HOLLYWOOD HORROR HOUSE aka SAVAGE INTRUDER 1970

 

"A New High In Terror and Shock!"

Made on the downside of the trend of casting actresses from Hollywood's golden age in horror and/or exploitative films that had started with Robert Aldrich's WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE in 1962 (and seemingly had breathed its last with A.I.P's WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH HELEN in 1971) this sometimes lurid/sometimes gory entry was the only film directed by editor and sound technician Donald Wolfe (THE HUMAN DUPLICATORS 1965) it sat on the shelf upon completion in 1970 (with possible some additional filming over the course of the next few years) wherein 1974 it was finally released by Joseph Brenner Associates under the title SAVAGE INTRUDER (also the title on the Unicorn Video release in the '80s) where its psychedelic trappings must have seemed even more dated. In addition, star Miriam Hopkins had passed away in 1972 which must have added to the befuddlement of theatergoers.

The film opens with a beautifully shot & evocative credit sequence of the then rusted and dilapidated Hollywood sign atop Mt. Lee (where it is literally falling apart before the camera) before it pans down to a woman's mutilated corpse at its base. We next see various shots of old-time glamorous Hollywood (some of it cribbed from SINGIN' IN THE RAIN) and then cutting to a contemporary seedy Sunset Blvd. where an elderly woman is followed home and bloodily dispatched by a variety of sharp objects (including an electric knife). A televised news reports that there has been a series of brutal killings of women in the Hollywood area. 

In her sprawling Hollywood Hills mansion (actually the Santa Monica home of silent screen actress Norma Talmadge) faded and reclusive screen star Katherine Packard (Miriam Hopkins DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE 1931) has fallen down the stairs in a drunken stupor and broken her leg. Her secretary Leslie (Gale Sondergaard THE SPIDER WOMAN 1943) decides to hire a live-in nurse and in a bit of happenstance, a Hollywood tour bus (driven by the least funny of The Three Stooges Joe Besser) stops in front of her house, and struggling actor Vic Valance (David Garfield and son of John Garfield) whose been hitching a ride on the rear bumper jumps off and marches up to the front door.

Introducing himself to the cook Mildred (busy character actor Florence Lake THE DAY OF THE LOCUST 1974) as "Laurel N. Hardy", he is mistaken as an applicant for the nurse job and after flim-flamming his way past Leslie, gets the job. The now wheelchair-bound Katherine quickly becomes fond of her new young companion and he soon seduces her along with the housekeeper Greta (Virginia Winters CHARLEY VARRICK) while Leslie & Mildred become increasingly suspicious of his behavior and closeness to Katherine. Periodically Vic has hallucinatory LSD-triggered flashbacks to his childhood as he watches his nymphomaniac mother being groped by a gaggle of men before he (or somebody?) chops off her hand with an ax and then a quick cut to ketchup gurgling out of a bottle.  He also suffers from other LSD flashbacks that include quick-cut montages where among others Hitler and Alister Crowley can be glimpsed. Since there is no suspense on who the slasher is as seen in the opening sequence (the plot makes it in-your-face obvious) we are only left with the when & who in the Packard household are going to meet their end. 

 Hopkins who would sadly die of a heart attack in 1972 throws herself full-tilt into the proceedings whether gleefully screaming "vodka!" (which she insists on injecting directly into her veins) when asked what flavor of ice cream she wants, flashing a bare breast while getting a nude massage from Vic and in one particularly over-the-top-sequence participating in the Hollywood Christmas parade as she drunkenly shrieks "I'm the Queeeeen of the Christmas Paraaaaade!" while riding with Santa Claus. It would have been nice for Hopkins to go out on a higher note, however it cannot be said that she does not give her all here and her role may be a trainwreck, but it's an entertaining (and sometimes amazing in its bad taste) train wreck. There are a few sequences that hint at some evocative atmosphere including one room in Katherine's house that contains mannequins wearing costumes from her past roles. 

One of the more under-appreciated golden age actresses, Sondergaard who specialized in cunning & sinister roles (she is especially good in the 1939 version of THE CAT AND THE CANARY and just missed out on the Wicked Witch role in THE WIZARD OF OZ) comes out the best of the leads as she gives a sympathetic performance as the caring secretary. Although he looks a great deal like his famous father (and in some instances sounds eerily just like him) Garfield lacks the charisma of his Dad, although some more focused direction might have helped his role (the same can be said for Hopkins). He would die at 51 of heart problems very similar to his father. 

