Murder Mansion (1972)

A bunch of people find themselves stranded in a mansion en route to Milan because of a really thick fog that’s covering all roads. The people concerned are; Motorcyclist Fred (Resino) and hitchhiker Laura (Leonardi), Elsa (Gadé) who’s inherited a large fortune after the death of her father (and she’s also having marital problems with Ernesto (Dalbés) whom she´s supposed to meet in Milan), a lawyer and his wife, Mr. & Mrs. Tremont (Fajardo & Samarina), who are supposed go with Elsa to Milan and finally a Mr. Porter (Fantasia), a seeming lothario who attempted to get his way with Laura before she hitched a ride with Fred.

At the mansion they are greeted by Martha (Galli) who informs them of the unusual history of the region and tells them that all the townsfolk were killed off by a plaque or what may have been a vampire. And she happens to be a dead ringer to her great aunt who was condemned for vampirism and witchcraft. And it’s also clear that something sinister is going on ‘cause when Elsa crashed her car near the mansion two mysterious zombie like figures appeared and came after her. As the group settles in for the night some mysterious forces seem to happen and one by one they start perishing.

I’ve always kinda’ liked this film. Sort of a crossover between a classic Agatha Christie set-up, a moderately tame Giallo and a supernatural Euro horror/gothic all rolled into a tight 85 minute package. It’s really all about atmosphere and the flick delivers on that front and even conjures up an agreeable mystery that keeps the audience on their toes as to where it’s really headed. I won’t spoil anything but seasoned viewers of either Giallo’s and/or 60’s and 70’s Euro Gothics will venture a pretty good guess as to the general direction but it still ends up with a satisfying and not all that easy-to-guess finale. The mystery offered up really is twofold with the supposed supernatural happenings and who exactly is being targeted and why.

It’s pretty visually stylish and moves along at a brisk pace. It takes some time to settle down once everyone reaches the mansion but doesn’t come to a complete halt. It has some spooky scenes (with a nice homage to one segment in Mario Bava’s “Black Sabbath”) and is moderately suspenseful when things speed up in the final third. It’s never really gory but it has a couple of set-pieces that would at least quality as somewhat nasty.

The acting performances are all decent but as with most of these Italian/Spanish productions it’s the dubbing that can skew perceptions on their quality. Here we’re offered three audio options, Italian, Spanish and English, and on my first watch I tried the Italian one. But all the actors seem to be conversing in English so that’s been my audio experience since. It’s a rather weird one with all the voice actors sounding so sophisticated and detached from everything that’s actually taking place on screen. And their pronunciation of the city of Milan (I’m guessing that’s where they’re all headed) is unlike any I’ve ever heard. To try and put in words; it always sounds like they’re saying “Millen” – and I can’t find an Italian city called Millen on Google. I know – it’s a weird thing to focus on but it always grabs me. So I always select the English audio as it really does bring an otherworldly flavour to the proceedings that simply fits the whole experience.

“Murder Mansion” is a very decent entry in the Euro horror boom that was positively blooming in the early 70’s. Taking inspiration from a number of directions; it more than adequately blends them together and produces a tight package that entertains and ends up being quite unique. So many gems were produced in this fertile period of genre films in European moviemaking and thankfully they are all slowly being re-discovered.