The excellent Oz Movies website has an entry for this film which correctly points out this was director Terry Bourke's attempt at "the big time" - he had a decent budget, some impressive stars, an alright idea... but he stuffs it.
It's not a disaster - Bourke would make worse films, certainly - but it is a misfire. The basic story really doesn't have enough plot for a feature. It's about an old couple, traumatised by the loss of their children, who kill of visitors to a deserted inn - a perfectly acceptible concept for a horror movie, with one main location, opportunities for decent shocks etc. Though as developed here, really there's 30 to 60 minutes of plot - like Bourke's earlier featurette, Night of Fear.
The filmmakers pad out the running time with subplots - bounty hunter Alex Cord is looking for a killer, a woman guest is having a lesbian relationship with her step daughter. This pushes the film towards the two hour mark and was a mistake. The Cord subplot lacks tension and the lesbian subplot, which could have been good 70s exploitation erotica, isn't fun or hot because the step daughter isn't into it - she's forced into it, which isn't very sexy.
For some reason the budget blew out - there's some impressive locations and photography, but really this could have been filmed in a studio. Might have been more atmospheric too. The one genuinely spooky bit at the end comes when Cord and Michael Craig poke around the basement of the house.
The cast are an attraction. Cord is an indistinguishable American lead but he's random-ness has appeal to Oz cultists; Judith Anderson is perfect as the killer, and her performance deserves a better film (it was her one psycho-biddy movie, unless you count Rebecca). Joseph Furst matches her well and John Meillon and Michael Craig offer professional support.
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