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. 

LET'S GO TO THE MOVIES #1

It's Sat. March 19, 1977. Let's see what's playing in the Detroit, MI metro area.

Lots of post-Oscar hype and re-releases for some major studio stuff

Ralph Bakshi's WIZARDS is still playing at multiple theatres 5 weeks after its opening and would soon become a "midnight show" staple on Fri. and Sat. late nights along with various concert films for hordes of stoned patrons.

A triple feature of J.D.'s REVENGE, COOLEY HIGH and CORNBREAD, EARL AND ME at The Mercury on 6 Mile and Schaffer. This trio ran for what seemed like years at local theatres.

Kroger Babb's infamous UNCLE TOM'S CABIN is in its "Second Big Week!". Exploitation huckster extraordinaire Babb was famous for his sex-hygiene, nudie, and birth-of-a-baby films such as MOM AND DAD and had a career going back to the '30s. Cashing in on the MANDINGO and DRUM hype in the '70s, he bought a German-produced version of UNCLE TOM'S CABIN with Herbert Lom as Simon Legree and hired low-budget guru Al Adamson to shoot additional scenes of sex and sadism which he inserted. 

There's a double feature of the kinda/sorta EYES WITHOUT A FACE inspired MANSION OF THE DOOMED (with an early appearance by Lance Henrikson) and Juan López Moctezuma's recut and edited AT THE MANSION OF MADNESS under the title DR. TARR'S TORTURE DUNGEON. 

Based upon a series of unsolved murders around Texarkana in 1946, Charles B. Pierce's atmospheric proto-slasher THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN has been held over. With a post-GILLIGAN'S ISLAND Dawn Wells, 70's exploitation stalwart Andrew Prine, and in a bit of bizarre casting Ben Johnson as a Hispanic town sheriff. 

The Fox (which specialized in Kung-Fu and blaxploitation ) is showing the double feature of THE ONE-ARMED BOXER VS. THE FLYING GUILLOTINE (also known as THE MASTER OF THE FLYING GUILLOTINE) and SUPER DRAGON. This was also one of those seemingly perpetual running double features of the time period. I think I saw it twice! 

"The Dirtiest Harry Of Them All!" THE ENFORCER is playing all over the place including the Troy Drive-In which is where I saw it.

The Americana, Eastland, and The Showcase have a preview for the "R" rated SLAPSHOT with the disclaimer "certain language may be too strong for children" - but hey most of the language is fine and makes for a great family movie-night out!

The mythical THE FARMER is getting a pretty wide release in the Motor City. This lost exploitation revenge has never been issued on home video. 43 years on and I'm still kicking myself for missing this one. 

Held over is Michael Winner's gloriously lurid and wonderfully trashy THE SENTINEL which features Burgess Meredith channeling Ruth Gordon from ROSEMARY'S BABY, Beverly D'Angelo & Sylvia Miles as lesbian cannibals along with a pretty unbelievable cast of former Hollywood A-listers and up and comers.  And hey, there's John Carradine in one of his 11(!!) film roles from 1977.

CHATTERBOX staring the wonderful Candice Rialson is just playing at the Fairlane Drive-In after opening back on Feb. 2. It features Railson as a young woman and her adventures with a unique bit of talking anatomy. 

For the kiddies, there's a matinee of BRIGHTY OF THE GRAND CANYON, and Disney's FREAKY FRIDAY is in its "Seventh Freaky Week!"

Italian peplum kiddie matinee at the Northgate with Sergio Corbucci's GOLIATH AND THE VAMPIRES followed by a double bill later that day (not for the kiddies) of the above-mentioned UNCLE TOM'S CABIN and THE KLANSMAN starring Richard Burton and Lee Marvin 

Lots of  X and XXX to choose from!  

And some motocross racing coming up  at the Pontiac Silverdome

DARK AUGUST 1976

     Another one rescued from the VHS only domain this low-key thriller mixing witchcraft, spiritualism, and New England folk-horror was for me the highlight of Arrow's American Horror Project Vol. 2. Written (along with J.J. Berry) and directed by Martin Goldman (who had been an NYC ad-man), it's a wonderfully creepy little film that relays on mood and suggestion rather than shocks to carry itself along and is one of those films that can stick in one's craw long after your viewing. 

