The Unseen
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Movie Reviews of The Unseen
Movie Review: Not nearly as good as my rating would intimate, but you can't stop watching...
Summary: 4 Stars
The Unseen (Danny Steinmann, 1981)
I can just imagine the concept meeting for this bad boy.
Tony Unger: what's the single least terrifying town in America?
Danny Steinmann: [gives it a little thought] ...Solvang.
Tony Unger: you mean that little Dutch burg an hour or so up 101?
Danny Steinmann: yeah, that's the place.
Tony Unger: betcha fifty bucks you can't write a horror movie set in Solvang. You come up with it, I'll produce.
Danny Steinmann: you're on.
Tony Unger was, for fifteen years, a pretty solid producer; his movies didn't cause any earthquakes, but they made money (The Magic Christian, Force 10 from Navarone, et al.), and when you're a producer, that's success. Steinmann was a writer/director with one credit to his name, a Harry Reems vehicle from back in '73, and he wanted to break into the mainstream. The creepy-monster slasher flick was huge at the time, and it seemed like the way to do it. So why not take a backwoods-style horror flick (remember it was the end of the seventies, and Deliverance was still very much on everyone's collective mind) and stick it in the middle of America's least terrifying town? The result is The Unseen, and while the mainstream success Steinmann was looking for eluded him (he directed just two more films, the Linda Blair vehicle Savage Streets and the fifth movie in the Friday the 13th franchise, which would have been enough to kill anyone's career), and after a nasty bike accident, he retired. The Unseen has faded into obscurity in the thirty years since its release, but it's actually not a bad little slasher; the backwoods plays surprisingly well in Solvang, and casting the great Sydney Lassick as the ominous instrument that sets everything in motion was a stroke of genius. Whereas the late character actor was usually cast either in comic films or as the comic relief in horror flicks, every once in a while someone gave him a bit of headway, and he always ran with it. Sydney Lassick was either a troubled, troubled guy, or knew enough of them that he had it down to a science.
Jennifer (Barbara Bach, the Bond Girl from The Spy Who Loved Me) and Karen (Thunderbolt and Lightfoot's Karen Lamm in her final big-screen appearance) Fast are a reporter/camerawoman team at a Los Angeles TV station. Along with their pal Vicki (Newsies' Lois Young), they're headed up to Solvang to cover the Dutch Festival. When they get there, they find out there was a scheduling mix-up at the hotel and their rooms aren't available. And since it's the Dutch Festival, the entire town is sold out. They stop at a local hotel-lookin' place, only to find out it's a museum, but the overly-obsequious caretaker, Ernest Keller (Lassik, best-known for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest), tells them he's got a couple of spare rooms in his house, and they're welcome to bunk down there. They follow him back to the homestead, where we're introduced to his mousy wife, Virginia (Leile Goldoni, just coming off a big win in Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but perhaps best-remembered for Cassavettes' Shadows; incidentally, she's the only principal castmember who still has a career, as most of the others are dead; Bach retired in 1986), and there's something very, very odd about her. Still, they count their blessings and pass it off. The sisters head back to town to cover the vent, while Vicki, who's not feeling well, stays behind to take a hot bath. At which point we find out not only that Ernest is quite the perv, but that the house has murderous secrets of its own...
Horror movies in the seventies and early eighties were kind of like porn during the same time; you could get away with a whole lot that people would look twice (or more) at now. For example, while a number of horror movies hint at the incest thing, The Unseen comes right out and says it. There was also some thought given to interracial relationships, as well, a lot more controversial in 1980 than now (Karen has an abusive boyfriend who pops up now and again; IMDB reports that the original role was envisioned for Carl Weathers). You don't pop such things down in your average chick flick, and there's no time for them in an action movie, what's an enterprising director to do? Horror, obviously! You've gotta give the film points for pushing some envelopes here.
