A trio of female reporters (led by Mrs. Ringo Starr aka Barbara Bach also better known as a Bond girl in the James Bond movie “The Spy Who Loved Me”) begrudgingly accept an invitation of cheap lodging from the owners (a pair of creepy old siblings) of a hotel situated in the town where the reporters are covering a local festival parade. Unknown to the ladies, the offspring/sibling of the incestuous couple lurks in the basement and desperately wants to meet them. Not as bad as most throwaway slasher movies from the early 80’s, The Unseen actually carries itself like an old time horror movie, relying on cheap jump scares and mildly tense situations instead of splashy gore set pieces.

Imagine a more bloodthirsty version of Sloth from “The Goonies” and you have the idea. Bach gives some class to the film but, considering she was in such gems like Sergio Martino’s “Island of the Fishmen,” and “Big Alligator River,” shows that she can only do so much for a feature. The idea of helpless females stalked by an unseen threat is a basic enough story, but the film manages to squeak on by due to decent production values and the serious effort given by the cast. The movie at all times does have potential to plummet into a horrible downward spiral of complete trash but luckily manages to hold its own.

There are a few set pieces involving a floor vent that are pretty amazing and are genuinely shocking. The creature’s habit of using the apparently amply spaced ventilation ducts to roam around the bowels of the house offer many opportunities for voyeuristic chills and bring actual tension to the events unfolding on the screen. The incest subplot adds some unexpected uneasiness to the affair and the whole movie builds in a slow deliberate crescendo to a pretty involved, wild finale.

Unavailable except for the occasional cable repeat or VHS tape from a Mom n’ Pop video store, The Unseen is finally getting a DVD release from Code Red DVD tentatively on August 19. The two disc re-mastered edition will be the best this film has ever looked. Hopefully the original theatrical trailer will be included, which was a personal Holy Grail for this reviewer.

As a teen I once saw a trailer for a movie which I remembered as showing a stark white space, claustrophobically filmed and a woman being yanked by “something” into what appeared to be either a crawlspace or a vent. For years I could never recall the movie and was desperate to find out what it was. Imagine my delight when years later I viewed this movie and discovered the scene mentioned.

The Unseen is a tight little movie that prefers to build slowly and entice the viewer with some fine performances and scenes. Unfortunately Bach, while statuesque, is quite wooden and brings no real emotion to the film. The later scenes of her trying to play and connect with the beast are laughable but then are redeemed when the evil old man comes down to dish out some punishment. The 80’s were filled with bad movies but many of them took actual risks and, while following a proven horror formula, did try to rise above what was out there. Mostly succeeding, The Unseen is a film that sneaks in under the radar and manages to be, with all its faults, an entertaining little piece of terror.