O Intruso

An ageing, alcoholic movie star employs a young man to assist with the staff at her Hollywood mansion but he turns out to be a drug addicted, scheming, woman murdering maniac. Miriam Hopkins play the faded star perfectly, and this was to be her final role; David Garfield convincingly plays the handsome psychopath. As others have said this is "Sunset Boulevard"/'Baby Jane" but with plenty of bloodshed plus some psychedelic drug sequences. It is something of a curiosity, trashy but fun. I can find very little written about this in my various movie books, sad because it is a film that deserves to be better known. I have the original British VHS, released by Vipco and they weren't shy in pushing this as a gory slasher movie. I guess for 1970 it was quite explicit. Available on DVD as Hollywood House of Horror.

Savage Intruder is one of those late 60's/early 70's horror films that adorn formerly famous, formerly glamorous Hollywood starlets in their elder years. Kick-started into action by the surprise horror hit "Whatever Happened To Baby Jane" which breathed new life into Bette Davis and Joan Crawford's practically non-existent careers at that point, suddenly other actresses, who were shunned by the studios which had used them up and spit them out, started lining up to star in low-budget horror movies. Their loss is our gain, because even though Hollywood has no use for them, I find seasoned actresses to be the most fun to watch - especially in a horror film.

This one stars Miriam Hopkins and Gale Sondergaard (who was criminally black-listed by Hollywood when she refused to testify against her husband during the McCarthy-inspired "Red Scare" hysteria in the 1950s). Hopkins is (surprise-surprise) an aging actress who lives as a recluse in her Hollywood mansion of memories. Sondergaard plays her tough but caring assistant. Suddenly, a young handsome stranger who harnesses a charismatic charm as well as a bad temper worms his way into the household, fooling Hopkins but not Sondergaard.

There is a nice helping of sadism, murder and weirdness embedded into the film, sure to please lovers of these kinds of horror movies. Although it is very hard to find, this one is well worth the effort.

You have to thank the good people at Vinegar Syndrome for bringing Hollywood Horror House out of obscurity and into the light again. While it's far from perfect and came at the end of the "Baby Jane"/crazy old dame phase, it's one of the wilder entries into that subgenre with a surprising amount of effective gore.

It all plays out a bit like Sunset Boulevard if the Joe Gillis character was a serial killer who kills older women because they remind him of his mother. He latches on to a faded film star played by Miriam Hopkins and becomes her assistant, confidant, and perhaps her lover. As various people in Hopkins' life start to suspect this homicidal grifter of ill will, he kills them.

Hollywood Horror House appears to have a had a somewhat sizable budget given the sets, quality of actors, lighting, and special effects. After all, how many of these low budget films features a Christmas parade sequence with seemingly hundreds of extras? The film does lose steam towards the end and the ending isn't the most satisfying, but the journey to get there is wonderfully wild.

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

Miriam Hopkins plays an aging,drunken and washed-out movie queen living in a decaying mansion in Hollywood Hills,California.Her nurse is a psychotic young man who enjoys murdering and dismembering women with a sharp meat-cleaver.There is an interesting contrast between Old Hollywood and New Hollywood in low-budget proto-slasher "The Savage Intruder" by Donald Wolfe.The atmosphere of late 60's Hollywood's decadence is well-captured and the acting is decent.Unfortunately the pace is slow and there is not enough suspense.The killings are pretty gory and the climax is twisted.If you are a slasher completist you should give "The Savage Intruder" a chance.7 out of 10 for this cheesy curio.