Burnt Offerings (film)

Burnt Offerings
Theatrical release poster by Tom Jung
Directed byDan Curtis
Written by
Based onBurnt Offerings
by Robert Marasco
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyJacques R. Marquette
Edited byDennis Virkler
Music byBob Cobert
Production
companies
Distributed byUnited Artists
Release date
  • August 25, 1976 (1976-08-25)[1]
Running time
116 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$2 million[2]
Box office$1.56 million[3]

Burnt Offerings is a 1976 American supernatural horror film co-written and directed by Dan Curtis and starring Karen Black, Oliver Reed, Bette Davis, and Lee H. Montgomery, with Eileen Heckart, Burgess Meredith and Anthony James in supporting roles. It is based on the 1973 novel of the same name by Robert Marasco.[4] The plot follows a family which begins to interpersonally dissolve under supernatural forces in a large estate they have rented for the summer.

Produced by Alberto Grimaldi's Produzioni Europee Associati (PEA), Burnt Offerings was filmed on location at the historic Dunsmuir House in Oakland, California. It was given a domestic limited theatrical release through United Artists in August 1976, which expanded later that fall. While the film received mixed reviews from critics, it won several awards in 1977. In the years since its release, the film has been analyzed by film scholars as a commentary on materialism and the dissolution of the American family.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference AFI was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Sterritt, David (September 13, 1976). "Excitement--and waiting: That's how life is for actors and crew on location with the big-budget thriller 'Burnt Offerings' In Dunsmuir House Old style is done with". The Christian Science Monitor. p. 23.
  3. ^ Nowell 2011, p. 256.
  4. ^ Variety film review; August 25, 1976, page 20.