In my quest to re-discover all things from my childhood that have been almost forgotten to the vault of time, I managed to uncover yet another rare gem in the horror Burnt Offerings (1976). While I knew this movie was old, I had a near impossible time tracking it down because of once again very foggy memories except for a few key scenes and a particular character. For the longest time, I had suspected that this movie was part of an Elvira showing, which led me down the path of attempting to view anything that potentially could resemble those bits of vague recollections. Unfortunately, I must have hit a few red herrings that prevented me from uncovering this classic. Yet I finally managed to determine the title along with a few key images that apparently not only had made a significant impression upon me, but others who grew up with this movie.
Burnt Offerings has a striking resemblance to the plot of Stephen King’s The Shining, which apparently had been profoundly influenced by this very movie (I read that Stephen King himself admitted Burnt Offerings was a favorite of his). It involves the Rolf family of four who pay the low 1976 (or whenever pre-2020’s inflated) price of $900 to house sit an ancient but Neo-classical, 19th century style mansion for one summer. Why they pay the owners to do them a favor is anyone’s guess (whereas in The Shining, Jack Torrance takes up his duties as the caretaker of the Overlook Hotel as a job, which makes far more sense). The family consist of Marian Rolf (Karen Black), Ben Rolf (Oliver Reed), son David Rolf (Lee H. Montgomery) and aunt Elizabeth (Bette Davis)
When they arrive at the house, they are greeted by help Walker (Dub Taylor) who seems befuddled and almost out of place. But he isn’t the owners of the place as that position is handled by the Allardyces, siblings Roz (Eileen Heckart) and Arnold (none other than Burgess Meredith). So as a viewer coming into this film, you might be impressed by some of the casting especially Burgess Meredith and Bette Davis. Well, at least for Burgess, he seems more like a cameo appearance while Bette Davis makes only a slightly few more appearances here and there. The bulk of the film will center around both Marian and Ben along with their annoying kid.
At any rate, it’s quite evident that the Allardyces are not working with a full set. Arnold appears late for a meeting with the Rolfs as he bumbles his way downstairs on his wheelchair. They set out the conditions for running the place beyond the $900 pay, which includes taking care of the Allardyces’ ancient mother, who is left unseen and mostly stays within her room except to occasionally listen to music, attend to her photo collection of memories and take in her meals (which have their own requirements)
Rightfully, Ben is suspicious of the place and people whereas Marian has taken up an immediate affection for the place. While the two families negotiate, David hurts his knee. When he comes inside he exhibits his injury which looks quite serious according to Ben. Similarly, the caretaker Walker finds a dying plant but Arnold tells him to turn it around to show that a new small group of leaves are already starting to grow. I believe in both cases there might have been an injury but part of the theme of Burnt Offerings is the notion of blood sacrifice.
At any rate, Ben manages to convince his wife to think on the proposition so they go to a hotel where they discuss the deal. Ben has his set of reservations but Marian only thinks about their existence prior to this possible upgrade in lifestyle. There’s only a brief mention of what Ben had done previously (which I believe could have been as a professor as Marian would clean out a section of the mansion to create a study room/office space for him to work on his dissertation or some other publication) so we have little idea of their economic background (heck we barely find out anything about these people but that’s something I’ll address after the main plot summary). Yet it’s clear Ben loves his wife dearly and concedes to her wishes.
The following day, they return this time with aunt Elizabeth in tow. I can’t figure out which side of the equation Elizabeth belongs to but I assume it’s Marian’s because Ben is the outsider here with his British accent (another very peculiar aspect to this movie which doesn’t feed into any part of the story). Ben and Elizabeth do seem to have a cordial relationship and they joke often (whereas behind the scenes apparently Bette Davis despised actor Oliver Reed and Karen Black)
As the Rolfs start settling in, Marian decides to visit the old Mrs. Allardyce up in her room (which is at the highest level of the house). Having no luck in receiving any response from the elderly Mrs. Allardyce, Marian inspects the adjacent room which contains a large number of portraits that date back possibly a hundred years (most likely matching the age of the home itself).
Eventually, Marian goes back downstairs with a full tray of Mrs. Allardyce’s meal and talks about her “encounter” with Mrs. Allardyce. It seems at this juncture she was able to meet with the mysterious mother and learn that she was resting. However, the rest of the family begin exploring more of the place and find the kitchen areas stocked with food. In one storage, one of the light bulbs has burnt out which Marian charges her husband to replace. Nonetheless, the husband grows more accepting of the mansion as he finds some bubbly. At that point, the son goes back into the storage but somehow successfully turns the light back on without really noticing why. So we’re left with realizing something definitely is odd with this home. Later that night, Marian once again goes to check on Mrs. Allardyce only to find that her latest meal is left untouched.
