Ray Austin, born in the 1930s, made significant contributions to cult cinema as both an actor and director. He appeared in The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (1964), showcasing his talent in horror. Transitioning to directing, Austin helmed 1,000 Convicts and a Woman (1971) and Virgin Witch (1972), both of which reflect the gritty aesthetics of 1970s exploitation cinema. His work on House of the Living Dead (1974) further cements his role in shaping the genre, blending suspense with a unique narrative style.
House of the Living Dead
A white family running a plantation farm on the Cape Colony in South Africa consists of a mother and her two sons, Michael and Breck. Michael runs the house while Breck spends his time alone in his room, deformed and insane, conducting experiments to try to prove the soul is an organic object able to live outside the human body. Michael's fiancée Mary arrives to marry him, much to the mother's dismay as she wants the family to end so the long history of madness can stop. Meanwhile, strange things begin to happen at the plantation, such as voodoo, which is assumed to be the work of the local black neighbors, and murder.
