This Day in Horror History: BURNT OFFERINGS with Karen Black Premiered in 1976
On this day in horror history, Dan Curtis’ Burnt Offerings with Karen Black, Oliver Reed, and Bette Davis premiered in 1976. It was the first movie to be filmed at Dunsmuir House in Oakland, California. Other films shot there since include Phantasm, A View to a Kill, and So I Married an Axe Murderer.
Originally, the producers offered the film to director Bob Fosse (All That Jazz) who was intrigued and saw it as a challenge to direct a non-musical, dark horror story. Fosse and the producers set a summer 1970 start date, and Fosse scouted locations, but his involvement never materialized and he directed Cabaret, instead.
Bette Davis didn’t get along with either Oliver Reed or Karen Black during filming. Davis felt that Black was unprofessional and did not extend to her an appropriate degree of respect and Reed’s drunken escapades kept her up at night.
Everything turned out okay in the end though as the film won Best Horror Film, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actress for Bette Davis at the Saturn Awards.
Co-written and directed by Curtis, the film is based on the 1973 novel by Robert Marasco. and co-stars Lee H. Montgomery, Eileen Heckart, Burgess Meredith, and Anthony James.
The plot follows Ben (Oliver Reed) and Marian Rolf (Karen Black) can’t believe how cheap the rent is at their giant Victorian summer home. Over time, however, they begin to sense that there’s something peculiar about the place. Marian becomes strangely obsessed with keeping house, Ben finds himself prone to unusual bursts of anger and his vivacious aunt Elizabeth (Bette Davis) becomes withdrawn, then mysteriously dies. As the couple tries to adjust, they wonder if the house itself could be responsible?
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