The following day, we see aunt Elizabeth painting a portrait of the mansion outside. Ben and Marian partake in their part of the deal of home maintenance where Ben fixes up the pool and Marian vacuums the stairs. The water device seems broken but David apparently is a mechanical genius compared to his “father” and demonstrates what he needs to repair it. The (murky) water begins to fill the pool again before randomly going off into the jungle-like section of the property where they discover a variety of graves going back to the 1800s. David uncovers an ancient bicycle too which never gets mentioned thereafter and that whole scene besides the grave aspect almost seems like a waste of time.
Back upstairs, Marian makes another attempt to connect with the mother as she sees that the tray is left untouched. Amongst the portraits, Marian discovers an old musical box that she opens and finds still operative. The music soothes her and she seems to ignore reality. Over at the poolside, Ben continues to work on pool maintenance while David reveals that Marian ought to have shown up to partake in the pool festivities. At the same time, aunt Elizabeth does her best to try and blow up a flotation device where Ben accuses her of smoking too much (which might’ve been an inside joke to the actress’ actual smoking habits) Yet one thing a person might notice is that Elizabeth seems to aging in front of our eyes as her appearance in this scene seems far less energetic than when we first encounter her.
Eventually, David goes to seek his mother but doesn’t put enough effort nor sense to search for her near Mrs. Allardyce’s room. Instead, Ben decides to play in the pool with David but their antics get rougher (and quite frankly extraneously long as a scene) until Ben nearly drowns David. Just prior though, there’s a part where Ben finds a pair of broken glasses (which I thought was his) in the pool. He doesn’t mention where he found them to the others and keeps his thoughts to himself (which is very annoying since we never get to see what these glasses represent for the rest of the movie). Regardless, Ben stops short of killing his son and there’s very little indication what motivated him into this act in the first place. At the same time, Marian seems to have snapped out of her trance with the musical box (btw, you really need to pay close attention to Marian’s appearance throughout the movie as it alters little by little as the story progresses)
At the night, Marian and Ben sleep (during a HEAVY rain storm in the summer of all times after a completely sunny day) with Ben having a nightmare (shot in black and white) with him as a young child during what apparently is his mother’s funereal. Here’s where the movie started to really click with movie because I had very dim memories of this B/W portion, which seemed completely out of place for a movie. But it makes more sense now since this was a flashback/nightmare.
At any rate, the young Ben observes a peculiar chauffeur wearing dark sunglasses who seems keen on Ben’s presence. Forcefully, Ben is guided by an unseen assistant to an old vehicle (maybe a hearse?) for which the chauffeur awaits. After getting in, the chauffeur dramatically turns around with a sadistic grin while the young Ben in an almost paralyzed type of trance can only stare back. At the funeral itself as a minister gives the rites of passage, Ben tries to remain solemn with a hand and its unseen own gripping him. Yet Ben detects an odd presence in the distance and once again it’s the chauffeur. We get another close up of the chauffeur with his sadistic grin staring solely at Ben.
Let me stop and just make a few comments here. First, this whole flashback has been permanently imprinted in my mind forever. We get creepy music in this hazy, dream-like state (which it turns out was the case), done as a B/W flashback. With the chauffeur, he’s completely mysterious, does not speak but only offers a malicious grin once Ben gets into the car. With the firm hand on Ben’s shoulder as he’s either guided or held steady during the funeral, it’s as though he’s unable to do anything except glance back at this entity. The scene leaves us wondering just whom this bizarre figure is and in truth we never get an answer in the film.
It turns out the chauffeur is played by character actor Anthony Davis. I wasn’t immediately familiar with the name but upon looking at his background on imdb, I came to recognize him from two clear titles: Blue Thunder and the Naked Gun 2 1/2. In Blue Thunder, he plays a murderous assassin who kills JAFO by smashing him with his vehicle. In Naked Gun 2 1/2, again he plays another creepy assailant who is after Jane during the shower sequence. One thing about Anthony Davis is that at least from the stuff I’ve watched of him, he always had this knack of being this mysterious, creepy individual bent on murder. However, from what I read, this was completely in contrary to his actual personality. Perhaps, his pock marked face and gaunt features really helped add to his devilish demeanor that he would portray.
The other major comment here is that I read the character was an add on by one of the screenwriters. A little background on this film (as an interjection) is that there was a book for this movie and it was meant to be turned into a screenplay much earlier in the late 60s. However, that went nowhere so these other people who took this film revamped it a bit (because there were cuts made) and that this character was inspired through one of the writer’s personal memories as a child in attending a funeral. The main thing about that memory was the writer recalled seeing a chauffeur laughing despite the otherwise somber mood. Unfortunately for this film though, the writer didn’t do much to follow through on this marvelous character but I’ll address the major flaws holistically later.
