Director Pete Walker's horror comedy The House Of The Long Shadows never got a domestic DVD release outside of an MOD/DVD-R release from MGM (which featured a shoddy fullframe tape sourced transfer), which is surprising when you consider the pedigree of talent involved in the picture. Proving that all good things do come to those who wait, however, Kino, as part of their ongoing Studio Classics Line, have rolled out the red carpet and given the film a Blu-ray special edition release. The movie isn't as good as it could or should have been, but fans of classic horror in particular should get a rise out of it.

The movie tells the story of Kenneth Magee (Desi Arnaz, Jr.), an American writer living in England who accepts a friendly wager from his publisher Sam Allyson (Richard Todd) for twenty grand that he can't write an entire novel in twenty-four hours. In order to make this happen, Kenneth needs a place where he can hide away from the rest of the world and so it's agreed that he'll stay in a rundown old mansion in Wales, away from it all and in the middle of nowhere. Things are almost immediately not what he expected, however, because when he arrives at the old house he meets Lord Elijah Grisbane (John Carradine) and his daughter Victoria (Sheila Keith), who claim to be the caretakers of the old place. From there, an older woman shows up who is actually Allyson's secretary Mary Norton (Julie Peasgood) in disguise and there to Magee keeps things on the up and up. The solitude he wanted would seem to be out of reach.

As night sets in and the skies open up, two more visitors arrive in the form of Lionel Grisbane (Vincent Price) and Sebastian Grisbane (Peter Cushing) and not surprisingly, it turns out that they're related to the previously introduced caretakers. As luck would have it, Kenneth has arrived on the night of the first family reunion that the Grisbane's have had in decades, much to the dismay of the home's property manager, Corrigan (Christopher Lee). Of course, with all of the characters introduced, it is then time for murder most foul… and as the story plays out we, along with Magee, try to figure out who the killer is and how/why the deaths tie into the Grisbane family's past.

Produced for Cannon Films and released in 1983, The House Of The Long Shadows would unfortunately be the last film that Walker would direct and it's also the only picture he was involved in that he didn't also produce. Compared to Walker's other films this one is pretty tame (it plays things safe with a PG rating) but what it lacks in sex and violence it makes up for in star power. And that's important, because the script is a fairly traditional horror movie with ‘whodunnit' elements told in a fairly traditional horror movie environment, that being the creepy old house. Conceptually and thematically we're not breaking any new ground here at all, so how do you make something old hat like this interesting? Bring a few genuine legends of the genre out in front of the camera and let them do their thing! When dealing with the likes of Lee, Cushing, Price and Carradine, that really is enough. It doesn't mean the movie couldn't and shouldn't have been more unique than it is, but getting the chance to see these guys all act alongside one another is a lot of fun.

Lee and Price do most of the heavy lifting here, Cushing and Carradine don't get quite as much to do but all involved handle both the comedic sides and the more serious sides of their respective roles with as much panache and charm as you would expect. Arnaz is also a lot of fun here, he and Price have a great scene where they argue over the merits of horror and its place are quite amusing to watch and the dialogue for these encounters is sharp and well-written.

Walker directs with enough style to ensure that the movie looks good. Most of the film takes place inside the dark interiors of the home, so there's lots of shadowy atmosphere and some great scenes lit by candlelight for extras spookiness. Richard Harvey's score complements all of this quite nicely. If, in a lot of ways, this film is a throwback to the type of pictures that the leading men made in their prime, then so be it. It's a lot of fun and absolutely worth a watch for fans of classic horror.

Video:

The House Of The Long Shadows is presented in AVC encoded 1080p high definition framed at 1.85.1 widescreen and it looks quite good here, particularly when compared to the aforementioned MOD/DVD-R release which was way too dark. You can actually see what's going on inside the shadowy interiors now and detail and texture are strong across the board. There's a bit of minor print damage in some spots but nothing too serious and for the most part the source used here is quite clean. Colors reproduced very nicely while black levels stay solid. Skin tones look lifelike and accurate and there are no obvious issues with compression artifacts, edge enhancement or noise reduction.