Curse of the Headless Horseman (1974)

3/10

Overall this is a film about a college kid who inherits a ranch from his uncle. It happens that the ranch is haunted by the "Headless Horseman". It is not a working ranch, it is more like one of those "Frontier Town" places that have cheap souvenirs and "shoot outs" on the main street. There is occasionally a narrator who mumbles through the story, such as it is.

After said narrator sets up that the uncle is dead and 30 seconds of seeing Mark (the nephew) walking around, we skip right to a dance at the ranch. There are 20-some people who are there to help Mark get the ranch running profitably. If Mark can't, then the ranch goes to the creepy caretaker. Ah, now some exposition about a murder from 1928! Could this be a plot point? I'll let you know if I figure out the plot.

So we get some legend about the murdered guy coming back repeatedly to get vengeance. Oh no, the narrator let's us know that tonight "it will be a special moon". Hey, let's watch 2 guys watch a guy rape his female friend. Let's laugh with them! And all to a rather jaunty song. Ugh. (The guy assaults the girl again later).

The group puts on a variety show while the caretaker creeps around. Between the caretaker and the narrator, it is explained how the Horseman summons 8 gun slingers by the 'Tamil moon' to the valley as sacrifices. But if they first read from some tome first, they will be spared. What! Why?

*** Some Spoilers ***

We finally get to see the Horseman (carrying his ridiculously fake dismembered head), who scares a woman into an oncoming truck. Then causes a girl to have orgasmic hallucinations. Then a bunch of the guys kill each other because they didn't read the tome before the 'Tamil' moon. Now the narrator tells us that Mark will ride with the Horseman and the curse will begin anew. And yet, all the Horseman did was scare 2 woman. Ugh.

*** End Spoilers ***

There are inane sound FX throughout the movie, like a metronome that I suppose represents a heartbeat, horseshoes clapping about, and other random noises. The women shrieking was ear piercing. Large bits of the dialogue is muffled or was taped in an echo chamber.

Acting was bad. The film is dark for all indoor shots. The outdoor shots are bright enough, no matter if it is supposed to be day or night. The plot did not make much sense. The film stock is vintage 70s quality. No gore, some knife and gun violence. Nothing really scary, though the caretaker would freak me out if I caught him staring at me through a window.

I guess you could rent this if you really like pseudo-western and/or Headless Horseman tales. Otherwise, I would advise against it. The film is poorly done and disjointed, and also dull. I fell asleep twice trying to finish the movie.