Английская Википедия:House of Horrors
Шаблон:Short description Шаблон:Other uses Шаблон:Shortlead Шаблон:Use mdy dates Шаблон:Infobox film
House of Horrors is a 1946 American horror film released by Universal Pictures, starring Rondo Hatton as a madman named "the Creeper".
Plot
Struggling sculptor Marcel de Lange (Martin Kosleck) is depressed about events in his life, and decides to commit suicide. Just as he is about to kill himself, he sees a madman known as "the Creeper" (Rondo Hatton) in the process of drowning and saves him. Taking the disfigured man into his care, he makes him the subject of his next sculpture and calls it his best creation. When critics denigrate Marcel's work, he has the Creeper start killing them. Marcel becomes obsessed with Joan, a beautiful female reporter who believes the deaths are related. When Marcel invites her over and she sees Marcel's sculpture of the Creeper, she suspects that Marcel knows the killer. Later, Marcel decides that Joan knows too much and commands the Creeper to kill her. The Creeper is reluctant to do so, however, when he discovers that Marcel plans to turn him over to the police. The Creeper kills Marcel, and is about to kill Joan when he is shot by the police.
Cast
Production
On November 8, 1944, an article in The Hollywood Reporter stated that producer Ben Pivar was relieved of all his lower-budget films on his shooting schedule and was going to focus on a larger budget film featuring new horror characters.Шаблон:Sfn This included a series featuring actor Rondo Hatton as "the Creeper".Шаблон:Sfn The authors of Universal Horrors suggested this report of a higher budget was either fabricated or the state of the production changed when House of Horrors was developed, it did not have a larger budget than the average Universal B-film production.Шаблон:Sfn
Initial shooting for House of Horrors began on September 11.Шаблон:Sfn Initially Kent Taylor was selected to play the part of Police Lt. Larry Brooks, but on the fourth day of production, before he was shot in any scenes, he was replaced by Bill Goodwin.Шаблон:Sfn Taylor stated years later that he did play the role in the film, but disliked how the picture exploited actor Rondo Hatton, and demanded to be taken off the film.Шаблон:Sfn The assistant director's daily reports suggest that this story was a lie, stating that Goodwin was the only person to play Brooks on set.Шаблон:Sfn Actress Virginia Christine recalled her brief role in the film, stating "I needed the money [laughs] – all actors need money!". Her only other recollection of the film was that to get a cat to follow her, they put anchovies or sardines on the back of her heel.Шаблон:Sfn The scene with the cat is not in the final film.Шаблон:Sfn Martin Kosleck was asked to audition for the role while on the Universal lot.Шаблон:Sfn He received the script to study during the lunch hour for an audition, and was offered the part immediately after.Шаблон:Sfn Kosleck was particularly proud of his performance in the film, stating he received fan mail for it and he "loved that part".Шаблон:Sfn Filming ended on September 25, 1945.Шаблон:Sfn
Release
House of Horrors was shown in New York on February 22, 1946[1] and received wider release by Universal Pictures on March 29.Шаблон:Sfn[1] A series of Creeper films was planned, and the second one, The Brute Man, was filmed in 1946. Hatton died of complications from acromegaly before either film was released.Шаблон:Sfn House of Horrors was released on DVD by the Willette Acquisition Corp. on Sep 27, 2013.[2] It was released on Blu-ray by Shout! Factory on March 17, 2020 as the fourth volume in their Universal Horror Collection.[3] The set also included Night Key, Night Monster and The Climax.[3]
Reception
From contemporary reviews, many critics commented on Rondo Hatton, with George H. Spires stating that his "Neanderthal features suffice without the aid of make up [...] and his ape-like appearance on the screen brings a gasp to the audience", while Edmond J. Bartnett of The New York Times said Hatton was "properly scary".Шаблон:Sfn Otis L. Guernsey, Jr. of The New York Herald-Tribune found the Creeper to be "not in the best of taste".Шаблон:Sfn As for the picture overall, a reviewer in Harrison's Reports wrote that "little about the proceedings to horrify one unless the fact that murders are committed by a half-witted giant can be considered horrendous rather than unpleasant".Шаблон:Sfn
From retrospective reviews, the authors of the book Universal Horrors found that, despite Rondo Hatton's acting and characters in the film being cliches, House of Horrors "rates as the best shocker in this last grap of Universal Horrors. It boasts creepy, atmospheric, film-noirish settings, evocative camerawork and is seldom dull".Шаблон:Sfn In Leonard Maltin's film guide, the film was awarded two out of four stars, criticizing the script as "laughable" and moderate acting, calling it "[a] slightly below average horror meller".[4]
See also
References
Footnotes
Sources
External links
- ↑ 1,0 1,1 Ошибка цитирования Неверный тег
<ref>; для сносокafiне указан текст - ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
- ↑ 3,0 3,1 Шаблон:Cite web
- ↑ Шаблон:Cite book
- Английская Википедия
- 1946 films
- 1946 horror films
- 1940s serial killer films
- American black-and-white films
- Films directed by Jean Yarbrough
- American monster movies
- Universal Pictures films
- Films scored by William Lava
- 1940s American films
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- Страницы с телепортом
- Википедия
- Статья из Википедии
- Статья из Английской Википедии
- Страницы с ошибками в примечаниях
