THE MURDER MANSION

THE MURDER MANSION (aka La mansion de la niebla/1972). Director: Francisco Lara Polop. 

Hitchhiker Laura (Lisa Leonardi) is first picked up by Porter (Franco Fantasia of Kommissar X: Kill Panther Kill), who can't keep his hands to himself, and then given a motorcycle lift by Fred (Andres Resino). As they travel to Milan on a foggy night, they are nearly run off the road by a Mercedes with two occupants. Traveling the same dark byway are Elsa (Analia Gade), whose husband Ernest (Alberto Dalbes) is off with his mistress, Ellen (Ingrid Garbo); and Elsa's friends Mr. and Mrs. Tremont (Eduardo Fajardo and Yelena Samarina). Most of this bunch wind up in a secluded mansion near a cemetery which is owned by hostess Martha (Ida Galli of A White Dress for Mariale). Martha tells the assemblage a tale about how 12 people were murdered in one night in the mansion by vampires, which may include her Aunt and the old lady's chauffeur (Jose Luis Velasco), both of whom died decades before and supposedly haunt the graveyard. As everyone decides to spend the night despite the absence of electricity, Fred decides to explore the basement level of the building, determined to figure out if there are supernatural elements at play or not. Before he arrives at the solution, there is more than one death. 

In the basement crypt: Andres Resino and Lisa Leonardi

The Murder Mansion is a weird one. Its greatest strength is its unpredictability, although after awhile you get a bit impatient for things to happen and to make sense. The acting seems credible even if the dubbing is strange, and there's a degree of atmosphere. A very strange sequence has Fred and Laura encountering a cloaked man on the roadway who is carrying a huge scythe, and they don't even remark upon it! Even at the end of the film you may not be entirely certain as to exactly what has happened, but it's entertaining enough. Dalbes and Samarina both appeared in Night of the Skull. 

Verdict: Oddball Spanish-Italian co-production will have you guessing or put you to sleep. **1/2.