Customer Reviews

Haunts of the Very Rich

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When I was younger, this used to be shown on TV a fair bit but now it's all but forgotten. The story is slim but quite well done, and it involves a group of eight people who meet up on a flight destined for a mystery holiday destination. The two leads are Cloris Leachman and Lloyd Bridges, as Ellen and Dave, two unnacompanied travellers who make friends and soon become close. Like most of those aboard, they have taken the flight in response to a mysterious brochure, but not all of the characters are holidaymakers. Two of them are honeymooners, one (a priest) is travelling to the area to make a pilgrimage into the surrounding jungle areas to meet a lost tribe, while yet another has simply been booked onto the wrong flight by mistake.

The group all seem pretty delighted when they arrive at at very luxurious hotel in the middle of who-knows-where. But almost as soon as they have settled into their rooms, events start to happen that slowly strip away the trappings of comfort, and the stay become more of a nightmare than a holiday. They begin to wish they could leave, but to their further surprise, this proves to be impossible. As the group become more and more agitated, a horrible fear strikes Dave and Ellen, a fear that they are stranded here on purpose, destined never to escape.

Most people know by now what the secret of the holiday is, but what I didn't remember was that the moment the two lead characters realise why they are trapped in this place actually comes in at about halfway through the films running time, cleverly allowing the plot to detail the various reactions (disbelief, desperation or denial) from the other members of the group. It also allows for a few rather cruel moments when all suddenly seems well again, only for the groups hopes to be cruelly dashed all over again. The slide from glamourous luxury into desolation happens remarkably fast, beginning with a tropical storm that cuts the electricity and stops all contact with the outside world, and ending with the group with no food or water left and the huge hotel deserted except for them. You have to suspend disbelief to some extent, but the film is actually quite clever in that it really doesn't give the characters any possible leads for contacting help or finding a way out. And when things start to slide into the realms of fantasy, you can quite easily go with the flow.

The performances are all pretty good, and so is the setting and camera work although it's all unmistakeablely stamped as a minor TV movie from the 1970's, and could easily be mistaken for an episode of "Charlie's Angles" (or "Fantasy Island"!!) if you tuned in halfway through. Apart from the two leads, Edward Asner (Lou Grant) also makes a good appearance as the grumpy business man who's visit was by mistake from the start, and Donna Mills is as lovely as ever as one of the newly-weds. The rather way-out climax of the film doesn't really explain any of the subtelties of the situation the group are in, apart from the obvious. For example, why should all the food and water disappear if the grand design is to keep the group there forever?

Anyway, it's still a fun movie to watch, and the delirious slow-mo ending still works today... One of a select group of made for TV chillers that people seem to hold a soft spot for even now, a shame this film is so hard to see now, and a modest DVD re-issue would surely be able to notch up a few sales.

Ok, so I'm getting older - we all are - but I recall seeing this movie on TV as a toung dude and being seriously spooked out by it. When I started into getting a VCR library, this is one of the first tapes I bought. I doubt as if it will ever be on DVD but if it's released, I'll be the first in line.

I'm thinking that this movie (along with one of the earlier interactive computer/video games - "Myst") has something to do with the current hit TV show, "Lost." Maybe not but I can sure see where viewing this film would fire off the imaginations of those behind the TV show.

At any rate, I highly recommend this film. I think it has aged well and still has the power to creep a viewer out. I've not forgotten the first time I saw it, after all these years.

I recently got to see this film on youtube, remembering how much I liked it as a youngster. Beware spoilers.....Back then, I wondered how these people found themsekves in hell. Now, I ask myself why. None of them seem evil. The young newlyweds may be self centered but does that warrant a trip down under? The priest has lost his way, faith-wise.The housewife was murdered by her cheating husband, so why isn't he stuck on the island, not the hapless wife. Lloyd Bridges and Cloris Leachman find love, and that warrants eternal suffering, right down to the man's clinging wife showing up, thus making it impossible for he to enjoy his newfound love. As one who believes hell is only for the truly evil, I found this a sad tale, with undeserved fates for the characters.

What was very good was the way the story would allow hope to enter in, only to have it dashed by a turn in events. The radio, the light plane showing up with a dead pilot, the second plane coming. Everytime the group would accept their fate, something else would happen to give them joy, only to have it yanked away.

The music was suitably eerie too. One thing I hated was the filming through cheesecloth effect. I kept blinking hoping the picture would clear up. But I understand that was to add to the unreal feeling of the settings.

Go to youtube if you want to see this. I think its still there.

haunts of the very rich is a made for tv movie from the seventies.It is well done and fun to see some stars who are stil around today like ed asner cloris leachman and anne francis who passed away just recently.the plot is people on a plane going some where to the portals of eden ;take it from there.to bad its not on dvd.

I saw this as an ABC movie of the week waaayyy back when.When I watched my 2nd episode of "Lost" last night(Being the last episode) I knew from the first episode, that this "Lost" was just a cheap rip-off of this classic.Cloris Leachman's performance here sent chills down my spine.It's a movie you'll never forget, like the scene from the first "Fly" movie with Vincent Price.You just never saw it coming.WHY is this not on DVD?

The biggest TV stars of the day in a one of a kind TV movie that I will never forget. Please put this on DVD.