The Unseen [Blu-ray] (1981)

this horror masterpiece works on many levels
The Unseen is another of my personal favorites, outstanding on every level. Yes, the story is basic Horror Film 101. Three TV newsgals drive to Solvang, California to do a puff piece on a folk festival. All the local hotels are booked so, while searching for a hotel outside of town, they stumble upon one run by Ernest Keller (Sydney Lassick).

Turns out the hotel is a museum. No matter. Ernest invites the newsgals to stay at his house, with him and his wife, Virginia (Lelia Goldoni). Unbeknownst to the newsgals, husband and wife are also brother and sister. And lurking in the basement, crawling through the air ducts, is the spawn of their unholy union ... unseen!

Well, you'll see him eventually. But before you do, the body count mounts! (You know how those mutant spawn-of-incest retards get when they see nekkid women passing by their air ducts.) Actually, the body count doesn't mount by all that much. There are only three newsgals, after all. But there's enough in...

Enjoyable 1980 horror film
The lovable character actor Sydney Lassick turns in a great performance as a slightly off-kilter, perverted older man who offers a room in his and his wife's home for the beautiful actress Barbara Bach, who plays a TV reporter, and 2 of her co-workers/friends.

Unfortunately for the women, they're not alone when they think they are, as the basement also holds something dangerous, in addition to the prying eyes of Lassick. (hey, the audience even peaks through the keyhole with the pervert! what does that say?) Yes, friends, there's murder, violence, sleaze, likeable characters, questionable motivations, heroes and losers. Exploitation, horror, Barbara Bach. It's 1980 all over again.

Don't go into this expecting aliens and monsters, okay? (yes, some kids have a wild imagination)

If you haven't seen the film before, then don't watch the Katarina's Nightmare Theater segment, as it does contain spoilers.

The blu-ray itself contains a beautiful...

Not nearly as good as my rating would intimate, but you can't stop watching...
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...

Click to Editorial Reviews