House of the Damned (1963) User Reviews

Disappointing thriller starts off great then sort of runs out of steam as not very much seems to happen.

[dbborroughs · 4/10 · 4 December 2006]

An architect and his wife go to remote castle like house somewhere in California. They are to do a survey of the house for the owners who have know retaken possession of the house after renting the place out for ten years. Once they arrive they find the road to the place blocked off by a makeshift dead end sign. Later that night, as they sleep in their beds something steals their keys to the place. What is going on? Moody and atmospheric tale in which there isn't much beyond the mood and the atmosphere. Here is the story of two couples alone in a big empty house who try to unravel what is causing the (few) strange events around them. The problem is that not a great deal happens and when you get to the final revelation its terribly anti-climatic. Certainly for the first half of the movie you're hooked by the mood and shadows of whats on the screen but then it suddenly begins to dawn on you that almost nothing has happened and unless something radical happens nothing is going to. Honestly there is enough for a half hour movie here but not enough to prevent boredom for the films one hour running time.

This is not a movie to see pan and scan since all of the things that make the film so eerie and moody will be cut off by the panning and scanning. For all its flaws this is a movie that should be looked at to see how mood can be created in a widescreen image.

Ultimately though, this is a movie thats best left to people who want to see a scary movie but one thats not too scary. Perfect for parents who want to show their kids an adult thriller but don't want them up all night screaming. The rest of us may want to take a pass unless an undemanding mood hits.

(A Word of Warning- The DVD has the trailer on the disc and I suggest avoiding it until after you see the film. It gives away almost all of the high points of the film while suggesting a much more action packed film)

California Screamin'

[ferbs54 · 5/10 · 7 January 2008]

"House of the Damned" is a fairly unknown little chiller from 1963 that provides some undeniably creepy moments and yet ultimately reveals itself as a marginal entertainment at best. In it, we are introduced to Scott and Nancy Campbell, a likable, attractive couple that has been hired to do an architectural survey of Rochester Castle, a deserted, San Simeon-like affair in the California mountains. But is the pile REALLY deserted? Anyway, this film offers us some surprisingly fine acting by Ronald Foster and Merry Anders as our perplexed couple, as well as interesting direction by Maury Dexter (I know, I know...who?) and some nice B&W lensing in 'Scope, well captured on the crisp-looking DVD that I just watched. There is at least a quartet of scenes that should manage to drip some ice water down most viewers' spines: a half-seen, legless creature creeping through the dark of night; the face of a strange woman peering from behind a bedroom grille; the first lumbering appearance of Richard "Jaws" Kiel; and the sight of a headless person sitting in a chair, hands aflutter. But ultimately, the picture is done in by its denouement; an overly mundane explanation for the film's previously bizarre events that some may find sweet, others ridiculous and still others laughable. This ending kind of reduces the film to the level of prosaic piffle; at least, it proved a disappointment to this viewer. Still, with a running time that just barely exceeds 60 minutes, "House of the Damned" never wears out its welcome, does hold the viewer's attention, and should even prove just fine for the kiddies. It's worth a look, I suppose.

HOUSE OF THE DAMNED (Maury Dexter, 1963) **1/2

[Bunuel1976 · 6/10 · 29 October 2006]

An obscure and rather uneventful but nevertheless atmospheric and effective little chiller which presents us with a new twist on "the old dark house" theme which may ultimately disappoint some viewers. I won't divulge it here for those who may feel inclined to check this one out: I'll just say that it combines elements from two well-known Tod Browning movies - FREAKS (1932) and MARK OF THE VAMPIRE (1935) - and leave it at that!

The plot deals with an architect and his wife having to spend the night in the infamous (and supposedly uninhabited) Rochester castle, who are later joined by the former's boss and his sassy girlfriend. However, before long, things start to go bump in the night: a bunch of keys mysteriously disappear and reappear with a couple of them missing, a few doors are inexplicably forbidden to the house dwellers, the girlfriend disappears after a quarrel with her intended, etc. It all seems to point in the direction of the crazed proprietress of the mansion who is currently spending her days in a mental institution but, eventually, we discover that there are even stranger forces at work here...

