Cast overview: | |||
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Ron Foster | ... | Scott Campbell |
Merry Anders | ... | Nancy Campbell | |
Richard Crane | ... | Joseph Schiller | |
Erika Peters | ... | Loy Schiller | |
Dal McKennon | ... | Mr. Quinby | |
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Georgia Schmidt | ... | Priscilla Rochester |
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Stacey Winters | ... | Nurse |
Richard Kiel | ... | The Giant | |
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Ayllene Gibbons | ... | The Fat Woman |
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John Gilmore | ... | The Legless Man |
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Frieda Pushnik | ... | The Legless Girl |
An architect and his wife are staying in an empty castle in California. They are joined by an unhappily married lawyer and his wife. Things start getting strange when they spot a half man/half beast prowling around the house and keep seeing a headless woman wandering the grounds. Written by frankfob2@yahoo.com
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.