Haunts

When sins of the past haunt you

After a shocking death in a small coastal town in Northern California, a single woman living on a small farm (May Britt) is subsequently attacked. The sheriff (Aldo Ray) sets his eyes on a “bad boy” short-order cook (William Gray Espy) and a new guy from Baltimore, but maybe the culprit is the woman’s weird uncle (Cameron Mitchell).

"Haunts" (1976) was made by the writer/director of the later “Beyond Evil” and “Graduation Day.” The inclusion of Mitchell brings to mind the soon-to-come “The Toolbox Murders” and "Without Warning.” Yet don’t expect a conventional horror or slasher. This is more along the lines of “The Shuttered Room” and “Let’s Scare Jessica to Death” mixed with a little “Rachel, Rachel.”

It’s a moody, dark psychological study that has the confidence to take its time, effectively fleshing out several characters in Anytown, America. It should be appreciated by those who liked the above movies and other psychological horror flicks from that era, like "Nightmare" (1981) and "Don't Go in the House" (1979). If some things strike a “Yeah, right” chord, hold on, because all is explained at the end (albeit ambiguously).

May Britt hadn’t performed in a movie for 16 years before resurfacing in this one. She played the sultry German wife of Brando's captain in “The Young Lions” and was very effective in the role. Here, her character is conservative and modest, plagued by things that transpired in her childhood. It was May’s final film.

It runs 1 hour, 36 minutes, and was shot in Mendocino, California, which is 150 miles north of the Bay Area.

GRADE: B-