The Glamour Is Dead (and Apparently So Is the Plot)
Some TV movies age gracefully. Others, like Death at Love House, age like a wax dummy left too close to a radiator—which, coincidentally, is the film’s actual plot twist. This made-for-television gothic melodrama tries to marry old Hollywood glamour with supernatural horror, but instead it’s a shotgun wedding where the bride is embalmed and the groom is checking his watch.
Robert Wagner, Kate Jackson, and the Case of the Misplaced Urgency
Robert Wagner and Kate Jackson play a young couple investigating the mystery of Lorna Love, a 1930s movie siren whose career ended in death… or so people think. Wagner spends much of the film drifting around the set like he’s wondering if his paycheck has cleared yet, while Jackson delivers her lines with the strained enthusiasm of someone trapped at a dinner party they can’t leave. Their chemistry is about as sizzling as a damp matchbook.
Lorna Love: From Hollywood Legend to Scooby-Doo Villain
The great reveal—that the housekeeper Clara is actually Lorna Love herself, kept young through vague, dollar-store witchcraft—lands with all the shock of an aging actress walking out of a spa treatment. The movie tries to sell her as a menacing, seductive presence, but the reality is more “eccentric aunt who won’t leave the costume closet.” By the time she’s chasing people around her shrine, you half-expect a meddling kid to yank her wig off.
John Carradine and the Cameo Cavalry
The supporting cast is stacked with golden-age and classic TV veterans—John Carradine, Joan Blondell, Dorothy Lamour—who are given little more to do than show up, tell a cryptic anecdote about Lorna’s past, and exit stage left before the next awkward chase scene. Their appearances feel less like character roles and more like a variety show reunion where everyone’s forgotten the format.
Fire, Wax, and a Swift Exit
The climax involves fire breaking out in Lorna’s shrine, revealing her “body” to be a wax dummy. It’s meant to be shocking, but the wax prop looks like it was borrowed from a small-town haunted house attraction, and the fire is filmed like the crew was afraid to get too close. The Gregorys leave the scene like they’re heading to brunch, while the audience is left wondering if the script ever had a second draft.
Verdict: A Love House You Shouldn’t Move Into
Death at Love House is less a horror film and more a sluggish soap opera with the occasional gothic flourish. It’s got atmosphere, sure—if your idea of atmosphere is a heavy cloud of hairspray, cigarette smoke, and missed opportunities. At best, it’s a curiosity piece for fans of the cast. At worst, it’s a cautionary tale about how not to mix Old Hollywood nostalgia with supernatural thrills.
