Better than I expected, this obscure horror film is surprisingly good even if there are several really stupid moments throughout. The very good Eric Foster is a real gem as the grandson, and makes even the dumbest moments of the film a lot better because of his presence. Along with Sister Kim Valentine, they are sent to live with their grandparents after the death of their father, and there's something going on that Foster becomes instantly suspicious up. It appears that the grandparents are killing young women and keeping them in their basement, and then the presence of a mysterious young woman changes the whole plot line when she is discovered handcuffed in the Grandfather's jeep. This leads to a ton of action and more than just a few questons

While there aren't any real names in the cast, it is a very good ensemble. Len Lesser and Ida Lee are complete scene-stealers as the grandparents, adorable in every way. The presence of a weird family that comes over for a picnic as more questions as it's very apparent that something is up especially when the teen son shows Foster how to blow the bodies out of a local river.

Foster has a weird situation when he gets stuck on the roof and is basically hanging over his grandparents as they removed mysterious objects out of the basement. Another scene of David (Foster's character) running into a pipe really jolted me. There's actually more action than horror, although it definitely has elements of that throughout. Regardless of whether these elderly people are killing younger women, they are plenty creepy, although the twist with the stranger coming out of nowhere does show what's really going on. A lot of fun, and certainly better with unknowns than big stars in the major roles.

After the death of their father, teenage siblings David (Eric Foster) and Lynn (Kim Valentine) go to live with their grandparents on a farm in California. Soon after, David begins to suspect that something untoward is afoot, having seen a mysterious woman (played by '80s scream queen Brinke Stevens) with a guitar apparently being accosted by his elderly guardians.

Grandmother's House has one or two well executed moments of tension and features a nicely twisted denouement, but the bulk of the film is uneventful and slow making it a rather tiresome movie overall. Too much time is dedicated to David sneaking around the farmhouse and the surrounding orange groves, with very little in the way of plot progression to keep things interesting.

Of the good stuff, a scene in which David becomes trapped on the farmhouse roof is fairly suspenseful as the boy almost comes a cropper several times trying to find a way back inside, the poor lad running headfirst into a metal pipe took me by surprise, and the ending delivers the deviancy one might expect from a film produced by Nico Mastorakis, the director of infamous video nasty Island of Death.

4.5, rounded up to 5 for IMDb.

David (a solid performance by Eric Foster) and his older sister Lynn (an appealing portrayal by the pretty Kim Valentine) are forced to move in with their grandparents on an old farm after their father dies. Things go awry after David uncovers a dark secret from his family's grim past.

Director Peter Rader, working from a compellingly twisted script by Peter Jensen, relates the absorbing story at a steady pace, does a sound job of crafting an intriguingly spooky and mysterious atmosphere, stages the lively and exciting last third with real brio, makes good use of the idyllic rural locations, and concludes things on a startling downbeat note. Ida Lee and especially Len Lesser are both excellent as the sinister grandparents while 80's scream queen supreme Brinke Stevens attacks her juicy role as a dangerously unhinged woman with frightening intensity and ferocity. Moreover, the character of David is drawn in a realistic manner; he snoops around and causes trouble because there's quite simply nothing else to do. Jensen's crisp cinematography gives this picture a pleasing polished look. The spare shivery score by Nigel Holton and Clive Wright hits the spine-tingling spot. Worth a watch.