Quite exotic Spanish horror movie we have here.A planter who lives with his son in a remote area of India has an affair with a native girl.On a trip to England he remarries and the native girl commits suicide.On his return he is seized by a superstitious fear and his wife and son become attracted to each other."La Muerte Incierta" is along with "Emma,Puertas Oscuras"(1974)one of the most obscure horror movies made by Jose Ramon Larraz.It's quite boring and unexciting ghost story with a little bit of gore and absolutely no nudity.Still it's nice to see lovely Mary Maude who was extremely memorable as a sadistic schoolgirl in Chicho Ibanez Serrador's "La Residencia"(1969).Plus the scenes of tiger attack are quite gruesome.6 out of 10.
7 Reviews
Nice setting and premise, poor execution
udar5510 September 2013
British aristocrat Clive Dawson (Antonio Molino Rojo) returns to 1930s India with his new bride Brenda (Mary Maude). News of his marriage has forced his paramour Shaheen (Rosalba Neri) to commit suicide, but not before putting a curse on their stately mansion. Filmed the year before VAMPYRES, this is an attempt at a ghost story set in India. I'm sure the closest they got to India was the local curry restaurant in Spain as most of the India footage is stock footage. While the set up offers some promise, it isn't exploited to its full potential at all. Larraz can be accused of slow pacing in his films, but this might be the biggest offender. Literally nothing happens for the first hour. When it finally does, you only have 25 minutes left and, sadly, it isn't that thrilling.
Routine at best.
parry_na12 September 2018
Warning: Spoilers
What is it about Rosalba Neri? Alongside the equally fascinating Edwige Fenech, Neri (or Sarah Bey as she is sometimes billed), Neri rules the screen whenever she is on it. Her combination of sexuality, intensity, deportment, acting and sense of presence ensures that whomever shares a scene with her, it is Rosalba that holds your attention. So it takes a certain skill to cast her in a film that is as drab as this. Right, with that out of the way, here she plays scorned Shaheen who has a sordid relationship with white planter Clive Dawson (a commanding performance from Antonio Molino Rojo), only to be discarded in favour of new bride Brenda (lovely Mary Maude). This rejection pushes Shaheen to suicide, but not before she curses the mansion in which they live.
José Ramón Larraz, who brought us cult favourites 'Vampyres' and 'Symptoms' (both 1974) and 'Deviation (1971)', here fuses footage from India (although not, as the subtitles tell us, from 1930) with Spain with moderate results. Much spliced wildlife is on display, but it never poses a real threat to the characters, who are clearly in a different country! Also, the footage is often intrusive and usually inserted at moments of great drama destroying the potential excitement and interest generated.
As a story (written by Larraz), this is really thin on the ground, with Dawson hearing Shaheen's distinctive footsteps fairly regularly throughout. They don't exist as a premonition of anything else happening, so simply provide a ghostly reminder of the curse. And sadly, for at least two thirds of 90 minutes running time, that's all that happens. An attempt to spice up events comes with Dawson's pretty son Rupert (Curi Rafaelle) and his rather dull libido. Despite Neri's presence, this is routine at best.
José Ramón Larraz, who brought us cult favourites 'Vampyres' and 'Symptoms' (both 1974) and 'Deviation (1971)', here fuses footage from India (although not, as the subtitles tell us, from 1930) with Spain with moderate results. Much spliced wildlife is on display, but it never poses a real threat to the characters, who are clearly in a different country! Also, the footage is often intrusive and usually inserted at moments of great drama destroying the potential excitement and interest generated.
As a story (written by Larraz), this is really thin on the ground, with Dawson hearing Shaheen's distinctive footsteps fairly regularly throughout. They don't exist as a premonition of anything else happening, so simply provide a ghostly reminder of the curse. And sadly, for at least two thirds of 90 minutes running time, that's all that happens. An attempt to spice up events comes with Dawson's pretty son Rupert (Curi Rafaelle) and his rather dull libido. Despite Neri's presence, this is routine at best.
That's right, that's sweet, I really love your Tiger-feet!
Coventry10 November 2021
In India, during the colonial era, wealthy but arrogant plantation owner Clive Dawson has a steamy affair with a local beauty, but he abruptly breaks it off to return to Britain and marry the lovely upper-class Brenda. The native girl - Shaheen - doesn't deal well with rejection and speaks out a curse to Clive and the entire estate. When he returns with his bride Brenda, Shaheen allegedly committed suicide, but he firmly believes her wrathful spirit is still around. While Clive is too busy getting paranoid and convinced his ex-mistress turned into a tiger, his freaky son Rupert - from his first marriage - becomes rather friendly with Brenda.
Is it me, or does the plot summary sounds like it's coming from a sappy TV-soap opera, rather than from an early 70s euro-exploitation flick? The 1930s colonial setting is intriguing, but the plot is rather dull, and the horror elements really don't come to the surface. Still, though, there's something very ominous about the atmosphere, and the leading ladies (Mary Maude, Yelena Samarina and Rosalba Neri) are gorgeous.
