Watch House of Horrors For Free

The Worst Film Ever

Fantastic!

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

House of Horrors is a creepy little shocker film that is quite well done. Interestingly it's working title was "The Sinister Shadow" before it was released. House Of Horrors was another Ben Pivar production and Ben could put this kind of horror film out in his sleep.Director Jean Yarbrough cut his teeth directing these kind of B thrillers and he went on to have a very successful career in television. I always considered Rondo Hatton to be sort of a walking prop. He's a bit more animated in this story then usual but here he's not so much the monster as he is the real monsters tool. Virginia Grey wasn't one of Universal's Screen Queens". She was loaned out for "House" from M-G-M. She's very good as the spirited reporter trying to get the story.Robert Lowery was a handsome and talented leading man but you could aways tell when he was really into his role or just picking up a paycheck.The dependable Alan Napier has a turn as an egotistical and sarcastic art critic. He so good in the role that the audience cheers when he gets his. Martin Kosleck was, as my dad used to say,the poor man's Peter Lorre He could play sinister capably enough but he was a bit too subdued to play out and out crazy. In this story he is the real monster, however, creeping around in the shadows and letting Rondo do his dirty work.This is one of Koslecks biggest roles and his weaselly Marcel De Lange is one of his best characterizations Its a shame that Rondo Hatton passed on just as his star was beginning to rise in the horror film Pantheon so to speak. Whether or not he could have lasted as a horror star nobody can say. The second horror cycle was beginning to dry out in 1946 so he could have slid back into obscurity had he lived.The American Horror Film Board presents the Rondo Award every year to deserving horror films and actors since 2002. Film fans vote on the recipients. So Rondo Hatton has achieved some degree of movie immortality.

One of many 60-minute B-movie horrors that Universal churned out in the 1940's, House of Horrors remains one of the most fondly remembered due to the hulking presence of Rondo Hatton. Originally a journalist and apparently a handsome man, he developed acromegaly which began to disfigure him in adulthood. He started getting extra work and bit-parts as faceless thugs until he appeared as 'The Creeper' in the Sherlock Holmes film The Pearl of Death (1944). Universal planned a series of films starring Hatton as The Creeper, but after this and it's sequel The Brute Man (1946), he sadly died of a heart attack brought on by his disease. He was far from a good actor - he does little but grunt and talk in child-like speech - but his presence is undeniable, and probably saves House of Horrors from obscurity.Living alone in his rotting studio, sculptor Marcel De Lange (Martin Kosleck) is on the verge of selling his best work to a high-rolling collector. Unfortunately, the potential purchaser brings along notorious art critic F. Holmes Harmon (Alan Napier), who dismisses Marcel's work as a travesty, causing the sale to fall through. Penniless and on the verge of suicide, he spots a body wash ashore one night. The body is that of the Creeper, a known serial killer with the face of "the perfect Neanderthal," (as Marcel dubs him), so Marcel brings him home and nurses him back to health. Fascinating with his appearance, Marcel begins to sculpt the Creeper and exploit his blood-lust by setting him up to murder his enemies.At just 65 minutes, House of Horrors, also known as Murder Mansion and Joan Medford is Missing, doesn't demand much at all. This is a formulaic genre picture that manages to squeeze an extraordinary amount into it's slender running time, and remains suitably entertaining throughout. Kosleck, for all his ham-fisting, manages to inject a tragic quality into his character, at first humble and optimistic, and later hateful and blood-thirsty. But it's Hando that steals the film - his Creeper snaps a woman's spine just for screaming in a scene that more than hints at rape (a big no-no in the 40's). Though there's no background or personality given to the character, that lurch-like appearance more than compensates. A forgettable genre film that is certainly worth an hour of your time.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