As I said before, the moody lighting and occasional 'scary' set-pieces are the whole show in this one but, despite the lack of star names, the foursome acquit themselves quite adequately under the circumstances; in the latter stages of the film, Richard "Jaws" Kiel also makes an appearance as an unexpected 'guest' of the Rochester mansion.

The low-priced Fox DVD is accompanied by a theatrical trailer which should not be viewed before the main feature as it virtually shows snippets from all the film's best sequences; interestingly, the much brighter trailer enabled me to make out some details which had eluded me during the film itself!

A reappraisal of the films of Maury Dexter

[malcolm-webb · 17 March 2013]

Director Maury Dexter's films are, it seems, generally not much appreciated, but personally I found just about every one, with the exception of Young Guns of Texas, to be thoroughly engaging little support features that were often a cut well above the main attraction. House of the Damned came about mid-way through his early sixties output,and was beautifully lit and photographed in the particularly pleasing combination of black and white with the added benefit of CinemaScope. This is no film for horror fans. It is an atmospheric drama with a sad,low-key ending. Solid cast with popular leading man of the times Ron Foster, and Merry Anders, always a joy to watch, and especially good in Dexter's Police Nurse. House of the Damned rated X for over 16's only, topped the bill at the Rialto Theatre Coventry Street in London's west-end. A limited release in the capital's suburbs saw it supporting another Fox entry Witchcraft. Dexter's output was unpretentious but consistently entertaining, and it would be nice if the Fox Archive people were to release some, if not all of his films in their correct theatrical release ratio. Maury Dexter's contribution to the illustrious history of 20th Century-Fox may be small but it is certainly worthy of recognition.

Probably interesting if you are a locksmith...

[AlsExGal · 5/10 · 17 March 2019]

... with all of the talk of missing keys, key duplicates, and jiggling of locks, but it is probably going to be a bit of a bore for anybody else.

An architect and his wife are staying at a big rambling castle of a house built by the Rochester family. He is hired to do an architectural survey of the house so that the owners can determine if they should remodel, sell, or just demolish it. But then keys start disappearing and reappearing. And when they reappear some keys are missing. And some of the doors to which those keys match are locked from the inside. There are strange figures in the shadows, noises, and things that simply cannot be - like a live severed head - that appear and then disappear.

Then the architect's boss and wife show up, and things start to get soap opera like with the boss and his wife not having the best of marriages. Did I mention that the previous tenant just disappeared? AFTER paying up his rent and leaving everything in the house in good order?

I will give it points for having great creepy atmosphere. The Rochester castle is everything you would ever want in a haunted house. Best scene? A nurse in an insane asylum receives a telephone call to check on a resident and make sure that this person has not escaped. The bored nurse goes to the room, is attacked by this person who seems to be completely out of her mind, they wrestle in hand to hand combat with the insane person trying to strangle the nurse, and then the next scene is the nurse looking completely unfazed and telling the caller "Yeah, she's in her bed in her room". Just another day for this nurse with nerves of steel????

Creepy old mansion

[bkoganbing · 4/10 · 13 October 2018]

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.

''Enter At Your Own Risk''

[phillindholm · 4/10 · 6 April 2008]

"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.

This is a fun, above average addition to the genre if you enjoy horror films from this era

[kevin_robbins · 6/10 · 11 May 2022]

House of the Damned (1963) is a movie I watched off my DVR after recording it on FXM. The storyline follows an architect and his wife who has been asked to survey a house that was built for an eccentric lady. As they try to complete what should be a simple task they are approached by strange things within the house. Will the young couple be able to escape the house or will they be bound there forever?

