Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		2.5

The House That Would Not Die Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 26, 2019

There are a number of interesting, if tangential, connections between this Movie and the Week and Kino Lorber’s simultaneously released What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice?, though one of the connections which I didn’t mention in the review of the Geraldine Page - Ruth Gordon film is that this made for television enterprise was scripted by Henry Farrell, who wrote the source novel upon which Robert Aldrich’s iconic film What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? was based. The House That Would Not Die fits pretty snugly into the template that many of the Movie of the Week enterprises tended to, whether or not they were horror outings, with once major but now aging stars headlining properties along with young “up and comers”. In this case, the former marquee attraction is Barbara Stanwyck, in what was her made for television film debut. Stanwyck’s co-star and love interest is Richard Egan, an actor who arguably never really made the A-list. In the young performer category, the telefilm offers Kitty Winn and Michael Anderson, Jr. in a tale of a house that seems to be haunted by the ghost of at least one former denizen.

The lo-fi ambience of many of the Movie of the Week enterprises is on hand here as well, with a story that takes place largely within the confines of a couple of sets that are supposedly part of a historical house that Ruth Bennett (Barbara Stanwyck) inherits. She arrives at the place with Sara Dunning (Kitty Winn), her niece, but within minutes also meets local professor Pat McDougal (Richard Egan), who has an interest in the house’s controversial history. Soon enough, mysterious doin’s start accruing, and it seems that both Pat and Sara are prone to being taken over by spirits they can’t control. The mystery here isn’t especially compelling, and is solved in a pretty routine manner late in the film. Unfortunately, the shocks here are also fairly rote feeling, with the telefilm providing decent entertainment value but no lasting unsettling feeling.

The House That Would Not Die Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The House That Would Not Die is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.33:1. The back cover of this release advertises a "brand new 2K master", though expectations should probably be tempered both by the generally kind of dowdy visuals on display as well as some age related fade. The film really emphasizes brown and gray tones a lot of the time, so that the palette never totally pops in any meaningful way. But even given that stylistic choice, colors can be a bit on the drab side. The grain field is fairly gritty looking a lot of the time but resolves naturally for the most part, though there are a few issues in some opticals, as in a dream sequence that seems to have had "nightmare mist" superimposed (see screenshot 8.

The House That Would Not Die Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The House That Would Not Die's DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono mix capably reproduces the low scale sonics of this made for television movie. For a haunted house mystery, there really aren't any major uses of things like booming startle effects accompanying jump cuts, though some of the possession scenes do have some attendant sound effects where things perk up a bit. Dialogue and Laurence Rosenthal's score are rendered cleanly and clearly, if without a ton of depth.

The House That Would Not Die Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with Film Historian Richard Harland Smith


• Interview with Director John Llewellyn Moxey (1080p; 8:53)

Additionally, trailers for other Kino Lorber releases are also included.

The House That Would Not Die Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

According to Richard Harland Smith's commentary and some background research I did in preparation for this review, it seems like The House That Would Not Die got decent reviews when it was first broadcast, but it never really raised my personal angst levels very seriously. Stanwyck and Egan are a kind of odd pair, leaving the real romantic tension to play out between Winn and Anderson, Jr. The mystery behind the haunting is guessable fairly early on, leaving most of the dramatic intensity coming from the possession angle. Technical merits are generally solid for those considering a purchase.