Terror at Red Wolf Inn (1972)

Mill Creek has put out a new movie collection entitled NO TELL MOTEL, which offers eight horror films focusing on ill-advised overnights in dangerous locations. The first disc sports spiffy letterboxed titles like VACANCY (a decent enough thriller) IDENTITY (love that one) and ELI ROTH's HOSTEL and its first sequel (both semi-annoying and yet very interesting and disturbing). The second disc consists of several public domain flicks with lackluster quality of various degrees. There's the ubiquitous THE DEVIL'S NIGHTMARE (a favorite) IT HAPPENED AT NIGHTMARE INN (haven't had the pleasure), LEGACY OF BLOOD (skip it) and a charming, low budget oddity that has always stuck in my brain, TERROR AT RED WOLF INN (I had to get this whole set just for this one film).

TERROR AT RED WOLF INN isn't represented as well as it should be but until a superior version is available it'll just have to do. Sadly this is a PG-rated version of the 1972 movie that is also known as TERROR HOUSE and THE FOLKS AT RED WOLF INN. This particular cut is ten minutes shorter than the one I watched on VHS back in the day but from what I've gathered (Googled), the missing scenes don't amount to too much. Ironically, this truncated, supposedly tamer arrangement contains a violent scene where a character beats a small shark against a rock and I'd much rather have that unsightly bit excised above anything else. They took out a visual of human fingers in a soup bowl and left behind a scene of actual animal abuse? I guess there's no way to understand the randomness of the rating system.

The movie introduces us to a charming, quirky and too-trusting character named Regina (Linda Gillen) who suspiciously wins a weekend vacation over the phone (much like the set-up for I STILL KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER). Soon she's jumping on a plane and taking advice from strangers that she needn't inform anyone about her dubious getaway prize. There's no doubt that Regina has made a major judgment error when the house she's meant to relax in turns out to be the same joint (Newhall Mansion) featured in DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK, CURSE OF THE BLACK WIDOW and countless horror-themed TV episodes. Her hosts are oldsters Henry and Evelyn Smith (Arthur Space and Mary Jackson) and their touched in the head grandson Baby John (John Neilson), all of whom would seem equally comfortable inhabiting MOTEL HELL or AMERICAN GOTHIC. Two other contest winners have already arrived (Janet Wood and Margaret Averly) and it's not long before they're all being fattened up with gluttonous course after gluttonous course of meats of highly questionable origin. Warning: Do not watch this movie if you suffer from misophonia and object to the sounds and sights of folks with terrible table manners munching out and licking their greasy fingers.

RED WOLF INN feels a lot like a seventies made for television affair and maybe that's why I dig it so. It's got an offbeat sense of humor too that never goes far enough over the top to bring you out of the paranoid predicament. It's also genuinely unnerving in spots, utilizing distorted camera angles to disquieting effect. There's something about simply sticking an idiosyncratic tomboy-type in a giant old mansion that's always going to hit me in my horror comfort zone. I could have used a little more background information regarding just about every character overall, but there's something to be said of the simplistic approach that plays out almost like a gingerbread house fable. Plus, it's got a message that's still valuable today: Young people, please never assume that the generations ahead of you have your best interest at heart. Spoiler alert: They don't. Amusing, delightfully odd and routinely creepy, TERROR AT RED WOLF INN is an appetizing seventies offering worth making room on your plate for. It's also a great reminder that the best way to avoid cannibalism is to become a vegetarian.