This movie is directed by Maury Dexter (Hell's Belles) and stars Ron Foster (The Money Pit), Merry Anders (Tickle Me), Richard Crane (Behind Green Lights), Erika Peters (GI Blues) and Richard Kiel (Happy Gilmore).

This is an early 60s movie in black and white that honestly feels more 50s than 60s. The acting is very good and the dialogue is well written. The horror elements rely on circumstances and background music. They did do a good job creating a few good jump scares and there's some classic scream scenes (Psycho like).

Overall this is a fun, above average addition to the genre if you enjoy horror films from this era. I would score this a 6/10 and recommended seeing it once.

Damned be this film for wasting my precious hour!

[Coventry · 3/10 · 4 July 2009]

"House of the Damned" is a short (barely over one hour) and definitely not-so spooky haunted house chiller from the early 60's that remains extremely slow-paced and never really reaches any atmospheric highlights. There are no famous names in the cast or crew list, so maybe if this were a Hammer or William Castle production; it might have been a bit more appealing. It's actually not even a full-blooded haunted house movie, as none of the menace ever comes out from the house. Usually in this sort of films, like for example "The Haunting", the house is introduced almost like one of the main characters, but here it's just a piece of decor. An architect and his wife are sent up to a remote house on a hill after the previous tenant mysteriously vanished without leaving a message. The owner and his attractive foreign wife come to meet the couple the next day and, for a short while, the script resembles more of a melodramatic soap opera instead of a supernatural thriller. Perhaps the "Damned" in the title refers to the poor suckers, like me, who were tricked into watching this dull nonsense and expected something good. Eventually there does appear to be something wrong with the house; namely unknown residents with hairy hands that like to steal keys. Then, suddenly and out of the blue, the architect couple also discovers that the place once was inhabited by a crazy old lady who now resides in a sanatorium. Whatever twist the screenplay attempts to bring forward, it's totally useless. The ambiance simply isn't as compelling as it should be. Nothing to recommend here. Even Disney's "The Haunted Mansion" is at least a dozen times more disturbing than this. The climax, which comes abrupt and totally random, is too insane for words and left me staring at a black screen for certainly five whole minutes after the finishing of the closing credits! What the hell was that? Was I too stoned, drunk, temporarily unconscious or did I REALLY witness this ending? It's the most nonsensical, random, unworldly, grotesque, irrelevant and deranged twist-ending ever! The Oscar for dementia inarguably goes to "House of the Damned".

Spying! I caught you spying!

[Hey_Sweden · 6/10 · 26 October 2016]

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 so damned as you expect...

[xrellerx · 2/10 · 22 June 2001]

A very mediocre movie that based its story too much on earlier classics like FREAKS and Robert Wise's THE HAUNTED. The acting isn't something to write home about, but at least they tried to give the characters a little background. The first part of the movie suggest more horror then really showing it and at times it works. The last part of the movie ends in such a disappointing way you can't talk about a horror movie anymore and you'll ask yourself what you just have been watching. Real horror fans should avoid this one. Proof? No one dies.

Neglected curiosity stays in memory.

[Mozjoukine · 10/10 · 17 December 2002]

In the sixties, Robert Lippert's Associated Producers scored a contract making black and white 'Scope B movies to run with Fox's big pictures and turned loose house director Maury Dexter on them. The results were uneven but one group - the contemporary thrillers - the Los Angeles films - were more striking than most of the big films that elbowed them out of the advertising space.

Along with WOMAN HUNT, AIR PATROL and the later RAIDERS FROM BENEATH THE SEA, HOUSE OF THE DAMNED spins a thin budget into something surprisingly memorable. It succeeds where the Tod Browning film FREAKS failed in making it's circus performers real rather than monsters. The film's curious gentleness is one of its surprises.

The building of tension is nicely crafted - the unanswered phone, moving shots of the deserted private road, disturbing detail like the broken sculpture, the thirteen keys and the re-appearing sign.

Throw in the winning Merry Anders, anticipating the self reliant seventies woman and the atmospheric Hollywood Hills mansion setting which was once actually a haunt of bootleggers. People I see this with are always surprised that such a film exists.