I watched "Pearl of Death" and "The Brute Man", and I was really looking forward to "House of Horrors" because the first two movies were so enjoyable. Well...all I can say is "what a letdown!". I absolutely loved the parts of the movie that the sculptor and The Creeper were in, but the parts they weren't in sucked so bad that they ruined the whole movie. I'm totally serious. First, we have the most annoying woman I've ever seen on screen. Her name is Virginia Grey and she plays the character, Joan Medford. This woman constantly is spewing snappy, clever, horrendously annoying witticisms out of her hole. It's like she's not even human. I can't believe people ever acted like this, not even in the 1940's. I kept wanting the The Creeper to grab her and give her a big bunny hug that would make her spine snap so loud they'd hear in Frisco, but I knew that would never happen because she was too important. I don't know if the director forced her to act like this or what, but I could NEVER watch this movie again because of this stupid ____.Second, we have Medford's boyfriend, Steven Morrow. He's almost as bad as his sweetie, but he actually acts like a human a few times. The big problem is when he is with Medford because they both try to out duel each other with the clever quips - absolutely nauseating!Last, but not least is Bill Goodwin as Lt. Larry Brooks. He's full of wise-cracks and stupidity, but thankfully he has less screen time than Medford and Morrow. This guy is an unlikable loser, but as soon as he walks into Morrow's studio where a beautiful model is being painted, he manages to worm his way into her heart. This is sooooo unbelievable that it's sickening. There is no way any woman would like this nobody, especially not a gorgeous model!If you have the ability to edit, take this movie and remove any scene without The Creeper or the sculptor. Trust me, you won't miss anything, and you will enjoy this flick about a billion times more.Long live Rondo Hatton!!! To all of you apologists out there that like to smugly write about how poor, poor Rondo was exploited - you sicken me! Rondo Hatton was a citizen of the USA. If Rondo Hatton was exploited and he hated it, then why did he CHOOSE to act in these films? If there is a record of him saying that he felt exploited, then he only has himself to blame. I humbly request that the next reviewer that wants to write about Hatton being exploited, please include some quotes and or a link to your source for this opinion. Until I see some concrete proof that Rondo Hatton felt exploited, I will continue to enjoy the films of this man who brought so much joy into all our lives. Long live Rondo Hatton!!!

House of Horrors (1946) ** (out of 4) Silly horror flick from Universal has artist Marcel De Lange (Martin Kosleck) growing tired of the negative reviews from critics so he goes to kill himself but before he can do so he pulls a drowning man out of the river. This man gives the artist his inspiration for his masterpiece but what he doesn't know is that the man he saved is the notorious serial killer known as The Creeper (Rondo Hatton). Soon the critic is sending The Creeper out to kill those who insult his work. I've said it before but I've always found it rather troublesome and unsettling that Universal would use the tragic accident surrounding Hatton and turn it into some freak show exploitation. Thankfully the exploitation here isn't nearly as high as some of the others films he was in but there's very little to recommend here outside of the performances. Many would argue that these later day Universal films became way too childish but I'm somewhat certain a child wrote the dialogue in this film because it's downright horrid and the absolute worst I've ever heard from a Universal picture. The opening bit with the artist giving a "deep" talk to his cat about hunting mice and hunting clients was downright hilariously bad. This is followed up with an even dumber sequence where a possible client brings over a famous art critic who then tears into the artist. For starters, why on Earth would a famous art critic waste his time going with a nobody to see the art of a nobody? Also, would such an educated man use the childish name-calling that this guy does? The screenplay not only features horrible dialogue but we get several plot goofs including one where a suspect says he couldn't have killed one of the critics. The cop then agrees because the artist was in a bar with fellow artists when they got word that the critic was murdered at two am. This goes against the previous scene where it's said that the critics body wasn't discovered under 11am. Yarbrough's direction is hard to spot as there's not an inch of energy to be found and everything just comes off rather lazy. Both Hatton and Kosleck are good in their roles as is Robert Lowery and Virginia Grey as a artist and critic and then we get a good turn by Bill Goodwin as the cop investigating the crimes. HOUSE OF HORRORS was somewhat done again years later by Vincent Price in THEATRE OF BLOOD and that's certainly the film to see.