HALLOWEEN HORRORFEST 2020: House of Mystery (1961)

Our sponsors for today are my dear friends from Great Britian, the maintainers of The Great Library of Dreams, Jim and Theresa Moon!  Be sure to follow the Moon’s audio adventures at Hypnogoria, where you can find dramatic readings, film commentaries and more!  Jim is also going to be providing some of the music for the Strangers In Paradise audio drama coming out next month on the Two True Freaks Podcast Network!

Jim and Theresa are representing The Dogs Trust UK, which rescues and helps to relocate dogs in the United Kingdom--like Tallulah, the dog the Moons have just adopted!

Our lovely Couple of Chilling Charm has chosen for me another black and white film about spirits that I never heard of before--namely 1961‘s British House of Mystery.

It turns out I shouldn’t be surprised I never heard of it--because it is a hair shy of an hour in length, the film was sold to television and became an episode of Kraft Mystery Theater here in the States!  It was directed by Vernon Sewell, who also helmed The Blood Beast Terror and The Curse of The Crimson Altar, one of the earliest attempts to cinematically adapt H.P. Lovecraft.  The actors in the film would be largely unknown to Amurricans save for Peter Dyneley, who was the voice of Jeff Tracy in the Gerry Anderson classic ‘supermarionation’ adventure series Thunderbirds.

A couple are considering buying Orchard Mansion, a lovely house that is being offered for a suspiciously low price.  They find a woman they assume to be the caretaker, who tells them that the place is haunted....and then proceeds to tell the story of its orginal inhabitants, the Lemmings, and how Dr. Lemming (Dyneley) got his revenge on his wife and her lover for trying to kill him.

While this is crispy directed--the print provided me by the Moons was beautiful--it is also not very good.  It’s very talky, and the framing sequence is really unneccesary, even if it’s strikingly shot (Sewell manages to keep one character in perpetual shadow through simple cinematography and blocking, so that even though I figured out what the final twist would be, I was visually engaged by it).  The actual plot doesn’t begin until over a half of the film’s running time has played out and one scene, with a psychic investigator going off on an extended treatise on ESP, just halted the film’s momentum.  

....and yet....

I have come across several films where there’s one thing--maybe as little as a shot, but more likely a scene--that makes up for a lot of its shortcomings.  This is one of them.  Even though I felt the film overall was mediocre, there is a brief sequence that I really enjoyed seeing.  It’s in the third act, and is composed of Dr. Lemming revealing his plan for revenge to the duplicitous couple.  There is something about Dyneley’s performance in this sequence, his voice a mixture of pride and contempt as he calmly explains the ‘game’ he wants to play with them, that’s really compelling.  I perked up at this scene, because it’s so good, and I do not regret watching the movie because of it.

So yes, this is not a good movie.  It is too talky and slow and fairly lifeless.  However, because of that one sequence and its shortness, I am going to suggest that you seek it out if you’re intrigued by what I have told you.

Our sponsor for tomorrow is a dear friend, the lovely, talented and enthusiastic Chauncey K. Robinson!  Chauncy has chosen for me one of the few films directed by make-up maven Stan Winston, 1988‘s Pumpkinhead!

There are Three Sponsorship Slots Left in the Halloween Horrorfest this year.  There are four ways you can claim one of them:

1) You can become a Domicile of Dread Patreon at any level.  Patreons always get a free slot, as well as advance access to podcasts and other goodies!

2) You can buy me a coffee at Ko-Fi.  Suggested donation is $3

3) You can make a donation to Black Lives Matter.  Suggested donation is $10.  Please forward your receipt to me as proof.

4) You can choose to make a donation to the charity chosen by a sponsor on his/her/their day. Like with the third possibility, please forward me proof of donation.

As with last year, if I end up with more sponsors than there are days in October, I will go into Horrorfest Overtime, which means Halloween goes into November for me--and you!