A sleazier take on SUNSET BLVD. tossed with a bit of such A.I.P. counter-culture films as ANGEL, ANGEL DOWN WE GO and mixed (very slightly) with some Euro "past family issues" Gothic horrors such as HATCHET FOR A HONEYMOON, this is overdone camp on many levels, but it is entertaining as heck on that level. There's a couple of out-right lifts from SUNSET BLVD. including Katherine hosting a dinner party with some of her other old Hollywood cronies among them her former director (Lester Matthews THE WEREWOLF OF LONDON) who secretly loves her and Vic doing shopping for his new gigolo-financed clothes courtesy of his employer. 

The opening credit sequence of the crumbling Hollywood sign with the wind blowing through it is the most atmospheric of the film and one wonders if perhaps this was done by the second unit director Don May as it is so unlike the rest of the film. The music is by Stu Phillips, who seemed to supply the music for exploitation film of the period and had just come off THE LOSERS, THE CURIOUS FEMALE, and BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS. 

Previously only available on VHS sourced releases of dubious legality HOLLYWOOD HORROR HOUSE has been given a Blu-ray release from Vinegar Syndrome in an eye-popping 4K transfer from the 35mm negative which brings out the colors and psychedelic Day-Glo color scheme in glorious retina-burning color. There is also a commentary track with David Decoteau and David Del Valle that is more entertaining than the film at certain points. 

Rosalba Neri News # 31 CASA D'APPUNTAMENTO aka THE FRENCH SEX MURDERS 1972 On Blu

    Upcoming in 2020 Vinegar Syndrome has announced the release of Feridnando Mergighi's 1972 giallo CASA D'APPUNTAMENTO (aka THE FRENCH SEX MURDERS). Featuring an all-star including Anita Ekberg (LA DOLCE VITA), Evelyne Kraft (THE MIGHTY PEKING MAN), Howard Vernon (THE AWFUL DR. ORLOFF) and one of this blog's other favorite actresses Barbara Bouchet (and reunited with Rosalba from Silvio Amadio's weird & trippy AMUCK from 1972). Sadly, they do not share any screen time is this upcoming release. There's a post on this here.

    The film also stars Humphrey Bogart look-alike Robert Sacchi who in full Bogart mode here is a minor annoyance, highly ludicrous or combination of the two depending on your feelings. In spite of its cast, the film is a rather minor Giallo but it's always good to check another one off Rosalba's filmography as far as HD. The cast alone makes this one highly watchable and there's some neat twists & turns, plus it features even more red-herrings then usual in the plot.

   Produced by American huckster/producer Dick Randall who specialized in low budget exploitation films, the plot concerns the murder of a prostitute at a high-class Paris brothel. Rosalba pays a nightclub singer Marianne and with giving too much away we also get to see a Carlo Rambaldi prosthetic Rosalba head. Randall also had a hand in producing two other Rosalba vehicles with LADY FRANKENSTEIN from 1971 and THE GIRL IN ROOM 2A in 1974. 

BEWARE MY BRETHREN (aka THE FIEND) 1972

"In the name of the Brethren he washed away 

the sins of women ...and led them to the Gates of Hell!"

"Sinner... meet your maker!"

"It's a Sickness of the Soul!"

     In the early 1970's the British horror industry began to move away from the Gothic style horror of Hammer with companies such as Tigon producing films like WITCHFINDER GENERAL(1968) and THE BLOOD ON SATAN'S CLAW (1971) while still being period horror pieces also injected a healthy dose of sadism and sex into the proceedings which were far different then Hammer's splatters of bright red blood and "wink-wink" flashes of female skin. There was also a move toward more contemporary based films that featured sex and/or psychotic driven killers along with none-too-subtle plots concerning religious & conservative hypocrisy such as what Pete Walker was directing with such films as HOUSE OF WHIPCORD (1974) and THE CONFESSIONAL (1976), along with the sex, sadism & gore work of Norman J. Warren in SATAN'S SLAVE and the sci-fi based INSEMINOID.
     Director Robert Hartford-Davis' career has sadly become a small footnote in the history of British horror. Partly due to his tragic early death at the age of 53 in 1977 he none-the-less directed a sizable chunk of interesting films including the early sexploitation GUTTER GIRLS (1974), the really bizarre GONKS GO BEAT (1964), the underrated Gothic THE BLACK TORMENT, and the sleazy & sordid CORRUPTION (1968) with Peter Cushing in his most jaw-dropping role and the blaxploitation BLACK GUNN (1972) with Jim Brown and Martin Landau.
    Re-tilted in the U.S. BEWARE MY BRETHREN from its more straightforward British title THE FIEND it opens with juxtaposed scenes of fanatical minister figure giving a fire & brimstone sermon over a baptism which is intercut with a young woman being stalked and brutally stripped and killed before being tossed in a river all of which is set wailing gospel number by Shirley Bassey impersonator Maxine Barrie.

