The writer-director of this, Michael Armstrong, complained about the casting imposed and rewrites done at the behest of AIP, in particular its European head of production Deke Heyward... but would this really have ever been any good? A bunch of teenagers spending the night at a haunted house and one of them turns killer.... that's a long way from Psycho.
I admit Armstrong's original choice of Ian Ogilvy would have been much better than Frankie Avalon who is laughably miscast - not only is he too old, his appearance is far too comic and broad for what is basically a serious film: those clothes, that square helmet hair, that indignation... it all worked yelling on the beach with Annette, but not here. Maybe that's why his part was so cut down. (Apparently AIP offered Armstrong the choice between Avalon and Fabian... I actually think Fabian would have been preferable, he was far less cartoon-y.)
It's also a shame Armstrong couldn't get his wish to cast David Bowie in a support role. Still, the cast isn't bad: future sitcom names Robert O'Sullivan and Robin Stewart, failed star Jill Haworth, former Gainsborough name Dennis Price ... It's just the film isn't very good. There are all sorts of subplots, none of them particularly interesting - various couples are matched up and break up, there is some statement (I think) about youth of the time, a remarkable absence of shock or atmosphere.
It doesn't make any real sense that the group of kids decide not to report the murder, nor does it make sense when they return to the house later. The one genuine shock was when the killer knifes and kills Avalon at the end - just above the groin, which felt painful to watch.
There's one or two interesting camera angles and it will have some interest to Frankie Avalon completists.
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