The Attic (1980)

Director: George Edwards

Writers: George Edwards, Tony Crechales

Composer: Hod David Schudson

Starring: Carrie Snodgress, Ray Milland, Ruth Cox, Rosemary Murphy, Frances Bay, Fern Barry, Marjorie Eaton, Dick Welsbacher, Joyce Cavarozzi

More info: IMDb

Tagline: She's Daddy's Little Girl ... FOREVER!

Plot: Louise (Snodegress) is a dowdy librarian, obsessively grieving 19 years after the disappearance of her picture-perfect boyfriend. This prolonged sadness is aggravated by her apparently disabled father (Milland), who dominates her life with such abusive bitterness that she descends even deeper into tortured desperation.

My rating: 3/10

Will I watch it again? NOOOOOOOO!

I was so bored by this picture that it took three attempts to finish it.  This is on one of those great MGM Midnite Movies double feature DVDs, this one paired with CRAWLSPACE (1986).  Unfortunately both movies weren't all that good and they both suffered from the same problem - pacing which led to slow and tedious.  THE ATTIC is 104 minutes and only the last 6 are interesting.  For more than an hour and a half I kept waiting for something, ANYTHING, to happen.  Louise (Snodgress) is losing her marbles for a very long time. Her father (Milland) is the cause of it only she doesn't realize it until those last few minutes and by then, for her, it's too late.  All of the players are fine I suppose.  Milland is a monster of a father.  He was great and despicable.  Snodgress was fine I guess but the fact that the movie is so long and her unraveling feels like a long time coming that her performance is repetitive and too much.  It doesn't take long before you know she's losing her shit and it's only going to get worse.  I just didn't need to have that message hit home over and over again.  The ending is great (although it opens up some logistical plot holes I'd like to discuss with someone), but like so many films that suffer from pacing issues and overstay their welcome, it's too late by the time it happens.  I stopped caring a long time ago.  I've already got one foot off the train and onto the platform.