A small rural community is plagued by a series of rapes and murders. The scissor-loving black-gloved killer seems awfully interested in puritanical farmer Ingrid (May Britt), at least he not only tries to rape her, but decorates her chicken coop with a corpse, too. The local sheriff (Aldo Ray) hasn't a clue how to handle the situation. Things don't improve when the rapist is caught in the act and shot. Someone still wants to do Ingrid, whose traumatic experiences bring some terrible happenings from her childhood back to the surface of her memory, harm. Standing on the verge of a nervous breakdown, she even starts to doubt her uncle (Cameron Mitchell).
Another positive surprise. Director Herb Freed had the fabulous idea to use most of the aesthetics and techniques of the Giallo while making Haunts. The Giallo influence isn't just superficial, the whole film seems to be constructed in the same way Giallos are. Nobody ever seems to have asked themselves if certain events in the movie were logical or plausible, the emphasis lies wholly on the atmospheric and emotional truth of the scenes. Even the ending only makes sense if you are willing to suppress the wish for sensible explanations and plot-logic. Of course, in my world this is a good choice to make.
What makes Haunts even more interesting is its coupling of Giallo style with the Seventies grittiness I like to rave about, as well as the kind of hyper-realism you get when you have to shoot most of your film in more or less shabby real-world locations other film makers wouldn't even look at.
In addition to all this, the film (or Herb Freed) shares the deep distrust of male authority figures we know and love from many Giallos. Fathers, uncles, sheriffs, priest - they are ineffectual at best and actively malevolent at their worst.
The acting is solid throughout, especially Aldo Ray and Cameron Mitchell make some difficult moments work.
May Britt surely is no Catherine Deneuve (whose role in Polanski's Repulsion is another obvious touchstone for this picture), but we doubt her Ingrid not for a moment. That her prettiness is a little more real than Deneuve's only helps us relate to her easier. Too much distance to her would kill the movie fast.
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