House of the Damned

Estranged couple Richard Crane and Erika Peters have just taken possession of a creepy old mansion which has a few interesting legends attached to it and a murder allegedly committed there by the wife of a past owner who is in a loony bin.

They've invited architect Ron Foster and Merry Anders who is Foster's wife for the weekend to look over the place to decide on needed changes and repairs.

But someone or a few is scaring the two couples pretty good and such is the basis of our plot.

I won't say any more, but think of the great Tod Browning classic Freaks and you'll know a great of what is happening.

Because of that connection this film had the germ of a good idea for a movie. Sadly a mediocre production and a substandard script fixed that.

In HOUSE OF THE DAMNED, architect Scott Campbell (Ron Foster) and his wife, Nancy (Merry Anders), move into a big, fortress-like mansion in order to survey it. It's not long before odd occurrences begin taking place.

That's about it.

The problem with this movie is that it seems like someone decided to make it, simply because they had a big house to make it in, the story being just an afterthought. It's mildly interesting at first, but there's not enough going on, and a whole lot of static scenes with nothing much happening. This all leads up to about 5 minutes of wrap-up at the end that pretty much negates any "horror" involved.

Actually, the one, true point of interest is the all-too-brief- appearance of Richard Kiel (about 2 minutes of screen time)...

Ron Foster ("Private Lessons") and Merry Anders ("Women of the Prehistoric Planet") play Scott and Nancy Campbell, a married couple hired by their friend, a lawyer named Joe Schiller (Richard Crane, "The Alligator People"), to do an architectural survey on a country estate. Soon after they arrive, they experience some strange, moderately disconcerting experiences. Knowing full well that the old crone (Georgia Schmidt) who owned the place (who's now confined to an institution) would have loathed police interference, they attempt to do their own sleuthing.

This fairly lightweight, routine "old dark house" type horror film ultimately doesn't deliver much in the way of actual horror. It's certainly well made, with some excellent black & white cinematography and camera work. (The Cinema Scope aspect ratio of 2.35:1 does help a lot.) The performances are all quite engaging and the script by Harry Spalding ("Chosen Survivors") features some mildly amusing lines. The "castle" itself is an appropriate setting, adding to the atmosphere that producer & director Maury Dexter ("The Mini-Skirt Mob", "Hell's Belles") is able to create.

Foster and Anders make for a personable main couple, with fine support from Crane, Erika Peters ("The Atomic Brain", "Mr. Sardonicus") and the prolific Dal McKennon ('Daniel Boone', "Lady and the Tramp"). A very young Richard Kiel ("Eegah", "The Spy Who Loved Me") makes an appearance as a mute giant.

"House of the Damned" is watchable enough, but it never does live up to that title.

Six out of 10.

Not too bad. With a running time of 64 minutes I was expecting a cheap thriller and it has a lot of setup. When things start to get weird the movie gets a little better but you know the closer and closer the end gets you will find out what's going on and then the movie will Immediately end! Kind of unsatisfactory. Some good creepy use of shadow and and the acting was better than I expected. Same thing with the production values.

"House of the Damned" is a quickly made Fox second feature, (inexplicably shot in CinemaScope) which offers the viewer pleasing performances from Ronald Foster, the always fine Merry Anders, and Richard Crane, who apparently is playing fast and loose with his new French bride (Erika Peters) whose acting is - how shall I say? - lousy. These four are exploring an old house with a grim history (what else is new?) which the owners want remodeled. Occasional scares, (supposedly) unexpected events, and undeveloped story reduce this one to a series of build ups to nothing in particular. The photography, however, is above average for this sort of thing. Unfortunately, it's mostly wasted here. Try "House of Dark Shadows", "House of 1000 Dolls", "House of Whipcord" or "House Of Women" instead. Incidentally, the original movie posters announce the film thusly: ''13 Keys Open The Doors To The House Haunted By The Living Dead!' If ever there was a case of fraudulent advertising, this was it. Any appearances by The Living Dead are strictly in the minds of the 20th Century-Fox publicity department.