Gothic Movies: The Shuttered Room

[Monique Devereaux]

Here’s another fine little English Gothic horror film from 1967 that is perfect for a rainy Saturday afternoon. The Shuttered Room, loosely based on ideas and a story by H.P. Lovecraft, stars the ethereally beautiful Carol Lynley as Susanna, and the ever debonair Gig Young as her husband Mike Kelton, a suave, Madison Avenue advertising executive quite a few years her senior.

Susanna has just turned 21 and inherited the family estate on Dunwich Island. The "estate: turns out to be an old house and adjoining, dilapidated mill which is allegedly haunted, as Mike and Susanna learn from superstitious villagers, one of whom has the scars on his face to prove that the Devil lives in the old Whatley Mill. Along the way we meet a cast of sinister characters including veteran British actress Flora Robson as the very witchy-looking Aunt Agatha who holds court at the top of an old Norman tower, the late great Oliver Reed as a local redneck in some tight blue jeans and hell-bent for putting the moves on citified Susanna, and a mysterious creature who is chained up inside the abandoned mill and has a penchant for clawing to death any of the hapless villagers who stumble into the old mill after dark.

Though set in New England, the film was shot on location in Cornwall, England and there are plenty of exteriors showcasing the wild and rugged shorelines making it clear why so many Gothic novels past and present were placed in this setting. The plot line is a bit thin by today’s standards, but follows the classic 1960s gothic structure and has all the right pieces, plus a surprisingly effect soundtrack of wild and crazy 60s style freeform jazz.

The Shuttered Room is finally available in the US on DVD double featured with It starring Roddy McDowall.

More information and screen shots available here.

Cover of the paperback novelization available here.

[The_Gronk]

Sounds quite good. Is there a region 2 dvd out yet?

[Monique Devereaux]

The_Gronk Wrote:Sounds quite good. Is there a region 2 dvd out yet?

I don't know. I can tell you that this movie was released under the title Blood Island in Britain and I believe has been available on DVD for some time now.

[chrisraven09]

Is it in English language, I hope it is.
Is there any links I could download this movie, looks like this one is really scary cool .
And do you have a list of the most scariest gothic movies form 2005-2008.
I have a homework for that in my psychology subject, hope someone will help me.
Thanks in advanced.

[Charybdis]

What a totally ridiculous awful little film! I've just seen it and I want my 1,5 hours back. The book by Julia Withers is no better. I didn't finish as I was totally put off by the brutal killing of a dog. Ugh!

[Penfeather]

I'd be curious to read the original story, written by August Derleth after notes by Lovecraft. (Many of Derleth's own stories were also adapted by Rod Serling into episodes of his TV show Night Gallery.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shutter...her_Pieces

[Charybdis]

(10-17-2010 02:33 PM)Penfeather Wrote:  I'd be curious to read the original story, written by August Derleth after notes by Lovecraft.

I found it on IRC and uploaded it here.
It's an rtf-file of just 20 pages. I'll read it tomorrow.
.............
Done.
It's amazing how unfaithful movies can be towards the books/stories they've been adapted from. In this case about the only things in common are the mill, the shuttered room and several characters' names. So which was better? I would choose this original story, although it was really quite silly and very predictable, but it was more logical and made better sense than the movie.