An interesting little B&W horror film from the early 60s.  The story focuses
on the Halloran family in Ireland - a mother, and three grown up brothers.
One brother, John, is rowing a boat with his wife Louise, in the lake.  They
discuss his mother's will, and how if John dies before his mother, Louise
gets nothing.  Ironically, John rows himself to a heart attack, and dies in
the boat.  Louise, money-hungry and not at all mournful, dumps her husband's
body in the lake, hoping to conceal his death, and have his mom rewrite her
will.

We learn more about this family, and their troubled past.  The large castle
in which they live is said to be haunted.  There was a younger sister to the
3 brothers, Kathleen, but she died as a young girl - drowned in the lake.
Each year (or maybe more often), the family conducts a ceremony over her
grave, and the mother is always overwrought with emotion for her dead
daughter.  It's been 7 years since the girl's death, but they have not yet
gotten over it.  Her room remains untouched, filled with her toys.  Anyway,
Louise attempts to use her mother-in-law's superstituous nature and
emotional scars to coerce her to change the will.  And to make matters more
confusing, out of the blue, a mysterious ax murderer is on the premises...

The story was interesting, even if low budget.  The acting was decent, and
the direction was good.  It's definitely slow at times, and confusing at
some points, but overall not bad.  There was one scene, however, where a
boom mic peeked in on the top left corner.  After about 5 seconds, it
scurries out of the shot, but the shadow of it remained - on the actors'
bodies!   For an early 60's flick, there was a good amount of gore (nothing
by today's standards, but for back then - wow).  And there's enough twists
to keep you guessing.
 
 
 

Quality: 4.0  Visuals: 3.0  Intensity: 3.5  Gore: 6.5  
OVERALL RATING: 4.3