Day 21: The Attic

If I recall correctly, the most I ever spent on a single tape was for The Attic. Either that or The Silent Scream. I can't really remember! I just remember being sucked in by the beautiful big box and insanely creepy cover art. I knew the movie couldn't possibly match the greatness that was the cover but I had to have it anyway. I was right. But that doesn't necessarily mean this was a bad movie.

Carrie Snodgress plays Louise, a depressed librarian who spends most of her time caring for her cold wheelchair bound father (Ray Milland). 19 years earlier Louise was supposed to marry a man named Robert. However, he mysteriously disappeared the day of the wedding. After 19 years of torturing herself over the loss, Louise finally begins to move on. But there is a dark secret in her house and with each step towards personal salvation she comes closer to finding it.

The Attic has a major identity crisis. There are parts of the film that are suspenseful and parts that are just character driven drama. It only flashes it's horror elements briefly throughout the film before finally going full horror during the last 5 minutes. As a result, horror fanatics will find themselves very disappointed. The film has so much potential as a horror film, thriller, or even a drama. But it never really goes full on into any genre and unfortunately it slows the plot to an almost complete halt at one point.

Snodgress and Milland are both excellent in their roles here. Snodgress in particular shines playing the unstable Louise. She portrays a wide array of emotions to the point where we don't whether to fear her or pity her. Milland is very believable as the asshole father. He never comes across as likable in the least and he isn't supposed to. Great work by the actors involved.

There almost seems to have been some conflict in the production of the film. It's so odd to have a movie with so much potential lose it's way somewhere along the line. It comes across as though they were writing the damn thing as they were filming once they got halfway in. A lot of suspense is built up for a rather anticlimactic reveal at the end. It's a damn shame, but the art still looks badass on my shelf.

Body Count:1

Side Note: If this movie were marketed more as a drama I feel like Horror fans would appreciate it more. It has the exact opposite effect now where it seems as though drama fans take to it more than horror fans do. But there is a cool monkey in it which makes it enjoyable for everyone at least while he's on screen.