Savage Intruder

This is really nothing more than a slightly gorier rendition of SUNSET BOULEVARD/BABY JANE hysterics. Miriam Hopkins, one of Hollywood's finest actresses during the '30's, gives an appropriately hammy performance as a demented former movie queen who, when not chugging down a bottle of vodka, is staggering around her decaying Hollywood mansion(the real-life home of famous silent screen star Norma Talmadge) plotting to make a comeback. When she breaks her leg during a drunken episode, she is assisted by a good-looking, but strange young man(John Garfield, Jr.) who passes himself off as a male nurse, but is, in fact, a sick psychopath who has been dismembering several women who live in the Hollywood hills. Despite being almost totally beyond redemption, the movie offers some occasionally worthwhile moments supplied by several familiar old-time character actors, and Miss Hopkins, in her final film role, gives a much better performance than the circumstances warrant. Also out on video as: HOLLYWOOD HORROR HOUSE. Originally titled: THE COMEBACK.

The influence of a Mother fixation a la "Psycho" is obvious in this intriguing horror film. The hatchet wielding psychotic is played, with a rather mundane performance, by David Garfield. Forget about him though and enjoy the great acting of Gale Sondergaard and Miriam Hopkins, who exude much class in their acting. The film is very atmospheric, has little blood, and is relentlessly downbeat from beginning to end. The clash of faded Hollywood with the psychotronic 60s/ 70s is used to great advantage, making this a treat for old film buffs, but dubious entertainment for the slasher crowd. Though lacking "Hitchcock" caliber excellence, "Hollywood Horror House", is nevertheless an interesting relic that deserves attention. - MERK

Low-budget psychedelic thriller in the "Baby Jane" genre, but it features a terrific performance by the legendary Miriam Hopkins in her last performance (complete with semi-nudity and love scenes), joined by Gale Sondergaard and the under-rated John David Garfield (close your eyes and he sounds like his famous father). The film was never released to theaters and the video came out in England after Hopkins'death. Hopkins portrays an aging alcoholic movie star living in seclusion with Sondergaard as her stern secretary-companion. She breaks her hip and drug-addict psycho Garfield is hired to help care for her. Hopkins and Garfield begin a bizarre affair and the murders begin. Filmed in Norma Talmadge's former estate and with a slightly larger budget, it could have been successfully released. Still a real curio though and worth tracking down if you can find it. Try the UK if you can play PAL or look under the title "Hollywood Horror House." (Originally filmed as "The Comeback.") It deserves a proper DVD release, as does Hopkins' previous movie, Russ Meyer's "Fanny Hill."

A campy B-movie that's shamelessly derivative of 'Sunset Boulevard,' 'Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?' and 'Psycho,' but which was more entertaining than I expected. Is this a good movie? No, it's not a good movie. The premise is weak (gosh do you think they could use a little more due diligence in their hiring process?) and the overall script is too. The film lacks any kind of subtlety or refinement, but maybe the alternate title "Hollywood Horror House" was a little hint of that.

On the other hand, it was Miriam Hopkins' last film, and she's a delight to watch. At age 68 and just a couple of years before her death, she throws herself into her scenes, singing a little and getting a revealing massage along the way. The film also scored points for me in its opening shots, showing how dilapidated the Hollywood sign was in 1970, eight years before being saved and rebuilt. We also get a few shots on Sunset Blvd, and I liked how 'old Hollywood' was played off the topical drug/hippie stuff (plus Davis partying with the younger generation made me smile). There is an Asian-American character (Virginia Wing) who is presented to us sans stereotypes (though she is called 'fortune cookie' and hears the jibe "no tickee, no washee", it's by the bad guy). Gale Sondergaard (age 71) rounds out what is a pretty good cast for such a film. I was less convinced by the actual psycho (David Garfield, interestingly John Garfield's son), though I guess he's suitably creepy.

As for the violence, with hands and heads being lopped off and whatnot, it's done in such a campy way as to seem not gory, which could be viewed as a plus or a minus. I guess I wish the film had been more serious and elevated, but as it is, it was a fun watch.

Aging and alcoholic past it movie star Kathleen Parker takes a spill and needs a personal assistant. Unfortunately for her, Vic might not be a good choice for the job. In fact he might just be…A Savage Intruder!... Opening to a salvo of in and out fading clips from old movies before the camera draws in upon the Hollywood sign, pulling closer and closer until it fixes on the tattered and peeling facade, rusty strips hanging out and creaky in the breeze, this mean little hippy era psycho chiller poses old school Hollywood as corpse, intent signalled as the shot pulls down beneath the Hollywood sign to reveal some severed human remains. Vic is introduced soon after and things follow a fairly typical path, with the added frisson of an age war aspect. The town may have its stately and dignified older folk, well mannered and good too each other despite their foibles, but the decadence of a new age as embodied in the smarmy Vic is set on mockery, exploitation and worse for the gentler souls. In colourful and modishly trippy party sequences Vic and his chums are a fairly striking bunch of freaks and weirdos, and when they come up against the likes of Kathleen or her contemporaries perhaps maggots claiming their dominion over the dead milieu? Some of the partying scenes come off a little loose and may be offputting, I was amused enough to ride them out though the dated psychedelic touches are best applied in Vic's flashbacks. Chequer patterned surfaces, gaudy colours, close up faces with distorted speech shot through a fish eye lens and a nifty gore shot to top things off, it's a cool sequence if you groove to this sort of time capsule oddity. For more creepy kicks mannequins get a neat showing, as well as some weapon flashing murders, though nothing too grisly goes down. Miriam Hopkins fits the character of Kathleen perfectly, perhaps because she was an old school movie star herself, whilst fellow veteran Gale Sondegard is equally well suited to a role as an older housekeeper. Virginia Wing overacts a little but does OK as a nice young Asian lady, whilst John David Garfield has a suitably oily and arrogant demeanour as Vic. He falls a good way short of being vicious or scary enough though, which brings things down a good deal. Also the film peaks at around the hour mark, with a draggy final block propelled in barely adequate fashion by a few freaky touches. Kinda unsatisfying ending too. Still, the film as a whole is odd enough to be interesting and mean spirited enough to be a little unsettling, so it just about works on the obscure curio level. Not recommended to most, but worth a look if you dig this kind of off the beaten track kookiness.