World Premiere of Vinegar Syndrome’s new 4K restoration!
In the wintry California mountains, Sister Hannah (Gail Smale) and four young patients from “State Mental Hospital—Children’s Acute Ward” (Leif Garrett, Tierre Turner, Dawn Lyn and Tia Thompson) survive a van accident. They make their way through the snow to a large, remote house where real-estate mogul Papa Doc (Gene Evans) is hosting a small group of relatives and business associates. The grown-ups, who have been playing out assorted mini-melodramas amongst themselves, welcome the kids in from the cold, unaware that the youths have murdered their doctor. That’s just the beginning of their own deadly games, once they’ve sabotaged the generator and cars to assure that their new “toys” have no way to escape.
Originally titled PEOPLE TOYS and also released as THE HORRIBLE HOUSE ON THE HILL, this offbeat 1974 entry in the killer-kids subgenre doesn’t waste much time getting to the cheap thrills. Within the first 20 minutes or so, we get the attempted seduction of a mentally challenged handyman by Papa Doc’s wife, a catfight, and a ver-r-r-ry drawn-out slow-motion murder scene—all set, like the rest of the film, to a weird score by TV and Russ Meyer film veteran William Loose. There’s plenty of nasty fun to be had as the catty, conniving adults spar and snipe at each other, unaware of the true danger in their midst, before the children go after them with assorted weapons, plus a lethal application of piranha four years before Joe Dante made them stars. Fans of outré ’70s genre fare won’t want to miss our 50th-anniversary screening of Vinegar Syndrome’s new 4K restoration. Those nostalgic for the decade’s other pop culture will also enjoy seeing Sorrell Booke (THE DUKES OF HAZZARD’s Boss Hogg) and teen-heartthrob-to-be Leif Garrett, opposite his real-life mom Carolyn Stellar and little sister Dawn Lyn. – Michael Gingold
Showings
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