The Unseen

1981 "The Ultimate Hidden Terror"
5.2| 1h34m| R| en| More Info
Released: 23 October 1981 Released
Producted By: Triune Films
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

A trio of female reporters find themselves staying overnight in a house occupied by a hostile being lurking in the basement

Genre

Horror

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The Unseen (1981) is now streaming with subscription on AMC+

Director

Danny Steinmann

Production Companies

Triune Films

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The Unseen Audience Reviews

Doomtomylo a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.
Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.
Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful
Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.
Brian T. Whitlock (GOWBTW) If anyone has watched "Psycho" in the past, this movie would be right up your alley. "The Unseen" is like it, only dealing with a child name "Junior"(Stephen Furst, "Animal House", "Silent Rage") who is a result of in-breeding. This movie was well made, and the cast were just perfect. Barbara Bach who was in the 1977 hit, "The Spy Who Loved Me", plays Jennifer Fast, a news reporter who goes out with her friend and sister to do a story on a festival, find this nice home to stay for the period following a terrible mix-up at the hotel. Unknown to them, there is someone living in the house. So when Jennifer went to do the story, her sister Karen(Karen Lamm) and her friend Vicki(Lois Young) are killed by an unknown being. The surviving woman must do protect herself from impending danger. Not only did the "Unseen" loved his mother, he began to resent Ernest Keller (Sydney Lassick) the man who offered and lured the ladies to his old house. At least, this guy redeemed himself there. For what it's worth, it was a great movie. It has plenty of scare factor, suspenseful, and was surprising as well. I enjoyed it very much. 2.5 out of 5 stars
Vomitron_G Three girls (an all-female media-crew, including cult-actress Barbara Bach, no less) visiting a small town to cover a festival, end up renting rooms in a house they should have avoided like the plague. Well-made little shocker, suffering a bit from some redundant dialogue-scenes and a rather thin plot-line (that doesn't do very well in hiding its secrets). One underlying theme in particular is quite disturbing (as in: vintage shock-material), and this is basically what the film thrives on. Performances & cinematography are pretty much above par (compared to many other late 70's/early 80's films in the same vein), but what really makes me recommend this film is the fairly long climax sequence in the basement setting. From the moment that "Keller Junior" character was introduced, his performance made my jaw drop open and it didn't close until the end of the film. A very pleasant surprise to see actor Sydney Lassick (who was funnily wacko in "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's nest", and now utterly demented in "The Unseen") take on one of the leading roles.
alanmora This is a long lost horror gem starring Sydney Lassick ("Carrie" and others) and Barbara Bach. It is sometimes difficult to locate a copy of this film but it's worth it. This film is creepy yet cheesy at the same time. It seems that 3 young newswomen (Karen, Vicky, and Jennifer) travel to the small city of Solvang, California to cover a festival when a mix-up occurs involving their hotel room and they seek refuge at the home of Earnest Keller (Lassick) and his strange wife Virginia. Vickie stays behind, feeling ill, as the other 2 are off to film their story. She is soon murdered at the house, in a VERY cheesy way by some unknown force hiding in the ventilation system (she is decapitated by the closing cover of the vent as it comes crashing down on her while she is being tugged through and into the basement). Soon Karen returns and she is murdered in an even more brutal fashion by having her face rammed through the vent cover. Jennifer is fighting with her (ex?)lover in a rather boring sub plot and when she returns home, her hosts (whom by now we have discovered are brother and sister and that whatever it is that is in the basement is their son) devise a plot to try to murder her as well. Virgina does not totally agree with Earnest's plan to murder Jennifer but she is tricked into going into the basement where she meets Junior. Here the film turns almost comic as Junior (portrayed hysterically by Stephen Furst) is a deformed, mentally deficient, manchild whose actions and motions will cause a few chuckles even though it's supposed to be scary. This is where the pace of the film picks up and the ending is well done. The actors/actresses do a terrific job with the material especially Lassick, Furst, and Bach and although it's not the most horrifying film ever made it is highly entertaining!
devinecomic The first scenes of this film feel more like an episode of Dallas, or a Columbo style prelude, than they do a horror film. The comparisons get worse... Murder She wrote, The A-Team... hell no, it's Charlie's Angels. And then the penny drops, three young women, with a mystery a-foot, it's really like Scooby Doo, without a male lead or any sort of canine activity. In fact, from the moment you meet the resident bad guy (Sydney Lassik), you can just imagine him saying "If it wasn't for you pesky kids!!", as someone pulls his mask off! That said, this is not a totally bad film at all. The weakest character, unfortunately, is the one we see most of, Barbara Bach. Rarely does she provide any sort of emotional performance, and there is no need for her to be sexy in this film either. Well, I suppose she has quite big eyes, which work out well for the ending! All other roles are played well, and are for the most part believable. Equally believable is the scary situation, three girls in a remote hotel, and the mysterious menace that we know is there from early on.Suspense builds up steadily towards the finale, but once all the ground is covered, and the secrets revealed, the film turns into more action than horror, more slasher-style than creepy. It loses both pace and purpose and leaves us with no more bitter taste than a family squabble. That is, someone else's family! But this was supposed to be horror! Several minutes of senseless screaming, towards the end also don't help. What I like to call "Goonies syndrome", noise that in fact irritates more than affects the atmosphere, or benefits the film.OK, so it may make Saturday afternoon, regular TV-style horror these days... that is if you cut out the tasteful glimpse of nakedness. But outside of that, no there's not too much there. It's horrible, not horror. It's unpleasant not unbearable. It is entertaining, and quite well put together, so there's a "5" rating from me!