THE HOUSE THAT WOULD NOT DIE (1970)
Dir: John Llewellyn Moxey

Routine but cozy haunted house flick, suitable for younger children and nervous grandmothers sensitive to violence. With two potential love stories occurring at once ( a trim and fit Barbara Stanwyck and her co-ed niece move into an inherited New England ancestral home dating from the late 1600s) this TV movie also functions as a multi-generational Gothic tale.

The real interest (as always) lies in the details: violent spirit possession, a highly conflicted paramour to Stanwyck (he almost rapes her in the kitchen only to be forgiven with a cursory apology) and appreciated attention to detail in the excellent art direction and realistic set decoration.

What would this sort of genre pic be without obligatory wind machines amping up a full curtain raising (and shredding) conclusion? Check. Or a local expert in the occult and local witchcraft folklore and legends? Ditto. A rarity very hard to find other than through Internet forum links, but worth a batch of homemade buttered popcorn should someone generously share with you.