Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

Ceticultsot Beautiful, moving film.

ShangLuda Admirable film.

Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

snicewanger House of Horrors is a creepy little shocker film that is quite well done. Interestingly it's working title was "The Sinister Shadow" before it was released. House Of Horrors was another Ben Pivar production and Ben could put this kind of horror film out in his sleep.Director Jean Yarbrough cut his teeth directing these kind of B thrillers and he went on to have a very successful career in television. I always considered Rondo Hatton to be sort of a walking prop. He's a bit more animated in this story then usual but here he's not so much the monster as he is the real monsters tool. Virginia Grey wasn't one of Universal's Screen Queens". She was loaned out for "House" from M-G-M. She's very good as the spirited reporter trying to get the story.Robert Lowery was a handsome and talented leading man but you could aways tell when he was really into his role or just picking up a paycheck.The dependable Alan Napier has a turn as an egotistical and sarcastic art critic. He so good in the role that the audience cheers when he gets his. Martin Kosleck was, as my dad used to say,the poor man's Peter Lorre He could play sinister capably enough but he was a bit too subdued to play out and out crazy. In this story he is the real monster, however, creeping around in the shadows and letting Rondo do his dirty work.This is one of Koslecks biggest roles and his weaselly Marcel De Lange is one of his best characterizations Its a shame that Rondo Hatton passed on just as his star was beginning to rise in the horror film Pantheon so to speak. Whether or not he could have lasted as a horror star nobody can say. The second horror cycle was beginning to dry out in 1946 so he could have slid back into obscurity had he lived.The American Horror Film Board presents the Rondo Award every year to deserving horror films and actors since 2002. Film fans vote on the recipients. So Rondo Hatton has achieved some degree of movie immortality.

bkoganbing Martin Kosleck who was most famous for playing Joseph Goebbels in several films stars here as a struggling artist who gets a bad review once to often. After a really devastating review by acerbic critic Alan Napier Kosleck is ready to drown himself in the river. Instead though he finds the half drowned body of Rondo Hatton known as the Creeper. The two form an alliance as Kosleck decides to get even with all who derided his work. He's even got an ultimate masterpiece going, a sculpture of Hatton.Poor Rondo Hatton, a man whose very ugliness gave him a career in films. To me there's something unbelievably cruel in asking someone to make his living exploiting the very thing that makes one repellent in real life. Had he lived in later times no doubt Hatton would have doing the ultimate interpretation of The Elephant Man.Before Hatton is through he kills another critic Howard Freeman and model Joan Shawlee. He's about to do in Virginia Grey who is breaking into the ranks of critics. She's a pretty good detective though at first quite sympathetic to Kosleck.Freeman dies in fact under police surveillance as he agrees to write a nasty column about Robert Lowery another artist the cops suspect. Bill Goodwin who plays the cop sure had a lot of explaining to do at headquarters after Freeman is killed and while Lowery is in Goodwin's presence. Not only the wrong guy is cleared, but the bait is taken and destroyed. In real life Goodwin would have racked up one big suspension for that operation.Some interesting performances in House Of Horrors, but I'm uneasy watching it.

utgard14 Struggling artist (Martin Kosleck) intends to kill himself but winds up saving the life of serial killer The Creeper (Rondo Hatton) instead. Afterwards, he sends The Creeper out to murder his critics. When another artist (Robert Lowery) is suspected of being the killer, his girlfriend (Virginia Grey) investigates and finds the clues lead to Kosleck and The Creeper. Nice cast, weak script. Alan Napier is fun as one of the critics. This is one of the lesser Universal horror films made at the end of their second horror cycle. It's mainly of interest for Universal completists and those interested in the disfigured Hatton. It's certainly better than Hatton's next (and last) movie, Brute Man.

mlraymond The peculiar charisma of Martin Kosleck brings a certain believability to his character of the frustrated artist. He imbues his dialog with an odd sense of realism, making the sculptor Marcel a convincing individual. The character manages to come across as a real person and not so much a typical B movie villain.The story line is nothing to write home about, and many scenes are dull. What makes it work is the strange chemistry between Kosleck and Rondo Hatton as the Creeper. Kosleck's talkative, philosophical character is contrasted with Hatton's low key, monosyllabic approach. The character of the Creeper isn't developed much beyond a basic monster level, but Hatton suggests undeveloped possibilities and makes you wonder about his back story.This movie was on Shock Theater a lot when I was a kid, so I have a certain nostalgic fondness for it. It's worth seeing once, anyway, for those who enjoy Forties horror movies.