Four people are brought to a spooky old mansion under the premise that they are to participate in a sleep disorder study. But what the Doctor and his assistant are really up to is to see how the group reacts to fear. The Doctor plants the seeds of fear by telling the group of the nasty history of the long dead owner hoping that this will cause their imaginations to run wild.

There is a groundskeeper and his wife working in the house but they go home before dark and "Never return after dark." This leads us to believe that nasty things happen at night. The Doc's assistant gets cut pretty bad and is taken to the hospital by one of the party and we never see them again. This leaves us with a cast of four.

Unfortunately the old dump really is haunted and the old man's ghost is not very nice. He had run a sweatshop that literally worked children to the bone and the bones are residing in the huge walk-in fireplace. The old prick is also holding the children's spirits captive in the house. It is up to one of the participants to free them.

After it finished I just sat there feeling kind of ripped off. Especially since I bought the vid instead of renting it. Even though it had great special effects, it just wasn't scary. The actors seemed to be acting out their part as opposed to being the part. None were convincing at all. If the actors don't project fear, how can we be frightened?

Those Dangling Questions...

The lady caretaker rhymes off a speech about how nobody wiil venture near the place after dark. She delivers this speech twice, word for word, sounding very much like she's reading it off a cue card. Since the place hasn't had any visitors for many years, why does she have this prepared speech to lay on them?

Also, if they know nobody will go near the place, why do the caretakers chain lock the gate when they leave before dark, especially with visitors spending the night? And how come the Doctor can open the gate one night to let his injured assistant out for treatment but they have to try and crash through the gate with a car the next night?

It's not a terrible movie, just not as good as it could have been.