Horror Movie Review: Deadly Manor (1990)

The 80s is coming to an end, and the last throes of the greatest era of horror is in full effect. Everyone is sick of countless sequels, a lack of creativity, and repetitive ideas, in particular, when it comes to slasher films. So, something like Deadly Manor comes along in 1990, and effectively sinks without a trace.

A slasher film that follows the playbook to a tee, it comes from director José Ramón Larraz and stars Clark Tufts, Greg Rhodes, Claudia Franjul, Mark Irish as Rod, Liz Hitchler, Jerry Kernion, and Kathleen Patane.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before. A group of ‘teens’, all equally as obnoxious as each other, are on a road-trip to a lake in the middle of the woods. On route, they pick up a mysterious and moody hitchhiker who promises to show them the way to the lake after they get lost, but as night falls and with a storm coming in, they decide to stop and spend the night in an old mansion.

One that seems to be abandoned, but as all slasher fans know, that’s not quite the case. Someone lives here, someone is watching them, and someone isn’t too happy about the intrusion. Cue trope after trope, with some of the most annoying characters that all will be happy to see offed in this film. Deadly Manor is about as fresh as month old bread.

Which is the film’s biggest problem and one that many may find hard to look past. It’s not even looking at it with modern eyes, as by time this came out in 1990, the slasher tropes were beyond tired.

It’s hard to take the film seriously when we have a set of characters as dumb as this. From thinking the mansion is a good place to stay, to spending the night there with a man you don’t even know. From allowing their friend to just walk off and never being convincingly concerned about their whereabouts, to constantly complaining about the eeriness of the house, but never leaving. They’re some of the most braindead slasher characters going.

Which is something that is made all the worse by how basic they are written and how unlikable they all are. Much of which stems from the god-awful dialogue. You’ll be screaming at the TV for them to just shut up. Just shut up for one second so some of the film’s attempts to build atmosphere might actually work.

An aspect that should have made Deadly Manor a bit of a winner, but alas, wholly underutilised. A shame, because the early exploration of the mansion and the slow uncovering of the mystery is intriguing, it’s just buried under a ton of unenjoyable garbage.

When the body count does start to rise, Deadly Manor does improve though as it’s a film not afraid to spill some blood (or show sex). There’s nothing outrageously graphic, but it does mean the film is ramping up, and that is appreciated. Though, it completely runs out of steam by the end with an unexpected ‘final girl’ and a reveal that is lacklustre. to say the least.