House of Horrors

Struggling artist (Martin Kosleck) intends to kill himself but winds up saving the life of serial killer The Creeper (Rondo Hatton) instead. Afterwards, he sends The Creeper out to murder his critics. When another artist (Robert Lowery) is suspected of being the killer, his girlfriend (Virginia Grey) investigates and finds the clues lead to Kosleck and The Creeper. Nice cast, weak script. Alan Napier is fun as one of the critics. This is one of the lesser Universal horror films made at the end of their second horror cycle. It's mainly of interest for Universal completists and those interested in the disfigured Hatton. It's certainly better than Hatton's next (and last) movie, Brute Man.

In the Sherlock Holmes mystery "The Pearl of Death", an ominous character dubbed The Creeper had been debuted. The Creeper was played by a man named Rondo Hatton, who had been handsome as a youth, but had his facial features disfigured by acromegaly (a possible result of exposure to poison gas during WWI). The success of this character inspired Universal to create more movies that would focus on him, instead of making him a side player.

The first of the bunch was "House of Horrors", a story about a despondent, failed sculptor named Marcel DeLange (the great bad guy actor Martin Kosleck), who rescues the Creeper from a river, not knowing that the guy is a notorious serial killer. Soon, Marcel finds that the guy comes in handy, as he proceeds to bump off the nasty art critics that are the bane of the sculptors' existence (and the existence of other artists in the city). But Marcel won't be able to keep this secret forever....

Hatton is the main reason to watch here, playing a brute with a real screen presence. The script, by George Bricker, is often hilarious with its assortment of sardonic lines and witticisms, but the humour often works against the horror, taking up perhaps too much of the running time. But the whole cast is great: Robert Lowery as a temperamental painter, a stunning Joan Shawlee as his model, a sassy and sexy Virginia Grey as his girlfriend, Bill Goodwin as the obligatory cop on the case, Alan Napier as the acid-tongued critic F. Holmes Harmon, Virginia Christine as an incidental victim, and Howard Freeman as a critic who attempts to be the bait in a police trap. Kosleck is wonderful as a man who's worthy of some sympathy, even though he ultimately goes off the deep end.

Good atmosphere and a snappy pace are assets, as well as the assortment of truly dynamite-looking ladies (including Janet Shaw as a cabdriver).

Seven out of 10.

Lunacy abounds...mostly amongst the few comments about this b-picture gem, but to that later. In this horror film, the lunacy of artist Martin Koslek directing the killer tendencies of Rondo Hatton to dispatch unfavorable art critics is inspired. It's quite a contrast to watch Koslek be wonderfully melodramatic while Hatton remains as flat as a board, which is perfect for his character. All this is done within the context of the period, and with all the elements mixing in a way to create, perhaps serendipitously, a chilling and vastly entertaining blend.

To the dimwits who have not been able to see beyond the constraints of their modern attitudes and mores, you are missing it. Rondo Hatton did not "intensely dislike" his brief career as a film fright figure, he was indifferent to it, and the prevailing common attitude towards working women in 1940s America was that they eventually would become married, stay-at-home mothers. The film isn't 'anti-feminist' at a time when the term feminist wasn't used, and when both men and women, not all but most, felt this way of life was appropriate.

So to you dunces I say, march onward, great re-writers of history, and make sure you burn Birth of a Nation, and continue to press Disney to never release Song of the South. Perhaps we ought to ban the Three Stooges, as well, for their insensitive, boorish portrayal of the common working man, and of course, to add insult to injury, they were also Jewish.

This movie is so much better than what I thought it'd be. Both Rondo Hatton as the psycho killer and Martin Kosleck as an artist driven to madness by unkind critics are villains, yet both are sympathetic in a way. What is especially touching is Kosleck's interaction with his pet cat and the closing scene where the cat curls up by his dead body. (Or did he die? The dialogue isn't clear on it.) It was effective and sorrowful.

My sole complaint is the woefully brief appearance of Virginia Christine as Creeper's first victim. I hardly had a chance to recognize her before she was offed. I always enjoy her early film appearances because she was an out and out fox. I would so much have enjoyed seeing her as the tennis model instead. Hubba-hubba!

Rondo Hatton is my hero. Who cares if he wasn't a classically trained actor?! As The Creeper he tugs the heart-strings like a pro! He's got heart! He's got soul! He's got courage! He's also damned likable! Rondo is also one hell of a hero. Rondo took the crummy hand that fate dealt him and played it magnificently. He became one of the most endearing and cool anti-heroes of all B-moviedom! To experience Rondo as The Creeper is to experience pure magic! I watched horror movies as kid and always loved "the monster". A good "monster" gets my vote every damn time. The Creeper fits that bill perfectly and better than most. The Creeper is one of my all time favorite fright flick anti-heroes. GOD BLESS YOU RONDO HATTON!