The Return

The Return seemed as though it might be my cup of tea, since I strongly enjoy 1970s horror and crime thrillers, especially atmospheric films that feature old houses and sometimes supernatural elements.

However, The Return seems taken from a brief stage play or even hints to being an extremely watered-down early chapter of Wuthering Heights. If you've read the latter novel you know that a well-to-do gentleman traveler finds himself in a strange but fine house in inclement weather with a stern and practical middle aged woman who has been employed as a high-level, trusted servant for most of her life and is not "taken to fancy." This seems almost like blatant plagiarism of the classic tale of child abuse, dysfunctional families, and obsessive love that reaches beyond death. But it stops there. The tale in this 1973 flick is short and milquetoast, and the aftermath twee and unsatisfying.

I did not even find the house especially visually pleasing or atmospheric. There was too much reliance on dialogue i.e. "Aren't you nervous?....Don't you fancy you hear things?..."

Entirely skippable unless you're some kind of completist.