Anyway, Ben wakes up and goes for a walk. Marian tries to soothe him to return to bed. However, somehow without proper transition, Marian assumes that Ben’s mental state is due to his guilt felt for his earlier attempt of drowning their son David. Yet Ben admits that he wanted to hurt David (without explaining why, which is one of those major issues in this movie) then digresses again to say that the root of his mental breakdown was having nightmares about his mother’s funeral. He does not mention at all about the chauffeur while Marian attempts to dismiss his state.
In the morning, Marian goes down to the poolside to realize that the pool area has been completely refurbished. Although she exasperates her surprise, she doesn’t question why everything is renewed. The obvious answer would be the work of Ben and possibly David but she doesn’t give either credit and we only get the creepy music in the background and her surprise that things have improved only makes sense in the context that she hadn’t been outside as she had spent the majority of her time preparing meals for the absent Mrs. Allardyce or simply wasting her time listening to the music box.
From there we get the renewed office scene where Marian suggest to Ben that he could work on his doctorate again (what the hell had he been doing before this?) Then aunt Elizabeth comes down with a demure David and says that David has decided to take up painting too. David and Ben reconcile with Ben oddly asking David, “We’re still friends?” despite the fact that David would follow up and call Ben “dad”. I can’t tell if the “friends” aspect is the result of Ben being British or if David is his step child in all of this. But there’s definitely this strange dissonant relationship between the two. If there was a part of the movie that explained why they have this distance, then the movie did a poor job highlighting it (but I prefer to blame the actor playing Ben because he mumbles most of his dialog which might be an issue with this particular actor). Also, Marian wants them to start over from scratch and forget the past so we get the theme of renewal once more.
The next part felt quite gratuitous and completely unnecessary but it’s the closest thing we get to a pure sex scene in this movie. Marian finds Ben by the poolside outside privately pondering and wants him by her side upstairs in bed. We get a very awkward romance scene which starts with the pair jumping into the pool. I think somewhere in this muddled dialog Ben admits to not being the same stick of dynamite he was 13 or how many years previously. But before anything of note can truly be accomplished Marian sees the lit unattended window of Mrs. Allardyce’s window and stops her seduction of Ben, who is left to ponder on the grass. Instead, Marian returns to the adjacent room from Mrs. Allardyce’s bedroom and sits in a chair listening to the music box and falls asleep.
In the morning, Ben wonders where Marian had gone and she reveals that the rest of her night. Ben is disappointed and decides to go cut the brush after angrily smothering his cigarette out on a plate (which I think was meant to upset Marian since the cups were part of the house and she has become highly sensitive to anything from the place). Aunt Elizabeth comes down and Marian accuses her of lateness. But Elizabeth still is tired and thinking about returning to bed. The remarkable thing here is that Elizabeth physically appears to have aged again and she admits while looking at a mirror that she needs a beauty parlor. At the same time, Elizabeth notices a gray patch that appears on Marian’s hair but Marian does not think much of it outside of how her own aunt had gone completely gray by the age of 33.
Nonetheless, she acquiesces to Marian’s suggestion and returns to her room but cannot get any sleep. Instead, she decides to seek out the elder Mrs. Allardyce only to find Marian up in the room already, answering to the name of Mrs. Allardyce and denying Elizabeth entry. The entire time though Elizabeth struggles especially as she ascends the stairs.
Back outside, Ben finishes up his work and has another hallucination of the chauffeur, who drives the ancient vehicle to the drive way only to give Ben his trademark sadistic grin.
For whatever reason, Ben remains too frightened and paralyzed to do much except whimper in fear. After clearing his vision, he looks back up only to see that the creepy chauffeur and his vehicle are completely gone.
At night, the clocks all turn to midnight simultaneously with their chimes and alarms going off, which awakens the fragile minded Ben to investigate. As he patrols the halls, he becomes suspicious and goes to David’s room where the door is closed and locked. Ben smashes down the door to see that his son is unconscious from a gas leak. The windows in the room are all locked too so Ben picks up his son and takes him to another window to get him fresh air. Ben goes back to examine the room while Marian supports their son. Ben fixes the gas leak from the furnace and smashes open the window to get fresh air as the window too had been jammed. Finally, aunt Elizabeth saunters in to ask what happened. This time, Elizabeth looks even older.
