House of Seven Belles (1979) User Reviews

Loud!

[BandSAboutMovies · 5/10 · 21 August 2023]

The description of this movie on IMDB: "The seven sisters of the outcast LeFleur family try to survive in a post-Civil War Deep South."

My wife's description: "What is all that screaming downstairs?"

There's a version of this movie online and it's as complete as it can be. Milligan ran out of money before he could film the last scenes and the ending. So how should it have ended? No one is sure, as the only surviving shooting script ends at the same point the film does. So who is the killer? Who knows! The only part of the ending that is known is that the mansion was going to burn down.

In 2019, this premiered on byNWR, Nicolas Winding Refn's free cult movie streaming website. Jimmy McDonough, Andy Milligan's biographer, had the only surviving copy of the workprint, given to him by the director before he died. Whatever survived was restored, along with another unfinished Milligan movie, Compass Rose.

Who else would film a Southern gothic in Staten Island other than Milligan? And who else would have people stabbed in the neck with a pitchfork, a face burned with acid and decapitated heads rolling around in the midst of a talky - well, screamy? - blast of a family in decline, repeatedly slapping and spitting and yelling at each other? Not to mention voodoo and costumes that are so good that they stand in defiance of the actors attempting to get all they can out of the overly detailed dialogue!

Seven sisters try to survive the South with a serial killer on the prowl. Write your own ending while you're at it. You'll get an Andy Milligan No-Prize or something.

Shoutiest Film Ever?

[derek-duerden · 3/10 · 28 June 2023]

I suspect it's mainly down to the appalling acting skills of many of the cast, who seem to think that shouting (and in one case, screeching) nearly every line of dialogue is a good substitute for emotion?

However, there are quieter moments when some semblance of nuance shines through, and the sets and lighting can be quite good at times, and there's a relatively interesting story lurking under it all.

It's hard to critique something that was never finished but, given much of the footage here, one suspects that a late injection of cash would have been used just to complete the story, rather than returning to start again on some of the worst bits.

Not recommended, really.

Dreadful Work Supported for No Reason

[arfdawg-1 · 1/10 · 27 March 2023]

Who paid for these films of his? That's what you should ask yourself. Milkin was a horrible filmmaker by any standards but is trucked out by a group that wants him to be a dieity.

He sucks.

This movie in particular is a head scratcher. Who would want to go to a movie theatre to see it? And who was dumb enough to pay for this garbage? And who is even dumber to rescue the print and try to market it?

Milkin had no busines making movies. The movie is horrible. Poorly directed and written with acting that is middle school level.

Plus the subject matter is not sellable. Why we should care that it was never finished is beyond me. We should wonder how it ever got made.

Unfinished, but shows some skill

[PeterBradford · 6/10 · 1 June 2020]

Andy Milligan's House of Seven Belles has some good qualities. It's shot on 35mm film, well lit, outstanding period costumes, good locations. What it lacks is a plot. It's a talky series of scenes, some good, some very slow. The lack of pacing could be attributed to it still being a rough cut, although compared to Milligan's earlier works, it ain't so rough. The problem with the film is marketing. What would Andy have done with it? It's not horrific enough to be a horror film. Barely anything happens in 92 minutes. There are a few gore effects, but not enough to sustain interest. It's hard to even picture it as the third feature on a triple bill at the drive-in.