Story: The Curse of the Werewolf guy, the Zuni Fetish Doll gal & their son rent a rundown but huge house in the country for the summer.  Wanna know why it’s so cheap? Not the mold level, that’s for sure.

Scares: Creepy chills come up slowly, but surely.

Splat factor: This is an old-fashioned haunted house yarn that has more boogeymen than blood.  This film was a network “4 o’clock Movie” staple back in the day, so except for one bloody bit at the end, you can expect to see harmless (for us) cut-away shots that kids coming home from school can tolerate.

Closing scene “shocker”?: Yup.  But it’s a good one.

Remake, Sequel or OG (Original Ghoul)?: It’s based on the 1973 book of the same name, but the film is strictly an original.

Trick or Treat?: Lik-M-Aid; it’s a classic you can’t help but enjoy if you take your time with it.  As the family slowly unravels as the house does it’s thing, Karen Black and Oliver Reed put in marvelous performances.  And do I need to say anything about the amazing, incredible Bette Davis?  Oh yeah folks, it’s gonna be a bumpy night.  As things fall apart in the family, their strain is highlighted by slight makeup effects on Ms. Davis and Karen Black’s costuming.  If you love haunted house movies, Burnt Offerings is a classic of the genre, and you can see parallels in films like The Shining, The Amityville Horror, The Sentinel, The Legacy, Rose Red…and even Dream House. Why mess with a good thing?  The only things off about this picture is the strange, inexplicable shift one of the characters takes toward the end of the film, and the grainy quality of the film itself.

Score: out of 5 pumpkins.