In the morning, Elizabeth and Marian argue over what happened. Elizabeth once again has overslept but feels guilt at what happened. Her memory is foggy about the previous night and she tries to plead innocent to a crime she thinks she did not commit with regards to the setup. The only thing she can recall is covering David because the “house is cold.” However, Marian’s tone grows more aggressive as Elizabeth tries to deny having to do anything more than covering David while her memory has become quite hazy (at her age as Marian accuses). At the same time, it’s worth noting that Marian’s hair style is starting to change as her demeanor while Elizabeth is like an old prune here with her doddering around with a dementia-like condition.
Upstairs in her bed, Elizabeth talks with Ben to try and convince him of her side of things. At this stage, she’s incredibly frail and sickly but Ben remains compassionate, wanting Elizabeth to speak with Marian and reconciling with his wife. Either way, Elizabeth is convinced that her mind is fine, even though earlier she did fail to recall Mrs. Allardyce’s name, which had infuriated Marian. Ben goes to confront Marian, who is up in the adjacent room again. This time, Marian wears her hair in a less modern fashion and she has a brooch on her neck, making her appear Victorian. The two argue once more about what’s been going on and Ben starts to see his wife very suspiciously, although he does not mention her sudden alteration in style.
Downstairs, David examines a strange glass object and accidentally drops it as his mother appears (now in one of those over the shoulders shawls and night gown along with the evolution of her hair style). Marian gets incredibly upset at David for shattering the object to the point where she breaks down and cries over the fragmented glass. Ben walks in to observe his wife’s continual evolution into this being he no longer can recognize. Upstairs, Elizabeth now looks like a mummy or a zombie as she’s completely withered away and her attempt to sit up results in a crack of her back.
In turn, Marian and Ben have another argument, this time over David and how Marian treated him after he broke the glass bowl. Here, we get what might be the thesis of the movie as Ben asks Marian if she would give up the house over their relationship. Marian does not directly answer but finds the question ridiculous even though there’s some practical thinking behind Ben’s logic such as the summer nearly being over. However, Marian dislikes Ben’s accusations of the house being the thing responsible for what’s gone on and before she can answer or Ben go more in depth, David cries for their aid.
Side note, here’s where I see a great deal of parallels between The Shining and this movie. Obviously, Marian (as the woman) and Jack Torrance’s roles are reversed but there is a sense of soul binding between their properties and what they perceive are their duties. At least for Marian, it’s clear she values the intrinsic nature of the home as something precious in materialism as she would later talk about having nothing. Jack Torrance too would talk about having a meaningless life in Boulder prior to accepting the job at the Overlook.
At any rate, the family goes to check up on David, who finds Elizabeth to be in terrible pain and almost unresponsive. Ben gets David out of the room while he makes a call for any doctor. Unfortunately, all his calls are met with busy signals so Marian goes to make the call herself. Apparently, she is able to get through to someone, although she does not mention who this person is by name nor profession. All we know is that “he is coming.” As she leaves, she returns to the adjacent room to Mrs. Allardyces’ bedroom and starts eating the tray of food while Ben awaits for the doctor. Outside, the antique vehicle approaches which Ben recognizes and instills fear into him. He crawls behind the bed with Elizabeth and tries to hide while Elizabeth moans in pain. We hear the slow ascent of someone as the creepy music grows louder. A pounding at the door begins freaking out the terrified Elizabeth then the door burst open with an tan/orange lit hallway containing the grinning chauffeur. This time he’s bearing a coffin and rams it into the bed as Elizabeth hollers in abject fright.
So this scene confirmed everything for me in terms of what I remember. Originally, I thought that the chauffeur had smashed a piano into the elderly Elizabeth but it turned out to be a coffin, which makes far more sense given that this man was a hearse driver. But along with that the chauffeur once again is seen with his sadistic grin paired with the tan/odd lighting that gives him a very sinister appearance. So this scene alone made me want to watch the whole thing and review it as it was something from an ancient memory that has deeply satisfied my intense curiosity in recovering this long lost gem of a movie.
The following day, Marian walks out to a room filled with flowers, possibly for Elizabeth’s funeral. The scene cuts to the actual funeral of Elizabeth where Ben and David attend. In a way, this funeral scene almost is an update of the nightmare Ben experiences, except the chauffeur is absent from the scene itself. Also, it is unclear how Elizabeth actually died, whether or not the chauffeur was the one responsible and how Ben and David managed to get the body to the funeral in the first place (for reasons which will become clearer hereafter).
Back at the house, Marian now is fully attired in a Victorian type of costume with her hair done in a particular bun while she lights candles. Ben is the first to arrive after the funeral and accuses Marian of being apathetic over Elizabeth’s demise in trading her obsession with the house. However, Marian patiently explains that her priority is on Mrs. Allardyce. David walks in with a glass and Marian grows irritated that David has placed a simple glass on the mahogany and requests that David uses a goblet instead. Obviously, asking a child to use a goblet is a bizarre thing but now we’re quite suspicious of Marian with her transformation as is Ben.
