'Dear Dead Delilah' is a twisted low-budget whodunnit horror exploitation flick blended with gothic melodrama and a dose of giallo elements thrown into the mix, creating a rather fun ride. The movie boasts some wonderfully gory death scenes, hammy acting and a macabre sense of humour. But what holds it back from being great is the lack of visual style and the sluggish pace where it takes an awfully long time to find its sense of rhythm, but once it gets there then it becomes a lot more entertaining.
The plot = An elderly southern matriarch Delilah Charles (Agnes Moorhead) invites her family to her Plantation estate to search for the money her late father left to her on her property, but soon enough someone starts killing off the family members one by one.
The movie has a rather quirky charm to it and a gritty gothic atmosphere with some enjoyable soap opera elements, effective red herrings and plenty of colourful characters. However, there are quite a few problems with this flick, for starters the clear lack of direction as the movie seems to amble from one scene to the next without any real structure and it takes way too long for something to happen, but once the murders happen, it does almost make up for the long boring dialogue scenes and lack of plot development. This feels more like an acquired taste sort of film that you got to be in the right kind of mood for, I found it okay though, not something I'd seek out to own or watch again though.
The cast here is rather decent with Agnes Moorehead in her final film role delivering an delightful and entertaining performance as the over the top matriarch Delilah, she clearly had fun with the role and so did the audience. Patricia Carmichael was also fun as the housekeeper Luddy with a murderous past and delivers a decent performance. Anne Meacham also delivers a standout and perfectly hammy performance as the erratic drunk Grace.
Overall 'Dear Dead Delilah' is a fine 70's low budget oddity that doesn't quite rank as a lost classic, but there's just enough entertainment value to it.
The plot = An elderly southern matriarch Delilah Charles (Agnes Moorhead) invites her family to her Plantation estate to search for the money her late father left to her on her property, but soon enough someone starts killing off the family members one by one.
The movie has a rather quirky charm to it and a gritty gothic atmosphere with some enjoyable soap opera elements, effective red herrings and plenty of colourful characters. However, there are quite a few problems with this flick, for starters the clear lack of direction as the movie seems to amble from one scene to the next without any real structure and it takes way too long for something to happen, but once the murders happen, it does almost make up for the long boring dialogue scenes and lack of plot development. This feels more like an acquired taste sort of film that you got to be in the right kind of mood for, I found it okay though, not something I'd seek out to own or watch again though.
The cast here is rather decent with Agnes Moorehead in her final film role delivering an delightful and entertaining performance as the over the top matriarch Delilah, she clearly had fun with the role and so did the audience. Patricia Carmichael was also fun as the housekeeper Luddy with a murderous past and delivers a decent performance. Anne Meacham also delivers a standout and perfectly hammy performance as the erratic drunk Grace.
Overall 'Dear Dead Delilah' is a fine 70's low budget oddity that doesn't quite rank as a lost classic, but there's just enough entertainment value to it.