SUPERSTITION

A residence in Black Pond County is the scene of horrible deaths. Reverend David Thompson strives to help the police inspector in the investigations, but meanwhile, another reverend with his family arrives in the city to take over a church abandoned for years and moves in to live precisely in that house. The mysterious events and inexplicable killings continue, and a retarded boy who lives nearby is accused, but Reverend Thompson will discover that the perpetrator of it all is a witch executed in that place three hundred years ago and who had sworn revenge. "Mary's House" is a little-known film, a classic example of 1980s horror, based mainly on the spectacularization of death and easy chills. Probably, this film was made with the intention of exploiting the success of haunted houses, a genre inaugurated a few years earlier with "Amityville Horror" and continued with the success of Hooper's film "Poltegeist". But "Mary's House" differs from previous films mainly because of its more "evasive" cut, as it concentrates the viewer's interest more on the effects of a "scare" movie: the killings are numerous, and for some, excellent splatter effects were used (such as the case of the boy cut in two by the window or the priest attacked by the circular saw), moreover, the film on more than one occasion tries the suspense card with long sequences all played on the accumulation of tension. The witch appears more than once in the film, but her presence is not invasive and has been depicted in a surely adequate manner, without showing her too much, except for the clawed hands. But now let's move on to the negative aspects. First of all, the screenplay is full of holes: the story is poorly articulated and fragmented, moreover, some characters who seem fundamental to the resolution of the plot are overlooked (the old woman who lives near the haunted house) or completely removed from the scene (the retarded boy). The characterization of the various characters also leaves much to be desired, falling more than once into the caricature (the young and heroic protagonist reverend; the clumsy policeman; the seemingly happy family but shaken by internal problems). It must be remembered that despite Italian distributors having inserted the title "Mary's House", the figure of the little girl Mary is not very relevant, who, by physical characterization, could have been an inspiration for the girls dressed in white who jump rope victims of Freddy Krueger and for the ghost girl who appears in "House 3" by Lenzi. In conclusion, "Mary's House" is an enjoyable 1980s horror film, with excellent splatter sequences and successful moments of tension, but with a screenplay bordering on amateurism. Recommended for those who prefer effects over narrative coherence. Rounded-up score.