   Straight away we're introduced to Kenny (Tony Beckley WHEN A STRANGER CALLS and THE LOST CONTINENT) whose a kind of roving security guard dressed in full uniform and riot helmet and whose in the midst of a violent knock-down fight with a pair of crooks before being rescued by a police inspector (David Lodge INCENSE FOR THE DAMNED) who informs Kenny about the finding of the woman's body from the opening scene which was one more in a string of recent brutal murders. Kenny lives with his mother Birdy (Ann Todd SCREAM OF FEAR) and they both have fanatical religious beliefs that are prodded along by the above-mentioned zealot minister (played in wonderful scene-stealing glory by the great Patrick Magee (A CLOCKWORK ORANGE).
    The film quickly sets up a spoiler-free reveal of the killer being Kenny with his other part-time being a pool attendant which along with his nighttime guard job allows him a full range of victims including prostitutes and other women who he feels are of "loose morals". In homage to Michael Powell's PEEPING TOM Kenny also records his victim's words before killing them ("Two punds for a play about in the back of yer truck") and spends his off time gleefully listening to them in his basement (decorated with Goya prints of dismembering) while the film cuts to McGee delivering a fire & brimstone in the church.
    There are several startling (and sometimes darkly humorous) juxtapositions in the film including a newspaper headline screaming "Third Nude Found!" before cutting to Kenny slowly polishing his nightstick and a women's naked body falls out of a cement mixer while Kenny scrapes cement residue carefully off his boots.

    Birdy has a large home and allows Magee's flock (named The Brethren) to worship there while she plays the organ. There're references to Birdy's husband leaving her and Kenny in the distant past which brings up some Oedipus atmosphere along with vague hints of incest. In addition, Birdy suffers from diabetes which is treated by visiting nurse Brigitte (Madeleine Hinde SCHOOL FOR UNCLAIMED GIRLS) and her treatment must be kept secret from minister Mcgee whose fanatical beliefs forbid the use of traditional care. Birdy's nurse Brigitte tells her concerns about Birdy to her sister/roommate Paddy (a wonderful chain-smoking & wise-cracking Suzanna Leigh from LUST FOR A VAMPIRE) whose an investigative reporter and immediately begins poking into the Brethern. The film ends with a startling (and slightly bonkers) climax as we see Kenny slowly unravel even more mentality along with the pity we feel for Birdy and the emergence of Mcgee's minster as an example of evil almost on par with serial killer Kenny.
    The main cast is excellent with Anne Todd a standout as the mother who slowly begins to realize what her son is while desperately clinging to her religious beliefs. Considered one of the most beautiful English actresses she was married to David Lean for 8 years during the '50s. Tony Beckley is quite good at playing a mentally unbalanced killer who we do feel some pity for and there's a wonderful scene where he desperately tries to hand out flyers for the Brethren to uncaring pedestrians as seems to the task as a penance. Suzanne Leigh has great fun in the role of Paddy and there's a wonderful scene between her and Todd late in the movie that reveals more about Todd's character and her feelings toward Kenny. The film is also interesting in that it doesn't have a male central hero to save the day (and heroine) as Brigitte's doctor boyfriend washes his hands of the situation and quickly leaves it to Paddy to investigate.
    With its naked female bodies hanging on meat hooks or tumbling out of cement mixes BEWARE MY BRETHREN has a very grim atmosphere about it with a seediness and sordidness that seems to creep into every frame. Borrowing serial killer troupes from PSYCHO and PEEPING TOM it combines these with the new "permissiveness" of 70's horror cinema and looks forward to Pete Walker's work a couple years down the road and makes a nice companion to the major studio 10 RILLINGTON PLACE from 1971. The film's screenplay is by Brian Compton (GIRLY) and was photographed by Desmond Dickinson who also was the DP on TROG, THE HORROR ON SNAPE ISLAND, THE BEAST IN THE CELLAR, BERSERK, and BURKE AND HARE among others. At one point, Kenny enters a cinema that's playing SCARS OF DRACULA.
     Part of the films flying under the radar status for years was that the BBC imposed some serious cuts on it upon release with the full strength version appearing in the U.S. on a murky looking VHS in the '80s (which I remember renting and seemed to have lurked on the shelves of every mom & pop video store). Odeon released the uncut version on DVD in 2011 and Vinegar Syndrome put out a beautiful Blu-ray/DVD  in 2018 with a highly informative commentary by Samm Deighan.

All screen shots above are from the Vinegar Syndrome DVD