House of Horrors

House of Horrors
Customer Review: Universal's Famous 'The Creeper', In An Eerie Horror Entry
This little Universal Studios effort gets its fair share of controversy over the supposed ethics of using actor Rondo Hatton who was a famous sufferer of the disfiguring illness Acromegaly, as the 'monster', of this horror effort. Right or wrong he does make an effective horror actor in this eerie little effort from 1946 and is greatly aided by the equally sinister performance by Martin Kosleck as deranged sculptor Marcel De Lange. The pair actually make a good team and Martin Kosleck's colourful acting as the owner of the 'House of Horrors', helps smooth over many of the deficiences in Rondo Hatton's limited acting ability. All in all it turns into a quite effective second string horror effort that builds quickly towards its climax and actually contains more elements of a thriller than of an out and out horror story. Based on a Sherlock Holmes story 'The Pearl of Death', the Creeper character was resurrected as a vehicle for Rondo Hatton. As the action begins we find eccentric sculptor Marcel De Lange preparing a new avant garde sculpture for an interested client. Unfortunately Marcel has a bad reputation in New York art circles and when the client arrives at the studio he is unfortunately accompanied by acid tongued art critic F. Holmes Harmon (Alan Napier), a man feared and hated by all artists. When Harmon tears Marcel's work to pieces in front of the client Marcel swears somehow to get revenge on him. Faced with starvation from the loss of the sale Marcel contemplates suicide and as he is about to throw himself in the river he sees a figure climbing out of the water. Rescuing him he finds that the man is none other than the supposedly deceased 'creeper', who is responsible for a number of grisly murders in the city where the victims spines are snapped. Marcel nurses him back to health and gets his guest to pose for a new sculpture based on his unusual features which he feels will undoubtedly become his 'greatest work'. Marcel however is rapidly loosing his grip on reality and sensing that the creeper will do anything he says he sees a way of getting his revenge on those people who do not appreciate his work. Soon after with just a word from Marcel the creeper seeks out and murders the hated Harmon. The critic was just in the process of writing another nasty review of the work of artist Steven Morrow (Robert Lowery)at the time of his death and soon the police list Steve as one of the chief suspects. His girlfriend art reporter Joan Medford (Virginia Grey), sets out however to prove his innocence. Before long innocent women on the street are meeting grisly fates and the police are alerted to the fact that the spine snapping deaths indicate that the creeper is actually still alive. Having dealt with Marcel before Joan decides that somehow he is involved and visits him in his studio. She comes by the sketch he has made of the creeper for his sculpture and seeing that it matches the photos in the paper she is confirmed in her suspicions about where the murderer is. Taking the sketch for proof, unfortunately Joan now becomes the creepers target when Marcel discovers it missing. The creeper goes to Steve's apartment hoping to find Joan but by mistake murders one of Steve's models Stella (Joan Shawlee), who the he thought was Joan. Going back to Marcel's apartment to return the sketch Joan however finds herself trapped by the madman. Threatening Marcel with her evidence he states that he would shift the blame solely onto the creeper and in the resulting fight the creeper snaps his spine killing him. Joan now has to fight for her life as the creeper comes after her and its only with the timely arrival of Steve and the police that the terrifying creeper is shot down. 'House of Horrors', was the second film (after an earlier effort titled 'The Brute Man') to star Universal's new horror creation 'the creeper'. However Rondo Hatton's tragic death from complications due to his disfiguring illness squashed plans for a movie series. Nevertheless this is a solid little effort enlived no end by the playing in particular of Martin Kosleck and vivacious actress Virginia Grey. Indeed Kosleck's deranged sculptor is in some ways the successor to Universal's earlier mad scientists like Baron Frankenstein. Being the 'B' effort it undoubtedly is the action is fast and not much effort is taken in deep character development. Rondo Hatton apart from playing this memorable character really has very little to work with and most of his time is spent on creating a frightening presence leading up to the murders. Virginia Grey, one of Hollywood's most beautiful starlets in countless 1930's vehicles really makes the most of her screen time and delivers an interesting performance. Why real stardom alluded this talented woman is one of Hollywood's many mysteries. The look and feel of 'House of Horrors', is typical of Universal's products in the 1930's and 40's. Despite the small budget they have managed to put together a polished production that looks good even by today's standards. Marcel's weird sculptures in his equally strange studio dont exactly add up to being a 'house of horrors', however the very off beat art work present really adds that strange dimension to his unhinged character and gives the film its appropiately eerie feel. Being a big fan of these Universal horror efforts I can say that 'House of Horrors', is not their best effort but it does make a highly entertaining hour and a half. Regardless of whether it was right or wrong to manipulate Rondo Hatton like this they were responsible for bringing to life one of the 1940's decade most memeorable villians. Still remembered to this day for his work in this effort Rondo Hatton has in a way earned horror movie immortality because of it which I guess is not such a bad thing. Check out the eerie goings in the sinister 'House of Horrors', soon and see one of Universal Studios more memorable creations of the 1940's in the frightening 'Creeper".
Customer Review: Equal Opportunity
Just because a movie is bad doesn't mean people won't like it. House of Horrors is a B-schlock classic. Contrived, marginal acting, sub-intelligent plot, low-brow entertainment, fantastic! And I find the contention that poor Rondo Hattan was "exploited" to be very tiresome. The guy has gone down into cinematic history! He has a solid fan base nearly 60 years after his death. Tom Cruise, Richard Gere and others adored purely on their looks can only hope to be so fondly remembered. I give House of Horrors a B for Bad. And that's damn good.