    After a combination of a messy break-up with his wife and a heavy bout of mid-life crisis New Yorker Sal Devito (J.J. Berry from HARPER VALLEY P.T.A. and a semi-regular on TV's BARNEY MILLER) heads off for the comfy confines of rural Stow, VT to begin a relationship with local art gallery owner Jackie (his real-life wife Carolyn Barry) and to pursue an artistic career in painting (along with it would seem a dream of wearing denim from head to toe). Living with Carolyn, he begins building a studio in the backyard and has in a buddy another refuge from the big city, Theo (Frank Bongiorno THE FIRST DEADLY SIN) an ex-lawyer and now similar denim-clad potter.
    Sal seems like he doesn't quite fit in with the small-town vibe and already carrying around a load of guilt from abandoning his wife and kids his life gets further complicated when he mistakenly runs over & kills the young granddaughter of a local hermit/quasi-warlock (William Robertson CHRISTMAS EVIL). We only see the accident through Sal's flashbacks which he remembers as clearly being not his fault (with the police coming to the same conclusion we learn), however, the girl's grandfather sees things differently. The grandfather invokes a black magic curse upon Sal which leads him to see an ominous hooded figure lurking in the woods along with accidents befalling himself and those around him including a bloody accident with a handsaw at his studio construction site.

    Looking for answers Sal consents to a Tarot card reading done by Theo's wife Lesley (Kate McKeown SWEET KILL) who foretells looming danger in his future and in turn she refers him to local white witch/spiritualist Adrianna Putman (Academy Award winner Kim Hunter) who advises Sal in breaking the curse that requires him to take such drastic steps as burning down his studio.
    At its core, a New England-based version of M.R. James' classic English ghost story Casting The Runes and its later Jacques Tourneur directed NIGHT OF THE DEMON film adaption, DARK AUGUST is reliant on mood and creeping dread. Although a PG rating, it is, however, a 70's PG rating, which means a few splashes of blood and some fleeting nudity. The climax of the film gets a bit heavy-handed (especially if you're an animal lover) and is kind of head-scratching seeming to be more gimmick driven then the proceeding atmosphere of the film.
   Although he was in his 40's at the time of filming Berry's Sal is stated in the course of the film to being 38 which fits in more with his fear of encroaching middle-age. While he also feels at guilt in regards to the accident he also argues with his wife back in NYC (showing he really hasn't left that life behind) and gets into a heated phone call with a client from his "previous life" in regards to some commercial art jobs he still has from his days in the 9 to 5 world. all of which weigh heavily on him which leads to bad decisions such as confronting the dead child's grandfather and practically begging for forgiveness.

    There's also a get-back-nature trend of the period although here it's all involving older middle-aged men which while Sal's friend Theo seems comfortable with his new life, Sal himself seems like a fish out of water in the small Vermont town. Although he comes across as a likable guy he shows a darker side at some points, as he takes to poping tranquilizers and wandering around the house with a shotgun. The real-life marriage between him and Carolyn Barry helps as there seems to be a real spark between them and their lovemaking scene isn't filmed for erotic content, but just as a normal middle-aged couple in bed.
     Kim Hunter has a small but important role in the film and as an Oscar winner from A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE it was probably quite a coup for a small production to land her.  She's quite good in her small but meaningful role and her presence adds quite a bit of gravitas here. Best known at the time for her role as Zira in PLANET OF THE APES from 1968 she had a lifelong interest in spiritualism which is most likely what drew her to the part and according to the director commentary on the Arrow release she took an active part in the film's promotion doing press appearances in Vermont.
     A regional horror film through and through the film makes great use of its Vermont locations using all piratical sets from actual houses and commercial buildings in Stowe. The cinematography by Richard E. Brooks (BLOOD RAGE and THE CONCERT FOR BANGLADESH) has a beautiful late-summer green & sunny New England feel to with shots of the forbidding looking distant mountains bringing a Lovecraft atmosphere. There is many shots of people gazing through windows which brings to mind Robert Altman's work (particularly IMAGES from 1972). Except for the horror elements, the film is a commercial for rural Vermont and although I've never been there, it's nice to think that maybe Stowe is still the folksy little artist village as shown here.
   As included in the American Horror Project Vol. 2 box, the Arrow Blu in addition to a commentary by director/co-writer Martin Goldman also has a wonderful documentary by comic artist Stephen R. Bissette titled The Hills Are Alive: Dark August and Vermont Horror which covers the entire spectrum of Vermont genre film making & folklore.