I'm an admirer of writer/director José Ramón Larraz, for sure! Perhaps he's not as productive as his contemporary compatriot Jésus Franco, but he made two dozen of worthwhile horror films that between 1970 and 1990. "The Uncertain Death" is, together with "Symptoms" and "The House that Vanished", rather average. For his masterpiece, check out "Vampyres". For his most entertaining outings, look for the 80s trash-slashers "Edge of the Axe" and "Rest in Pieces".
Is it me, or does the plot summary sounds like it's coming from a sappy TV-soap opera, rather than from an early 70s euro-exploitation flick? The 1930s colonial setting is intriguing, but the plot is rather dull, and the horror elements really don't come to the surface. Still, though, there's something very ominous about the atmosphere, and the leading ladies (Mary Maude, Yelena Samarina and Rosalba Neri) are gorgeous.
I'm an admirer of writer/director José Ramón Larraz, for sure! Perhaps he's not as productive as his contemporary compatriot Jésus Franco, but he made two dozen of worthwhile horror films that between 1970 and 1990. "The Uncertain Death" is, together with "Symptoms" and "The House that Vanished", rather average. For his masterpiece, check out "Vampyres". For his most entertaining outings, look for the 80s trash-slashers "Edge of the Axe" and "Rest in Pieces".
Marital problems
BandSAboutMovies10 May 2022
Warning: Spoilers
José Ramón Larraz may be best known for Symptoms, Vampyres, The House That Vanished, The Coming of Sin, Black Candles, Rest In Pieces, Edge of the Axe and Deadly Manor, but he also made this giallo.
Clive Dawson (Antonio Molino Rojo) returns to India with his new bride Brenda (Mary Maude, who also is in The House That Screamed and Terror) which upsets his old lover Shaheen (Rosalba Neri, Lady Frankenstein, Amuck, The Devil's Wedding Night, The Girl in Room 2A, 99 Women) to the point that she kills herself, but not before placing a curse on the new marriage. This being the 70s - not the 30s as the flashbacks claim - incest rears its head as Brenda and Clive's son Rupert soon find themselves realizing that they're young, Clive is old and that he thinks he's being chased by his ghost ex in the form of a tiger, so they should just have rough sex.
"I've satisfied all your desires. You've taken advantage of me," says Shaheen, but the real mystery of this movie is why would any man leave Rosalba Neri. Outside of perhaps only Edwige Fenech, no one in this genre - maybe this world in 1973 - offers such a smoldering presence that is as much frightening in its intensity as it is arousing.
Clive Dawson (Antonio Molino Rojo) returns to India with his new bride Brenda (Mary Maude, who also is in The House That Screamed and Terror) which upsets his old lover Shaheen (Rosalba Neri, Lady Frankenstein, Amuck, The Devil's Wedding Night, The Girl in Room 2A, 99 Women) to the point that she kills herself, but not before placing a curse on the new marriage. This being the 70s - not the 30s as the flashbacks claim - incest rears its head as Brenda and Clive's son Rupert soon find themselves realizing that they're young, Clive is old and that he thinks he's being chased by his ghost ex in the form of a tiger, so they should just have rough sex.
"I've satisfied all your desires. You've taken advantage of me," says Shaheen, but the real mystery of this movie is why would any man leave Rosalba Neri. Outside of perhaps only Edwige Fenech, no one in this genre - maybe this world in 1973 - offers such a smoldering presence that is as much frightening in its intensity as it is arousing.
Some atmosphere
Leofwine_draca1 November 2021
Warning: Spoilers
A different kind of supernatural horror film, one made by legendary Spanish horror director Jose Ramon Larraz, of course responsible for his infamous VAMPYRES. This is very much a lesser story, although not without interest; the colonial India setting is the most interesting part of it. It begins with Rosalba Neri (LADY FRANKENSTEIN) herself playing a slighted Indian lover (!) who commits suicide but vows a curse beforehand. After that we follow the story of the recipient of said curse, a bullish hunter and plantation owner named Clive Dawson. There are padded scenes of tiger hunting and a random incest sub-plot thrown into the mix, and not very much happens, but it does have some atmosphere.
White mischief in colonial India
melvelvit-19 September 2015
India 1930: When white plantation owner Clive Dawson casts his Indian mistress aside, she puts a curse on the place and kills herself but the place was cursed with insanity long before that...
An older man, his young bride, his handsome son... something bad was bound to happen in the tropical heat but is it supernatural or inherited? Eurotrash goddess Rosealba Neri (a sultry cross between Ava Gardner and Nefertiti) plays the discarded concubine in a haunting, deliberately paced tale of white mischief in the jungle with nice period detail and an evocative score. Well done, Larraz. I was surprised to see the MGM logo of all things introducing the subtitled, letterboxed film.
An older man, his young bride, his handsome son... something bad was bound to happen in the tropical heat but is it supernatural or inherited? Eurotrash goddess Rosealba Neri (a sultry cross between Ava Gardner and Nefertiti) plays the discarded concubine in a haunting, deliberately paced tale of white mischief in the jungle with nice period detail and an evocative score. Well done, Larraz. I was surprised to see the MGM logo of all things introducing the subtitled, letterboxed film.
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