Said to be one of Stephen King’s favorite horror films, Burnt Offerings starts off innocently enough and then turns spooky & violent. Oliver Reed is great as the lead and Burgess Meredith (Penguin himself) is so perfect in his few scenes (as always). The highlight though is the creepy, grinning chauffeur, just as scary today as he was in 1976. It’s the stuff of nightmares.
Kubrick drew a lot of inspiration for The Shining from this film and you can see why from the quiet eerie moments to the photography & lighting to the family in a terrifying situation. You could almost think of this film as a prequel to The Shining. The list of similarities goes on to the point where some have wondered if The Shining went too far in its copying of this film. But I think The Shining has its own thing going despite the similarities and frankly, The Shining is the superior film.
It’s dated in some places, moving between mundane, almost dull scenes to utter terror and creepiness but it’s worth sticking with because the great moments definitely outweighs the slower scenes. There’s almost a mesmerizing pace to the scenes and if you have a reasonable attention span, you’re going to love this.