Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Basic haunted house formula: Throw in a couple of love birds, a sprinkling of murder, some CHEAP special FX and voilà! you have a made-for-idiots film.Pros: 1. Good sound effects saves the film from obscurity. 2. Female lead actress is pretty reminding me of Victoria Principle. 3. The male lead actor has a minor role in the film. 4. There is a creepy looking old woman with a cat. 5. The house is state-of-the-art with spy-cameras and a good sized heated swimming pool to boot. Cons: 1. Hammy acting. 2. NO steamy naked sex scenes. 3. Plot is BOGUS and looks like its written by a seven year old. 4. This film has songs in it. YES SONGS!!! 5. Not enough gore.Plot: Years ago a man built a fabulous house for his wife and daughter. The house adored this man's young daughter, Margaret, like it had a feeling. The man found out and tried to send Margaret away to safety.... BUT TOO LATE!!! The house found out and killed the man and his wife but sparing the Margaret. Margaret's nanny witnesses the incident and saves her. Years have since passed and Margaret who is now called Sheila, has now grown up, and working as a nurse in a hospital. She has forgotten all about her past including the house.After having a nervous breakdown, a singer has to spend some time in hospital. Sheila is hired, and with her he buys a new house, the same house Sheila's father and mother were murdered.Sheila, can't remember the first years of her life, but this house seems strangely familiar to her. Also, there is this strange old woman who claims that Sheila's real name is Margaret. People who cause Sheila pain or who try to tell her the real story of what happened in this house, they die in strange ways: Tanya, the girlfriend of the singer, and the Library woman who wants to give her some newspaper articles. Can Sheila find out the truth behind all this and can she escape the house that possessed once and wants to possess once more? Well after having watched Poltergeist, Pulse (1988), The Shining, 1408, The House On Haunted Hill, and Rose Red, I have to say this is just passable watching. I wonder why this film has an average rating of 6???

I remember this movie scared the crap out of me as I was only 11 at the time. The horror scenes in it were very gory for '81 and for being a TV movie. The scenes I remember are; Blood pouring out of the shower head while a woman takes a shower. The gate at the entry-way closing on someone. The indoor swimming pool overheating and boiling someone alive and killing them. I definitely want to see this again since I was 11 when I saw it last. Parker Stevenson was a cu-tie back then too- Woo Hoo! I believe this was a TV movie - and was pretty good considering it was probably low-budget. The Rag Lady freaked me out too. If anyone has information on how to get a copy of this- I'd be interested though I probably have it taped on a VHS tape from the 80s somewhere at my mom's house.

wow.. well let me start of by saying that it looks like a lot of you are about my age, because I remember seeing this as a child too. I looked on the internet for YEARS and asked everyone about this movie.. I couldn't remember the name. I thought that the name was The House.. anyway.. I searched really hard for this and was SOOO delighted to find it. It was sucha memorable movie for me. I was mesmorized by it even as a 9 year old child. I remember that I loved that house ( with the indoor swimming pool) more than that house loved "sheila"!!! It didn't scare me at all. I just thought that how cool it would be to be Sheila, haha. I am so happy to have found this movie. Now I wonder where I could get a copy to watch with my kids and friends that I have raved about this movie to for years. Every movie about posessed houses or computer run houses reminds me of this movie. This movie must have been the first to explore that plot.

A nice 1981 b-horror movie starring the late Joan Bennett and Slim Pickens about a burnt-out pop singer moving with a nurse to a high-tech-house to find out that his new building has an evil intelligence and no regrets to kill its habitants.This TV production is a b-movie flick with a good horror atmosphere, similar to the late Hammer Horror TV shows and several Twilight Zone episodes, and an eerie Theremin-like mystery sound track. Unfortunately the film lacks of good actors, thrills and good special effects.In fact, this movie was just made twelve years before "Jurassic Park" but shows primitive special effects like suddenly opening doors or some flame overdubs to suggest a heavy fire that were even better produced in the 1933 version of "King Kong"."This House Possessed" is not good enough to become a horror classic and also not weird enough to become a classic entry in Michael Weldon's "Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film". At least it's thrilling and great fun to watch after midnight with a bag of crisps and a can of lager beer.