Angered, Marian retreats back to the side room upstairs, examining the portraits and listening to the music box. Ben follows her and she quickly shuts the music box closed as Ben decides it’s time to learn who Mrs. Allardyce is. However, the door remains locked and Marian tells him that only Mrs. Allardyce holds the key. Ben decides that they need to leave this place with or without Marian as all she can think about is the house and Mrs. Allardyce. However, Marian remarks that the house is everything they ever wanted and its theirs, describing their previous life as being nothing.
At night, another storm hits and the roof is changing. Ben wakes up to the noise and goes to examine things (which to me looks like the shingles just falling apart). He goes to get David up and reveals what he knows (where he believes the board/tiles are being replaced by new ones without a clear explanation why) and is determined that this is the time to leave the house permanently. They retreat in the heavy storm towards the garage (which is a separate section of the home) while Marian also wakes up suddenly to see her family running off.
David is confused by all this and protests but Ben forces David into the car as he hauls off. Marian runs down as Ben recklessly escapes in the car. As he tries to go through the long driveway, a tree topples over and blocks their escape. David continues to freak out while Ben leaves the car and tries to clear the area. However, with the heavy storm and a vine that curls around Ben’s leg, he can’t make any headway. As a result, Ben frantically tries to ram the car through the brush but only manages to smack his head which stuns him.
Gradually, Marian works her way towards the other two and slides Ben to the side to take over driving duties and tells them that she’s going to take them back. Ben tells her that she accepts “this” and begins to hallucinate, possibly from the head trauma and as they near the house imagines seeing the sadistically grinning chauffeur.
Unfortunately for the story, that’s the last time we’ll see this guy (more on that later). Either way, Ben is taken to his room and is sedated by a doctor (who manages to get on the premise and I’m guessing leave unscathed). However, Marian no longer is dressed up in her Victorian/Civil War attire and looks almost normal (maybe to greet the doctor and not appear as some sort of loon?) The doctor informs Marian that Ben should be taken to a hospital which would require Marian to drive to the city. That obviously upsets Marian and she asks whether he’ll be okay at their place with proper care.
From there, Marian goes to check up on David, who is concerned about Ben despite how Ben acted nutty earlier in forcing David into the car. Still confused about their situation, David inquires whether they’ll be leaving the house. Again, Marian says that it’s best that they stay. The next day, the three are by the poolside and somehow they manage to get Ben from his bed to the pool area, despite the fact that he’s in a near catatonic state. David wants to go swimming but Marian dislikes the idea and wants David to keep watch over Ben while she fixes up lunch.
Despite David’s earlier promise to Marian that he would keep away from the deep end of the pool, he wants to help his father out and impress him with his swimming skills. So like some dumb punk idiot David goes swimming and trudges to the deep end. Of course, he starts to drown while Ben sits impotently starring. Upstairs, Marian had warned him from the upper room to avoid the deep end and panics. As David loses control, Marian freaks out and tries to leave the room with the door locking. Oddly, she’s able to get through a different door to the same room to rush downstairs but this time it’s the front door that’s locked. She ends up smashing through a window to escape the house and dives to save her son while Ben crawls helplessly on the ground.
It’s interesting to note here how David’s vulnerability is the one thing that causes Marian to react against the house. The house detects her return to semi-normalcy and tries to prevent her from saving her son. The fact that she breaks a window is symbolic that possibly she is about to return to her old self (and she keeps her previous appearance as opposed to the Victorian/Civil War style). Ben too seems to snap out of his catatonic state as he screams for Marian and sadly admits to David that he tried to save him. In turn, David decries the home and now Marian agrees to leave it all behind.
Then as they are about to drive away for good, Marian pauses to return inside, thinking about Mrs. Allardyce. Despite David and Ben imploring her not to return, Marian simply wants to leave their phone number to be polite. When Marian goes back inside, she’s compelled to survey the place once more. She straightens out a mirror, for instance, before entering one of the doors (presumably the adjacent room to Mrs. Allardyce’s bedroom). With Marian taking too much time, Ben gets impatient and decides to look for her.
He goes to the connecting room to Mrs. Allardyce and finds that Mrs. Allardyce’s bedroom is unlocked for once. He sees a figure in the mysterious room and presumes it’s Mrs. Allardyce. Desiring for information on his wife, Ben cautiously approaches the still figure on the chair and breathes heavily. Eventually, he grows impatient and swings the chair around to reveal that it’s Marian herself but an aged version with a vengeful look as she tells him, “I’ve been waiting for you, Ben.”