Underdeveloped

[Niv-1 · 6/10 · 6 January 2019]

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.

What????????????

[catkeeper01 · 1/10 · 30 August 2013]

When I started watching House of the Damned I had no expectations. That turned out to be a good thing. At the beginning it was okay but it started going downhill immediately. The dialogue was cheesy, delivered in a stiff, choppy manner that was unappealing. I didn't feel any tension during the entire film, just a feeling that the life was being sucked out of me. The antagonists of the film weren't scary, turning out to be benign people trying to preserve their home. If you are going to call a movie House of the Damned, either the house or the inhabitants should darn well be damned. I wouldn't recommend this movie for fans of horror films as they will be sorely disappointed.

House of the Damned Boring

[The_Void · 3/10 · 9 August 2009]

House of the Damned is only an hour long, but somehow it manages to make that hour feel like about five hours and also manages one of the most spectacularly bad endings that I have ever seen. The plot is just your average haunted house premise, and sees an architect and his wife go to stay in a house that turns out to be haunted. The film actually gets off to a promising start when we are introduced to the characters, but things go downhill once the house itself is introduced; it's just an average place in California. I've come to expect more creepy residences from haunted house films! Once it starts proper, it soon gets very boring also and most of the film is taken up by pointless drama without a scare in sight, which is very boring indeed. To the film's credit, it does look very nice and the crisp black and white picture is easy on the eyes. Nothing really happens during the main bulk of the film and I have to say that I am very glad the film is only an hour long. The ending itself is just unbelievably stupid and makes practically no sense at all. It seems like a desperate attempt by the writer to introduce some shock value, but it doesn't work. Overall, this really is a rubbish film and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

A movie filled with filler

[bensonmum2 · 3/10 · 22 August 2019]

The Quick Pitch: An architect takes his wife along on a job to survey a huge, old, abandoned mansion. But after the power mysteriously goes out, keys go missing, and they hear strange noises, the couple start to wonder if they're really alone.

For a film that runs just barely over an hour, there's a shocking amount of filler to be found in House of the Damned. From unnecessary scenes of driving to endless moments of key turning to a long phone call that leads absolutely nowhere, a goodly chunk of the movie's runtime is devoted to things that do nothing to further the plot. I'd estimate there are only about five minutes of screen-time that feature anything you'd consider remotely chilling. Merry Anders and Ron Foster make a likeable couple, but unfortunately, they have nothing to do. The ending is a complete disaster. Suddenly and without warning, all of the characters come together and decide to (mercifully) end the thing. The biggest positive I can come up with is the cinematography. The movie looks much better than it has any right to. Overall, a real snoozer of a movie.

3/10

Maybe this was good in 1965?

[eric-wallis · 1/10 · 2 October 2023]

This movie might have been a good movie in 1965, but by today's standards, it is terrible. The acting is awful and the plot is weak. This was like watching " The Ghost and Mr. Chicken" without all of the Don Knotts goodness. There was not an instant in this movie where I felt scared, surprised or even interested. The only thing that I felt was bored! Forget the other reviews for this movie! If you watch the first ten minutes of this movie and are bored, please do not waste your time. It does not get any better! The ending makes no sense at all. Do yourself a favor - turn this off and do something more enjoyable like doing the laundry, digging ditches, scrubbing floors, cleaning bathrooms, etc.

Single-note haunted house film

[drownsoda90 · 6/10 · 29 June 2016]

"House of the Damned" starts out promising enough, following an architect and his wife who visit a California mansion with a strange history. All is fairly normal at first, but after they meet a lawyer and his wife there, events take a turn.

One of the more off-the-map haunted house films of the twentieth century, "House of the Damned" is a complete oddity in just about every sense of the word. It runs an awkward hour and three minutes long, meanders without any apparent purpose for the first fifty minutes, and then nosedives into a twist that is completely out of left field.

