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Writer's pictureClassic Horrors Club

TV Terror Guide: This House Possessed (1981)


Of the two 1970s Hardy Boys, I always thought it was Shaun Cassidy who was the singer. In This House Possessed (1981), though, it’s Parker Stevenson who treats us to not one, not two, but three nearly complete tunes. When Lieutenant Fletcher (Barry Corbin) in his one scene asks him if he’s a rock musician, Gary Straihorn (Stevenson) replies, “A musician, not exactly rock.” Classical? "No." Jazz? "No." Then it’s rock.

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After collapsing on stage from physical exhaustion, Gary hires Sheila Moore (Lisa Eilbacher), the kind and pretty nurse at the hospital, to be his personal caregiver for a couple weeks while he fully recovers. Although they have no idea where they’re heading from San Francisco, they enter the town of Rancho Santa Fe and look for a real estate agent so they can rent a house. What they find is so spectacular that Gary doesn’t just rent it; he buys it.

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It's 30 years old and the very opposite of an old dark house. Solar powered, it takes care of itself. The air is filtered so you don’t even have to dust. The windows are made of unbreakable glass to sustain the high winds. The lights and sprinklers turn on automatically. Its heartbeat is a security system that monitors the entire house. With this description alone, you can anticipate events because this is, in essence, a haunted house movie.

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The reasons are never explained. This is probably because you can’t explain security cameras that watch not only what happening inside the house but also on a musician’s stage and in a hospital. Instead, it’s all about the people… why Gary and Sheila are drawn to the house, why the local “Rag Lady” (Joan Bennett) calls Sheila, “Margaret,” and why Sheila can’t remember the first seven years of her life. Again, you can anticipate the answers.

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While This House Possessed is not exactly a mystery, it does have its suspenseful moments. Before the opening credits roll, a young couple hops the fence to take a look at the house. Unable to enter, they drop to the ground for their make out session. The security cameras watch and dispatch a hose to slither through the grass toward them like a snake. Instead of strangling them, though, it simply rises and sprays them with water to send them running.

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If that scene stops short of being truly terrifying, then another makes up for it. The local librarian, Lucille (K Callan), discovers information about the house that’s so important she wants to deliver it late at night. Halfway through the gate, it starts closing, trapping her car in the middle, and squeezing it until the tires pop and the whole thing explodes. That’s what brings Lieutenant Fletcher to the house, although he and the incident are soon forgotten.

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Other effective moments are few and far between, yet somehow This House Possessed steers clear of most haunted house tropes. Gary’s personality never changes, nobody’s body is occupied by a spirit, there are no ghosts needing to be led to the other side. The most disturbing thing about it, though, is one of its darned songs. As inexplicable as the events in the movie, it's a confounding ear worm.

Visit the TV Terror Guide: 70's TV Movies playlist at ClassicHorrors.Club TV on YouTube to watch This House Possessed and other great movies from this series.

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