Then Marian rushes out as Ben realizes what probably has gone on. He’s chucked from the window of Mrs. Allardyces room through the air and lands on the front windshield of their car. David sees the smashed up and bloody face of his father and freaks out, frantically taking off from the car. He circles the home screaming for his mom and comes across the chimney for which this empty headed little shit just stares straight up and waits for the bricks to fall down on him. I mean, come on! You have enough time to run the fuck out in an open area you little dumb ass dweeb. And for the record, this was another major piece I do recall but only upon seeing it again.
With the family dead or absorbed by the home, we fast forward a little in the epilogue to see the home completely renewed and gorgeous again as though it were just made. We get a voice over from the two Allardyce siblings who reminisce about the beauty of the place as a photograph is taken of the new pristine building. Along with that, they mention that their “mother” is restored to them as well. With that, we get a panning shot of the various portraits while the music box plays, stopping at the newly “acquired” portraits of the Rolfs minus Marian, whom we can assume has become the replacement mother figure for the house.
So as far as what people may conceive as horror movies goes, Burnt Offerings may seem to not be what a lot of people could expect these days. There’s only one “gruesome” scene with Ben’s face smashed up on the windshield of the car or perhaps the drastically aging countenance of aunt Elizabeth. Instead, this movie occurs more in the realm of a psychological horror mixed with what some might label as a type of “haunted house” trope type of movie. There’s really not a lot of superstitious elements in this movie though except for a few things such as the instantly switching clocks, the closing door and the mysteriously bubbling pool. Everything else can be explained through some sort of hallucinogenic state of mind such as Ben seeing the grinning chauffeur in place of his wife.
For me, I felt the movie was in the neighborhood of 70% logically constructed. When we received an explanation or a motivation, it made sense such as when Ben asked what Marian needed extra time for. However, there’s no real depth to such questions and therein lies a huge problem with this movie as a lot remains clouded in an unexplained mystery where too much needed to be tidied up.
The biggest plot hole for me was the chauffeur. By far, the sadistically grinning chauffeur is the best element of the movie. He seems like the actual villain in all of this but we have absolutely no idea whom this person is nor why he shows up. The barest of explanations is that the chauffeur (which is what the movie has labeled him as) represents death at every turn. The only character the chauffeur is connected to is Ben and Ben never offers any hints to the people around him that he even exist. We don’t know why Ben is afraid of his person at all outside of some sort of possible psychological trauma he experienced during his mother’s funeral in conjunction with how the chauffeur appeared at times merely grinning at him.
There is the one scene where the chauffeur makes an appearance as Elizabeth is about to pass away but it’s impossible to know whether the figure was part of Ben’s imagination or occurred in reality. By that point, Elizabeth is in a near catatonic state and can only grunt in fear as we assume she can see this person. Then when the chauffeur rams the coffin into the bed, it’s undetermined if that action is what causes Elizabeth’s actual demise because we only see Ben and David at a funeral thereafter (by the way, I think in the way the scene with the coffin was shot, I always believed the chauffeur had murdered Elizabeth with a piano (or some sort of heavy rolling equipment thing) the way he rammed the coffin hard into the bed. All we can assume is that he’s some sort of boogeyman installed in Ben’s imagination.
The thing is that with the funeral, we have to assume that the chauffeur is merely a figment of Ben’s strained mind because he reacts calmly there. When he returns to the house and confronts Marian about her absence, Ben never mentions the chauffeur. In fact, we never get a real conclusion as to how Elizabeth perishes. The only thing that’s plausible is that she merely dies of old age/heart attack or some other form of debility.
Again, I connect the chauffeur with the image of death as his attire is black, he wears dark sunglasses where we do not ever see his eyes (there is a still shot where the actor isn’t wearing his trademark sunglasses but I assume it’s only a promotional piece) and the chauffeur would drive a black hearse-like vehicle. He shows up mostly when something involving mortality happens or is about to happen. But in truth, he’s very inconsistent and a frustrating character to watch because he disappears after the car crash. But by then we do connect him to Marian when Ben seems to hallucinate in seeing the chauffeur rather than his wife after hitting his head.
But there’s a lot of elements in the movie that just aren’t followed through such as the bicycle in the woods or the broken glasses by the pool. You would think these are major plot points that should come about again later on. But neither are mentioned here on out. Then there’s stuff that gets mentioned which seemed like a big deal but get buried quickly such as Ben’s profession. Or at times it seems that elements of the plot resolve as an after thought such as when Marian reveals how David’s door is always open. In that case, she does so after Ben becomes suspicious that something is wrong with David. Without that little detail beforehand, it’s unclear how Ben knew something was wrong with David.
