Mansion of the Doomed

A little more disturbing than you'd expect for it's time, but this movie features two greats, Richard Basehart and film noir actress Gloria Grahame, or three if you want to throw a young Lance Henricksen in there. There's nothing light-hearted in this gruesome movie, and Vic Tayback plays it straight forward as the cop. Basehart and Grahame are great here, and all the lesser known actors are really good too. The story involves a surgical genius eye doctor trying to help his daughter who he's accidentally blinded. Madness ensues. You can get nice fresh eyeballs all over the place, but what do you with the leftovers?

Here is a film that will make your skin crawl. Richard Basehart plays Dr. Chaney, an eye surgeon who performs many eye transplants on his daughter so that she might once again see.

The transfer from VHS to DVD is poor adding to the creepy, dreamy and eerie feel of the sets and scenes. It adds to the stomach turning queasy feel of the story.

Injuries of the eyes always make people feel frightened so this really strikes a cord. Seeing the after effects of the transplant surgeries and watching the prep of the surgeries is truly unsettling.

The make-up effects are OK and I believe there is some real footage being used at some point but what is more disturbing is the doctor's obsession and the story itself of which I don't want to give away here.

Let me just say that the film is hard to watch and I doubt anyone will want to sit through it twice. It's hard to shake. It leaves greasy little snail tracks on your brain. I am a horror fan I can tell you I don't want to see it again. I'm glad the transfer to DVD isn't all that clear. More clarity would have made it harder to watch.

One of Charles Band's earlier produced movies. A must for a Full Moon/Charles Band fan. Nice to add to your DVD collection though the quality is pretty bad even though it says Digitally Mastered. If this was mastered, I'd hate to see what it was before they worked on it. But the story is a gem of a horror for a low budget film. Also notice that in the end credits Richard Band was an assistant producer. And the screenplay was by their father Albert Band. And fans know where this combination went to. Empire Pictures and Full Moon Pictures. The B-movies improved along with musical scores to form a legendary team for several great videos such as the Puppet Master series and Subspecies, Trancers series as well as the well known Re-animator and From Beyond Lovecraft classics. Being a great fan of Charles Band, it was worth buying for my collection and the cost was reasonably low to purchase. Someone needs to see about getting some of the Paramount/Full Moon pictures released as well. Some of Band's finest videos are not available due to past problems with them. A real shame!

While no classic, this low budget thriller exceeds its reputation. Creating a truly oppressive atmosphere-just what the story calls for-it features a strong performance by Richard Basehart and good support from a young Lance Henrikson. Particularly creepy, though not in a horror movie way, is the sequence where Basehart picks up a little girl to be his next subject, which, while not graphic, may be a bit much for some viewers. Yes, it is a sleazy movie, but for this story that is appropriate. The only letdown is the total waste of Gloria Grahame, who is given little to work with. She deserved better.

I first saw this in the late 80s n found it to be a bit boring but aft revisiting it recently, i found it to be disturbing, specially the suffering of the eyeless victims caged in the basement is frightening n very disturbing.

Thank God the little girl survives but can someone tell me what happens to the character of Lance Henriksen n the lead character Trish?

The director of this film Michael Pataki directed only two movies n one tv episode but acted in 178 movies, the most famous being Graduation Day, Halloween 4, Rocky 4, Sweet Sixteen, Dead & Buried, Dracula's Dog, Airport '77, The Bat People, Grave of the Vampire, The Return of Count Yorga, Dream no Evil n the tiny role in Easy Rider.

Michael Pataki shamelessly copied from Franju's Eyes Without a Face but somehow succeeded in creating the horror vibe.

No sane fella can find this movie comical cos it is truly disturbing seeing the plight of the eyeless.