The truth be told, there really is not much happening here, which is saying something for a feature that runs about sixty minutes. In spite of the run time, the film doesn't necessarily feel that short, but the script is a bit too skeletal, and the lack of legitimate thrills makes the audience yearn for a bit more development. It is not entirely a bad film, though. For what it's worth, it's wonderfully atmospheric, and hits notes similar to "House on Haunted Hill" and Robert Wise's superior thriller "The Haunting." The first half of the film does manage to ratchet some suspense and intrigue, with the proceedings becoming increasingly inexplicable.

The acting here is solid, with Merry Anders and Ron Foster playing the lead on screen couple convincingly. As I said before, the film's conclusion is unexpectedly bizarre; it works well enough I suppose, but it does certainly soften the film's overall bite, which isn't much to begin with.

Overall, "House of the Damned" is a fairly uneventful, single-note horror movie that is worth a watch as a genre oddity that has more or less been forgotten. It's not remarkable by any stretch of the imagination, but it is atmospheric and has two solid scare scenes that are visually fantastic. Ultimately though, it feels more like a clever episode of "The Twilight Zone" than it does a feature film—not that that's necessarily bad, but it certainly makes one wonder where the filmmakers were coming from. 6/10.

(House of the) Damn boring.

[BA_Harrison · 3/10 · 6 September 2023]

Architect Scott Campbell (Ron Foster) and his wife Nancy (Merry Anders) drive to the supposedly deserted Rochester Castle to survey the property; while there, they experience strange occurrences that suggest that they are not alone.

At barely over an hour long, it might seem reasonable to expect House of the Damned to be a well-paced flick with nary a dull moment, but barring one effectively creepy moment, in which a mysterious legless intruder sneaks into the protagonists' bedroom, the film moves uneventfully from one tedious scene to the next.

I had hoped that, after such a dull ride, House of the Damned would deliver long-awaited chills and thrills in its closing moments, but the resolution is a damp squib that leaves the viewer feeling cheated: there are no hideous monsters or evil villains in the film to justify the title, just harmless carnival folk hiding from the outside world.

3/10.

Look out for a young Richard Kiel - Jaws from The Spy Who Loved Me - as one of the carnival people.

Engaging if somewhat flawed old-dark-house effort

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 6/10 · 7 October 2018]

Sent out to a secluded house, an architect and his wife asked to investigate a strange house that just landed in their possession only to believe that something is inside the house with them holding up their investigation and when their friends arrive to help it only proves their suspicions.

This wasn't too bad of a cheap quickie effort. One of the bright spots of this one is the fact that there's quite an impressive atmosphere surrounding the main castle where it all takes place. The large Gothic mansion is an incredibly chilling and creepy with the way it's laid out, full of the elaborate decorations and furniture that looks like the quintessential mansion that keeps the creatures lurking in the shadows well-hidden. With the long hallways, numerous corridors and secret doorways that keep this one full of the usual old-dark-house setups. When they start coming out to make their presence known, the film picks up nicely as the location atmosphere gives them an added feeling of creepiness which has plenty of creepy, chilling moments. The various investigations around the house that turn up nothing here are quite strong and the sequences inside the locked room where the ghosts were said to happen in provide some fun as well as the nice ending twist which is nicely integrated into the overall setup as it makes for a nice explanation to everything. While these here help hold it up, there are a few minor issues that do hold it up. The biggest problem that holds this one back is that for such a short film, barely squeaking by the hour-mark, this one has some utterly unneeded and just infuriating examples of padding that really doesn't need it. Not only is the phone-call to get the assignment played out in its entirety which really doesn't need to be several minutes long, but then the idea of bypassing the security office only to have to go all the way back when the place is locked up which they should've done at the start of their drive or the key tests on the locks that manage to hold this one up due to being wholly unnecessary for the film to go on. The series of scenes looking around the castle only to turn back around or do something else give this more time to waste, and with the short running time it's the biggest issue affecting this one as a whole.