One of the biggest common criticisms of this movie though is the pacing. I have to agree, the story feels VERY plodding at times. The beginning occurs quite slowly and takes time ramping up where you wonder why this is a horror movie at all. There are small elements of mystery that weave their way throughout but you’re simply waiting something to actually happen. Some parts, while emphasizing a key point, feel redundant such as Marian returning to Mrs. Allardyce’s room to find the tray of food left alone. There’s a big lack of economics when it comes to how scenes are filmed such as the overly drawn out drowning scene (the first one) and the sex scene by the pool.
Dialog-wise, it’s really hit and miss. When I mentioned that 70% of the movie is logically built, that 30% missing hits hard. At times, the dialog itself feels extraneous, verbose and pointless to the plot except to try to move things from point 1 to point 1 sub plot A etc. Sometimes the transitions don’t flow well either like when Ben goes from his nightmares to Marian automatically assuming that it’s Ben’s guilt for drowning his son. Nothing really is shown to help the viewer assume that Ben has any guilt. Worse yet Ben admits that he took pleasure in harming David so it makes you wonder how Marian can make any connection at all.
Casting-wise, you’d think with some of the heavy hitter names this movie would be good. But the story boils down to roughly four people of the Rolfs. David is horribly annoying (if you couldn’t tell by my earlier tones). To me at least, he represents one of those post-hippy rugrats that somehow made it out of the womb with his bad American rice bowl hair cut and his inadvertent need to get himself in trouble like a minor version of Dennis the Menace. Despite the fact that a child (i.e. prepubescent kid) was killed off, I took great pleasure in seeing a bunch of bricks land on the little fucker. Seriously, fuck that kid.
Oliver Reed also was a very odd choice. I did recognize him since I recently had the opportunity to see his other movie I reviewed in Dr. Heckyl and Mr. Hype. As I mentioned in the previous review, I think Oliver Reed seems like a fine stage actor. He reacts very well and can say his lines fine. But his problem just like in Dr. Heckyl and Mr. Hype here is that he mumbles most of the time, which makes his dialog almost impossible to discern at times. Some of the points I feel at least in this movie are potential keys to critical things I might’ve missed but I’m forced to listen very carefully. Despite that I still at times have no idea what he’s saying because of his mumbling mixed in with his British accent.
More importantly, as I had stated previously, his character makes almost no sense to me. I don’t even think he has a real character here. First, why is this British person in America with this woman? We only know that he might be working on a doctorate which implies he probably is/was a student. Then he has this bizarre relationship with David. David calls him father but Ben treats David more like a friend, even offering to shake the kid’s hand in reconciling with David after the drowning attempt. Yet there’s almost no depth to Ben outside of the fact that he experienced some trauma at his mother’s funeral when he was younger. We don’t know what that trauma was beyond the fact that his mother had died and a chauffeur smiled at him the entire time. Everything that happens to Ben for the most part lives in his head and no amount of reacting ever can fill the vast amount of missing information to the viewer on whom this Ben person is. Like why did he want to hurt David in the first place when he went to drown him? At least in Jack Torrance’s case, we learn that Jack Torrance was an abusive drunk that got mad at Danny when Danny scattered Jack’s papers. The clear difference between Nicholson, Reed, Kubrick and this mess of a film is that Nicholson did his piece very well, clearly and expediently.
Then we come to aunt Elizabeth played by Bette Davis. Obviously, Bette Davis is a huge name but you wouldn’t really know it watching this movie. Her appearances are rare and she reacts well to things but there’s just nothing to Elizabeth for Bette to work with. We’re given that she smokes, drinks and is lecherous on top of her ability to paint. But I couldn’t tell which side of the family she belonged to. Most likely, she was from Marian’s side as she obviously did not have a British accent. I might have to re-watch the earlier parts because again this movie does such a horrible job glossing over what might be critical details in describing the relationships between these people. Part of the reason I’m upset in not knowing Elizabeth’s background is that Marian handles Elizabeth’s death callously. If that’s her aunt, she ought to have been far more emotional about the affair but treats Elizabeth with incredible disdain. Perhaps, though that is the point of Elizabeth’s character as a burden on the family. But I’ll return to that when I discuss topics.
Burgess Meredith’s appearance would seem like a great addition to this movie but he shows up so briefly you forget that he exist here. I read one snide comment that both Burgess and Bette probably received easy paychecks for their roles here. You could have easily replaced both with someone else and still received the same results.
