Peter Medak directs George C. Scott, Trish Van Devere and Melvyn Douglas in this classy horror about an urbane composer who moves into a haunted mansion.

If the was just 90 minutes of the brilliant George C Scott being terrified by bumps and distractions I would have been happy enough. The plot goes off piste at the midway point taking in supernatural conspiracies and ageing senators. That stuff isn’t quite as focussed but we do get a cracking seance set piece.

6

My Top 10 George C Scott Movies

1. The Hustler (1961)

2. Dr. Strangelove or : How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

3. Hardcore (1979)

4. They Might Be Giants (1971)

5. Patton (1970)

6. Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

7. Petulia (1968)

8. The New Centurions (1972)

9. Malice (1993)

10. The Changeling (1980)