Steinmann himself was very unhappy with cuts that were mandated by the studio (and/or the MPAA; the film was banned for years in both Finland and Norway even as released), and recused himself from a scriptwriting credit. One wonders what a directors' cut would look like. If I had the money, I'd shell out to hire Steinmann to put it together myself, assuming the editing-room floor footage still exists somewhere. But he overplayed his hand, I think; what's here isn't bad at all. There are some fine twists at the end, even if they do get dragged out way too long, and the one character I haven't mentioned in this review (played, no less, by an unrecognizable Stephen Furst--yes, Flounder from Animal House!) makes the last quarter of the movie really, really fun. But even aside from that, it's a rare chance to see Sydney Lassick, who spent most of his career as a character actor, get enough screen time to really develop a character, and he does a fine job indeed. And I just talked myself into upping my original rating of this by a full star. You want to see it. *** ½
Movie Review: Unique and Creepy
Summary: 4 Stars
The Unseen is an interesting movie,I wouldn't really call it a slasher because there wasn't that much blood and virtually no gore.
It's more of a thriller/Horror.
Sydney Lassick plays a creepy old perverted man as he does so well,he and his very nervous subservient sister are hiding something in the basement and the three women that stop at their Inn for the night are about to find out just what it is they're hiding.
Stephen Furst who's biggest role was in Animal House plays "The Unseen" which is really the deformed son and product of the incestuous relationship between brother and sister.Out of shame they have hidden him in the basement.He is a full grown man but acts like a baby and crawls around in dirty under wear,the problem is he loves to play with the ladies but he gets very upset when they scream,problem being it's hard not to scream when they see a deformed man crawling around with a teddy bear in dirty underwear drooling so when he tries to keep them from screaming or plays too rough with them he ends up killing the poor things.
The beautiful Barbara Bach of Bond Girl fame plays the heroine,she and her two girlfriends are staying at the Inn and when the others start to disappear she gets nosey and when she goes missing her boyfriend Handsome "Doug Barr" who was Lee Majors sidekick on The fall Guy pulls out all the stops to try and find her.Will he find her in time?
You will have to watch and see.
I've seen this movie about six times,it's somewhat of a novelty and I see it as a cult classic.
There are some very good scenes and some freaky moments as well.
Movie Review: 80's slice of fun
Summary: 4 Stars
When Barbara Bach is one of the better (known) actors in the movie, you know you're dealing with low overhead for whoever is financing this low-budget clunker. When I see her, I always think, "That's right sweetie, look bitchy and say as little as possible". A top-shelf actress she's not. Still, it's 80's fun and they don't make 'em like this anymore. Even though the story-line was exhausted after a while (beware, something's in the basement?)it keeps you watching. The key to this one is the performance of Sydney Lassick as our lead sicko. He gives "The Unseen" it's character. Without him, you can file this one under gone, and forgotten. The story has been explained so let's just go to the "enjoyment" gauge; 3 1/2 stars for me (hence the 4 stars) since I didn't expect a "masterpiece".Movie Review: Family Secret...
Summary: 4 Stars
THE UNSEEN has a lot going for it. Sydney Lassick (ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST, CARRIE) is perfectly maniacal as the main baddie. Barbara Bach does a serviceable job in her TV news reporter role. The story, while simple, is nonetheless adequate, and the suspense builds nicely. Obviously, the mystery of who (what?) THE UNSEEN is makes up most of this tale. Many have spilled the beans already, so I'll just add that Stephen Furst (ANIMAL HOUSE) is quite good as the title character. What this movie lacks in bloody mayhem, it more than makes up for in the insanity department! The motivations of the "family" are very dark indeed. This ain't THE WALTONS or THE CLEAVERS! Check out this wacky, 80s head-cheeeze today...Movie Review: I've been waiting since the VHS era!
Summary: 4 Stars
I haven't seen this movie since I viewed it on cable 25 years ago. But something about it has always haunted me. I'll know whether I've been haunted by babes in bathtubs or by horror brilliance when I finally get to see it again. Can't wait!
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