Search - Murder Mansion on DVD

More Fog Than "The Fog"

Robert I. Hedges | 11/08/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

""Murder Mansion", originally "La Mansión de la Niebla", was a Spanish and Italian production; seen here it is dubbed from the original Spanish. The film is spartan and basically features several small groups of people who run off the road in a heavy fog in the middle of the night near a creepy old mansion. Much of the movie is spent on atmospheric shots of the heavy fog, and those are actually quite well done. The acting varies in quality from fairly nuanced to over-the-top in the case of Elsa, one of the more important protagonists. The dubbing takes away from the film quite a bit, and the sound quality is sometimes less than perfect.

The bulk of the film deals with interpersonal strife (and in one case intrapersonal strife) amongst the guests of the mansion. There is discussion of vampirism and ghostly apparitions, but the film doesn't reveal the reality of the situation until the very end of the film. While some of the film is a bit slow and talky, the concluding ten minutes are quite good and unexpected. The cinematography is good, and the sets are perfect for the film. In this film fog is not just an inanimate object, it almost becomes a character, and it is handled skillfully by the directors, Francisco Lara Polop and Pedro Lazaga.

While not a perfect horror film, it definitely succeeds in creating a sinister feel without giving away key plotpoints prematurely. I found interesting that for a European horror film there was almost no nudity or gore, which is quite a change from the norm. I thought that worked to the film's advantage by making the audience imagine most of the terror versus graphically showing the terrifying happenings. I think this is an excellent example of early 1970's Eurohorror, and I recommend it over most of its peers in that genre."