Then you have Karen Black who probably is the most divisive casting here. I feel that her earlier entry into the movie made her seem more like some random bimbo off the street. Her delivery seems wooden for the most part but her character does evolve in the movie. Much of that evolution is more due to her attire and hair style than her speech. However, she does a good job portraying someone on the edge with her wild eyes. Despite her obvious alteration in attire though, I would have liked her to have changed her accent to match her (in movie’s) British one that could have connected her more to the house’s history. Because Ben never really points out any of her changes despite her appearance drastically changing over time. So all that felt like a waste. The only time it’s clear what she has become is when she appears as the “mother” of the house and assaults the impotent Ben.
The rest of the cast is practically a moot point. Maybe Eileen Heckart deserves an honorable mention but I’m less familiar with her work compared to Burgess Meredith and was paying more attention to Burgess once he appears. The only positive I can maintain about Eileen’s work here is that she does enough to make you believe she’s slightly off her rocker at the least.
When it comes to topics, the big one I read was that this movie represents a criticism of modern families and materialism. Marian’s infatuation for the house on first sight and her talks about having nothing previously emphasizes that point. The argument between Ben and Marian about choosing their marriage over the house is another poignant mark. I read some comparisons to this movie and The Amityville Horror as the Lutz’s found the appeal of that particular house for the price to be more salient than its tragic history. It seemed around this time perhaps that there was a growing awareness or social battle between classes as the post-Vietnam war era moved more towards contemporary capitalism. The Shining too had those elements as I alluded to earlier.
Part of this class battle seemed to center around what the nuclear family represented. Since WW2, the idea of the nuclear family seemed to be disintegrating as a result of the rise of industrialism. In the case of Burnt Offering, it is Marian who asserts herself for being responsible for the mansion more than her husband. In fact, her husband seems more like an accessory that she bosses around from time to time (for instance his job being to replace the broken bulb) Ben acts quite impotent throughout. Take for instance the poolside sex scene. He never is able to copulate with her and at some point admits that he wasn’t in the same condition compared to thirteen or so years prior. It seems whenever Ben attempts to assert his masculinity he’s reverted to the state of his adolescence such as appearing bear chested while trimming the hedges but wilting up in seeing his imaginary boogeyman. This is even further reinforced when he tries to escape and hits his head which causes Marian to take charge. Upon looking at her, she becomes the boogeyman.
Also, as part of the commentary of the splitting nuclear family, we have aunt Elizabeth. While she starts off affable, slowly she degenerates into a voiceless, near paralyzed crone that Marian greatly resents (Marian makes the age remarks more than once). It’s clear that Elizabeth is a burden to the family almost in a way that the “mother” Mrs. Allardyce would seem to them (except for Marian who graciously tries to help, even though things don’t go as expected by the end). As Elizabeth nears her death bed, Marian only seems too glad to be the one phoning in the chauffeur/death to take Elizabeth off their hands. But part of Elizabeth as a kind of allegorical figure here is how the elderly have become burdens for modern families. We don’t get what Elizabeth had done previously and only know she’s an artist/painter. But where is her husband? Did she have a husband? Why does she live with this family? Why are they obligated for handling her rather than putting her into a proper rest home?
Finally, there’s the whole evolution of Marian. Over the course of the story, it’s clear that she has been chosen by the home to replace the mother. When she starts eating the food on the tray of food for Mrs. Allardyce as well as when Elizabeth goes to call for the mysterious Mrs. Allardyce, it becomes quite plain that Marian is the actual Mrs. Allardyce. Same with the gray streak in her hair. The only thing that manages to snap Marian out of her trance is the second near drowning of David. But for whatever reason, Marian is unable to completely pull herself away from the house and Mrs. Allardyce and she is consumed by the place to become the next mother figure.
And there’s a certain irony of Marian’s evolution here. Part of that irony is her growing disdain for Elizabeth. When it’s Marian’s turn to hear about her graying hair, she embraces the thought rather than question why she’s aging. With the idea of rebirth from sacrifices, you can see a cycle in the distance of how people like Marian are only destined to replace these figures because of certain modern sentiments. In a way, she’s a bit like Edward Norton’s character from Fight Club, who “values his Ikea furniture more than other things in his life.” We see that clearly when she scolds David and cries over the broken bowl.
At any rate, I am extremely glad to have found this movie again. The scenes with the chauffeur personally are some of the most satisfying since they have plagued my mind and possibly caused my own odd ball nightmares of dark rooms with an insidious figure chasing me perhaps wearing dark sunglasses and in a sharp black outfit. The movie itself is not without its set of flaws and the pacing could be a lot better if it cut down on extraneous dialog or ever point A to point A sub2 scene in existence as well as a few key recasts. But for me at least the real tragedy from this movie was not seeing anymore of that woefully underdeveloped but highly memorable chauffeur, who to me was the real star here.
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