first film after nearly a decade as Endora awaiting her. She manages to create a memorable characterization, playing the part with commanding authority and not losing her dignity. Will Geer, Michael Ansara Anne Meachum, Dennis Patrick and Emmy winning soap actor Robert Gentry are among the supporting cast, with hunky Gentry having some interesting sadomasochistic tendencies added to a kinky love scene. Carmichael's story needed more detail to make her into a completely interesting and sympathetic character. I wouldn't call this a complete disaster, but it suffers from truly horrid technical aspects that makes it appear quite amateurish.

Oddly enough I'd never heard of this movie in spite of reading that it was a favorite of horror host programs over the years. Reflecting back that could be because I'd moved from a location that had the bests hosts (in my opinion Cleveland will always be that) to an area where there was none to be found by the time this movie was making the rounds on those sort of programs. I wish I'd found it sooner because it was a wonderfully atmospheric horror film that I'm certain fans would enjoy.

The movie opens in the past with a young woman named Luddy Dublin preparing to go out for the evening. As she talks to her mother the camera focuses on her getting ready and it isn't long before we realize she's covered in blood. As she moves from one room to another we find her mother dead and chopped into pieces. Luddy has killed her mother and is arrested and sent to a mental institution.

Fast forward 30 years or so down the line and we see Luddy being released, rehabilitated and ready to enter the world. While watching a group of young people in the park they accidentally hit her in the head. Richard (Robert Gentry) and Ellen (Elizabeth Eis) insist on taking her home with them to make sure she's okay. When they find she has no place to go they introduce her to the family matriarch Delilah Charles (Agnes Moorehead) who hires her to help around the house.

The Charles family is an unusual, one of those classic Southern families who have an air of faux aristocracy and antebellum charm to their behavior and attitudes in spite of their quirks. Helping Delilah is her attorney Roy Jurroe (Will Geer) an old potential boyfriend who is now friend only. Living in the house and first taking care of Luddy is her brother Alonzo (Dennis Patrick), the town doctor and a heroin addict his drugs provided by Richard. Her sister Grace (Anne Meacham) also lives in the house, a pleasant alcoholic who is sleeping with Richard on the side. Rounding out the home is Richard and Ellen, apparently married with Ellen being Delilah's niece and nurse.

Delilah calls together the entire family with news. This includes her other brother Morgan (Michael Ansara) who brings along his girlfriend Buffy (Ruth Baker). After dinner Delilah tells them she has important news for them. As usual she chastises them for abandoning the ways of her father and falling on hard times. She tells them her health is failing and she isn't long for this world. She then lets them know she's changed her will and is leaving the estate and its contents to the state to turn it into a museum. The money that once flowed freely has dwindled to little and she provides each with $5,000.

But she provides them with another tidbit of information. It seems that their father long ago was involved in a shady deal that left him with just over $500,000 which he hid on the estate. Delilah found the money but left it where it lay. Now she offers them the chance to do the same and she tells them that whoever finds it may keep it. The search is on.

From their greed raises its ugly head and bodies begin to drop with the killer never identified. The fact that an axe murderer now lives in the house means the possibility of Luddy being the killer is always there. Add to that the fact that she seems to always be the first to find the bodies and helps to stash them away so they aren't found and she becomes a prime suspect. But when you consider the greed of the family members with each in need of funds for one reason or another, the list of suspects is vast.

Written and directed by author John Farris (his only directorial credit) the film is fueled by some of the best dialogue written for the screen. His being a writer shows in those moments between characters as they speak to one another, something missing in many films these days. It's surprising that he stopped with this film or that more of his work hasn't been adapted for screen. Only three other items are shown as credits, THE FURY, WHEN MICHAEL CALLS and BECAUSE THEY'RE YOUNG. While the film has a gritty appearance in no doubt due to time and wear and tear it still is effective and engrossing.

This was Moorehead's last feature film where she was visible on screen before passing away and she turns in an amazing performance. With her character wheelchair bound and dripping with charm while at the same time berating all of those around her, she carries it off with ease showing the ability she no doubt learned while working with Orson Welles in the past. The rest of the cast does and equally admirable job. Patricia Carmichael in her only feature film role is the weakest member of the cast but still pulls off the character of Luddy quite well.

The final revelations at the end might be surprising to some and expected by others but the ending isn't one most will see coming. Suffice to say that it is satisfying and left an opening for more stories had Farris chosen to do so, not in the same vein as say a Freddy Krueger or Jason Voorhees but still a potential left open. The movie also featured what was considered shocking gore effects for the time but by today's standards seem rather tame. It's interesting to note what was stunning to audiences at one time and how that's changed to a period where a film like this might be able to be aired on prime time today.

Vinegar Syndrome has done another great job with this offering. Given that the original source for the film offered a grainy film to begin with it still looks good with a newly scanned and restored in 2k from 35mm vault elements. Extras are limited but that's to be expected with a film this old whose cast for the most part has passed away. Included in the extras are FAMILY SECRETS: THE MAKING OF DEAR DEAD DELILAH an interview with director/writer John Farris, a promotional still and article gallery and reversible cover artwork.

If you've never seen the film before then by all means look for it. You'll have an interesting film with plenty of horror on hand for fans of the genre as well as a solid mystery to solve before the end credits.

Ailing miserly matriarch Delilah Charles (a deliciously wicked and formidable portrayal by Agnes Moorehead) lives on a large plantation estate. Her various greedy and back-stabbing siblings gather together to collect Delilah's sizeable inheritance only to get bumped off left and right by a mysterious axe-wielding killer.

Writer/director John Farris relates the absorbing and enjoyable story at a steady pace, adroitly crafts a brooding gloom-doom Southern gothic atmosphere, and presents a colorful array of seriously damaged and dysfunctional characters. Moreover, it's acted with aplomb by an able and enthusiastic cast: Will Geer as rascally lawyer Ray Jurroe, Michael Ansara as the slimy Morgan, Dennis Patrick as pathetic junkie Dr. Alonzo Charles, Anne Meacham as shrill alcoholic Grace, Robert Gentry as jerky hunk Richard, Patricia Carmichael as troubled housekeeper Luddy, Elizabeth Eis as fetching nurse Ellen, and Ruth Baker as the ditsy Buffy. The startling moments of graphic gore pack a vicious punch. A solid and satisfying little shocker.