RipDelight
This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.
Casey Duggan
It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny
Kaelan Mccaffrey
Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.
TheLittleSongbird
House of Evil has just one thing going for it, Boris Karloff. One of those actors who always gave his all regardless of the film and material, Karloff's performance is sprightly and dignified, never less than convincing. Unfortunately it is one such performance that deserved a much better film. Nothing else works and any other Karloff film yet to be seen by me has to be really, really bad to be worse than House of Evil. The film is pure tack visually, the sets don't convince at all in Gothic atmosphere and the photography is just slipshod. The dialogue is wretched, a lot of it is ridiculous and senseless and everybody visibly looks awkward saying it. Don't look for a coherent story either, it's instead incredibly dull(not helped by that some scenes are too talky), devoid of thrills, suspense or creepiness and has unintentional humour, mainly because of how bad the dialogue is and how cheesy the deaths are. Let's not forget the music either, shrill, strident and far too obvious, when something sinister or deadly happens the music is annoying and very repetitive too. Last but not least the acting, with the sole exception of Karloff it is very amateurish. In particular Quintin Bulnes seems to be impersonating Peter Lorre, and does so terribly. Julissa is ravishingly beautiful but doesn't have the acting skills to match. All in all, a truly inept film all round apart from Karloff. 2/10 Bethany Cox
MartinHafer
This film has decent plot--one that is very reminiscent of several other movies and TV shows. However, the budget is quite low, the film is too talky and slow, some of the acting pretty crappy and the overall effects is very sad, as it was one of the last films of Boris Karloff. Why he chose to make several ultra-low budget Mexican films at this late stage of his life is beyond me--did he need the money THAT badly?! Imagine a film that is like a combination of the "Twilight Zone" episode "The Masks" (where a dying old man brings all his awful relatives to his home--as he's dying) as well as the Dr. Phibes films with all the life-sized automatons. Karloff also has a bunch of despicable relatives who only show up to his summons because they want his money after he dies. When he dies soon after their arrival, it looks great for these greedy relatives until one-by-one, they are killed off by Karloff's goofy automatons. If Karloff really dead? Will any of these jerks escape? Does anyone really care since it was all handled so poorly? The only thing more that I'd reveal is that at least it does end on a rather unusual note!The bottom line is that this cheesy film sat on the shelf for years after it was made--a sure sign that the film was a turkey. Not surprisingly, the DVD release has an ugly dark print, no special features and is pretty dull with little to recommend it. I've seen a lot worse, but considering this was one of Karloff's swan songs, it's a darn shame--he deserved better than this.
Michael_Elliott
House of Evil (1968) * 1/2 (out of 4) One of the four Mexican films Boris Karloff made at the end of his career, this one here being the first to get released. In the film Karloff plays an rich, if eccentric man who calls his family together for a will reading. He ends up dying and his fears of a maniac stalking the house taking out eyeballs appears to be coming true as the family members start dropping dead one by one. Okay, there's certainly a bit of sadness seeing Karloff go out with these Mexican films but at the same time you have to respect his wishes to continue working. From what I've read, he didn't need money so apparently these movies were made simply so he could continue to act. I hadn't seen this film, also known as DANCE OF DEATH, since I was very young and I remember it being quite bad but this repeat viewing shows that it is bad but certainly not as horrible as THE FEAR CHAMBER or SNAKE PEOPLE. I think Karloff turns in a pretty good performance here, which also includes him not being forced to use a wheelchair throughout the production. I think he manages to be quite believable as the mean old man who certainly doesn't have any love for his greedy family. The supporting players are all fairly forgettable as they add nothing to the film although sex pot Julissa, who appeared in three of the four Karloff films, comes off mildly entertaining and apparently is still working today. One thing that does benefit this film is that it actually makes sense. The other three films in the series all have plots that make no sense and the scenes with Karloff appear to have been shot without too much thought going into them as they really don't mix too well with the "other" footage. That's not the case here as everything flows pretty smoothly together. The death scenes are all silly looking but that's to be expected I guess. Karloff fans might want to check this notorious films out but others should certainly stay clear.
wdbasinger
This tale based on two Edgar Allen Poe pieces ("The Fall of the House of Usher", "Dance of Death" (poem) ) is actually quite creepy from beginning to end. It is similar to some of the old black-and-white movies about people that meet in an old decrepit house (for example, "The Cat and the Canary", "The Old Dark House", "Night of Terror" and so on). Boris Karloff plays a demented inventor of life-size dolls that terrorize the guests. He dies early in the film (or does he ? ) and the residents of the house are subjected to a number of terrifying experiences. I won't go into too much detail here, but it is definitely a must-see for fans of old dark house mysteries.Watch it with plenty of popcorn and soda in a darkened room.Dan Basinger 8/10
