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THE OVAL PORTRAIT (1973) Wanda Hentrix, Barry Coe, Gisele MacKenzie, Barney O’Sullivan, Maray Ayres. This Civil War period piece horror film starts with a mother and daughter arriving at a mysterious mansion for the reading of a will. It’s a dark, creepy night. The daughter sees a ghostly image upon arrival and soon becomes possessed by the spirit of her dead cousin, whose picture hangs on a mansion wall. Before long all sorts of weird things begin to happen. The “dancing with a shrunken corpse” scene is a truly madabre moment, and the sequence where the guests are gathered in the parlor and the entire room goes “crazy” is also quite memorable. The look and mood of this film are somewhat similar to a Dark Shadows episode. Attributed to a work by Edgar Allan Poe. Beautiful color, from 16mm.
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