Burnt Offerings (film)

Burnt Offerings
Theatrical release poster by Tom Jung
Directed by	Dan Curtis
Produced by	Dan Curtis Robert Singer
Written by	Dan Curtis William F. Nolan
Based on	Burnt Offerings by Robert Marasco
Starring	Karen Black Oliver Reed Bette Davis Lee H. Montgomery Eileen Heckart Anthony James Burgess Meredith
Music by	Bob Cobert
Cinematography	Jacques R. Marquette
Edited by	Dennis Virkler
Production company	Produzioni Europee Associati (PEA) Dan Curtis Productions
Distributed by	United Artists (1976), MGM Studios (current distributor)
Release date	October 18, 1976 (1976-10-18)
Running time	116 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$1.56 million

Burnt Offerings is a 1976 American mystery horror film co-written and directed by Dan Curtis and starring Karen Black, Oliver Reed, Bette Davis, Lee H. Montgomery, Eileen Heckart and Burgess Meredith. It is based on the 1973 novel of the same name by Robert Marasco. The story concerns a family who moves into an old house that regenerates itself by means of feeding off the life force of any occupant that is injured or in pain. Other family members are all killed off, with the survivor awaiting a new family.

While the film received mixed reviews from critics, it won several awards in 1977. Originally set on Long Island, the movie moves the action to California and was the first movie to be filmed at Dunsmuir House, Oakland, California.

The Rolf family takes a summer-long vacation at a large, shabby neo-classical 19th-century mansion in the California countryside. The family consists of Marian (Karen Black), her husband Ben (Oliver Reed), their twelve-year-old son Davey (Lee H. Montgomery), and Ben's elderly Aunt Elizabeth (Bette Davis). The owners of the house are the Allardyce siblings, Arnold and Roz (Burgess Meredith and Eileen Heckart); there is also a caretaker called Walker. The Allardyces inform the Rolfs of a particularly odd requirement for their rental: their mother will continue to live in her upstairs room, and the Rolfs are to provide her with meals during their stay. The siblings explain that the old woman is obsessed with privacy and will not interact with them, so meals are to be left outside her door. Marian eagerly accepts this task, having already succumbed to the allure of the ornate house and its period decor. She becomes obsessed with caring for the home, begins to dress as if she is from the Victorian age, and distances herself from her family. Of particular interest to her is a room near the bedroom of Mrs. Allardyce, which contains collections of framed portraits of people from different eras and a music box.