THE HOUSE WHERE EVIL DWELLS (1982) ** ½

Edward Albert stars as an American writer who moves his family to Japan.  They rent a haunted house where a century ago, a samurai murdered his wife and her lover before committing suicide.  Before long, Saki cups are falling over mysteriously, lights turn off all by themselves, and faucets begin having a mind of their own.  The ghosts then possess the bodies of Albert’s wife (Susan George) and best friend (Doug McClure) and force them to reenact the tragic love triangle from centuries ago.  (She’d have to be possessed to want to go to bed with McClure.)  

The Japanese setting helps give The House Where Evil Dwells a different flavor than the countless haunted house movies that came out in the wake of The Amityville Horror’s success.  There are notable cultural twists on the usual horror clichés (like having a Japanese monk try to exorcise the spirits instead of a Catholic priest) that help make this one stand out from the rest of the pack.  The ghost effects are simple, but quite effective.  (They were filmed live, using mirrors.)  They’re probably a little bit overused though.  Their appearance works best when they’re taking over the bodies of Albert and George.  However, we see entirely too much of them as the film goes on.

Director Kevin Connor, who worked with McClure on the Land That Time Forgot films, seems to throw the restrained approach out the window by the time Albert’s daughter gets attacked by giant crabs.  On its own merits, this is a nutty sequence that works as pure head-scratching WTF nonsense.  On the other hand, it feels like it belongs in another movie altogether.  We do get a fair amount of gore (heads and arms are hacked off with samurai swords) and a decent bit of T & A too, although not nearly enough to qualify it as a classic or anything.

You could argue that the ending is predictable.  I’d rather say it’s inevitable.  I mean the whole thing is structured like a classic tragedy.  Giant crabs notwithstanding.

George is good, especially when she becomes possessed by the horny ghost, but Albert is thoroughly bland.  The fact that he’s playing yet another cliched struggling-writer-in-a-haunted-house doesn’t help.  Once Albert finds out he’s been cuckolded by a ghost, he suitably freaks out which leads to the entertaining fight where he and McClure become possessed and all of a sudden know karate and begin Kung Fu fighting each other.

Does it all work?  No.  Is it entertaining?  In fits and starts.  Am I glad I watched it?  Pretty much.

AKA:  Ghost in Kyoto.