Today's Rating/PG: Mild Violence.

Awesomely bad."

[Induswa · 1/10 · 12 January 2019]

You must watch this piece of crap for the laughs you will get. The acting is horrible. The "actors" are people who would have been MUCH better off seeking other careers. Two couples wandering around a big deserted mansion trying to come up with architectural ideas for remodeling. They run into some creepy stuff along the way.

The women have vintage early 60's hairdos and the men have greased up pre-Beatles hair.

Good campy fun. I had better special effects in my college film class horror film project. Think of the genius that funded this movie and thought it was a good use of his money.

One huge bonus is that Lurch from the Addams Family is in this movie. Before he did the Addams Family.

A fun 60's horror quickie

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 2 October 2007]

Architect Scott Campbell (a solid Ronald Foster) and his wife Nancy (a spunky performance by the fetching Merry Anders) check out an old castle located on a remote hillside in California. They are joined by lawyer Joseph Schiller (nicely played by Richard Crane) and his snippy spouse Loy (a charming turn by the lovely Erika Peters). Moreover, there's something else in the castle that wants them out of there pronto. Competently directed by veteran journeyman Maury Dexter, with a steady pace, stark, yet polished black and white cinematography by John M. Nickolaus (the use of fades and dissolves is quite nifty), a fair amount of creepy atmosphere, a tight 62 minute running time, a pleasingly shivery'n'spooky score by Henry Vars, acceptable acting, a cool array of grotesque circus freaks (Ayllene Gibbons as a friendly fat lady and Richard Kiel as a mute, menacing giant are both especially memorable), and an unexpected, but satisfying ending, this pleasant little low-budget quickie makes for a perfectly painless diversion.

The only thing that this is missing is Scooby and Shaggy.

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 22 October 2019]

I wonder if the creators of Scooby-Doo saw this movie in 1964 and based the popular animated mystery series on the concept. It's quite different in the sense that involves two couples (Ron Foster and Merry Anders; Richard Crane and Erika Peters) who stay in a mountaintop mansion that looks strangely like something you'd see in the Pepperdine area of Los Angeles county. In fact, it's obvious that Foster and Anders are driving up the Pacific coast and turn off on the road that leads into the hills in that area. When they are given the keys (of which there are 13) to the mansion and they disappear, they suspect that something chilling is up. Rumors that the original owner (Georgia Schmidt) murdered and decapitated an intruder makes a foursome believe that the house is truly haunted.

This is an innocent but charming little B horror film that actually has a comical tone to it and ends up being quite entertaining. At only 63 minutes, it's like a programmer from the 1940's yet done in 1960's terms. Richard Kiel, the 6'7" gentle giant, plays a hulking figure who seems very threatening, and Alyene Selyer, the extremely obese woman in "The Loved One" (and who also danced with Stanley Holloway in "My Fair Lady") is quite sweet. while the atmosphere is somewhat spooky in the first three quarters, overall, it is not gruesome and is quite suitable for youngster, and ultimately simply charming.

House of the Bland

[daoldiges · 3/10 · 14 November 2023]

The best part of House of the Damned was the movie poster! It was visually interesting, clever and gave the viewer the promise of horrors, thrills, and suspense. Unfortunately, it did not deliver on any of those promises. The 'film of broken promises' is what I'm subtitleing this little production from 1963. I thought the acting was fine, and the production did provide a little bit of a mood/vibe, but it just wasn't able to build upon that into something worthy of everyone's time and energy. It was directed in a way that lead us feel that there was indeed a plan and a strategy, but the weak script and all just undercut any chance of success.

Good atmosphere, boring movie

[johnbmoore-17 · 2/10 · 25 June 2022]

This movie is pretty bad. Started promisingly but then tanked quickly. It has good atmosphere and a couple of mildly creepy moments, but overall it is very dull and has maybe the most anti-climatic resolution I've ever seen. Not at all worth the time.