User reviews

"House Of Evil" aka "Dance Of Death" of 1968 is the first of four infamous and odd last movies starring the great Boris Karloff and directed by Jack Hill and Juan Ibánez. Unlike "Snake People" (1971), "The Incredible Invasion" (also 1971) and "The Fear Chamber" (1972) which were all released after Karloff's death in 1969, "House Of Evil" was released in 1968, when Karloff was still alive. "House Of Evil" is regarded by many as the worst of these four movies, which are without doubt all rather crappy, but definitely have their entertainment value as the unintentional comedies they are. I personally prefer "The Fear Chamber" and "House Of Evil" over the other two, simply for the reason that the lack of the slightest logic is even more extreme, and since there is no suspense whatsoever in any of the movies, the lack of logic increases the unintentional fun factor.

The odd story (I don't know if I can really call it a 'plot') is set somewhere in Europe in the 19th century. After some girls are murdered and found with their eyes ripped out, Mathias Morteval (Karloff), an enthusiastic organ player, invites his few remaining relatives to his bizarre mansion, which is full of eerie toys. His kinfolk includes Lucy Durant (Julissa), who is engaged to one of the police inspectors investigating the murders.

I won't give away more of the story, but I can assure you that it is quite bizarre throughout the movie. There are some very funny moments, especially some things Karloff's character says. Boris Karloff was without any doubt one of the most brilliant and important icons of the Horror genre who ever lived, and he manages to award this odd movie with a tiny bit of his greatness, and although (or because) his role is (due to a poor script and and directing) in no way scary, it looks like he deliberately plays it with a sense of humor. Just like in the movie's successors "Snake People" and "The Fear Chamber", the female lead is once again played by Julissa.

Most of he supporting performances are hilariously amateurish, the cinematography is terrible and the locations and sceneries are beneath contempt. The storyline lacks the least bit of logic and the dialogue often does not make the slightest sense. It is the poor story and dialogue, however, that makes this movie so entertaining to watch. "House Of Evil" may be an extremely crappy attempt of a movie, but it is certainly as (unintentionally) funny as it is bad. Fans of Ed Wood's movies should be very amused, I personally found it hilarious. Crappy but entertaining nevertheless, and definitely worth watching since there's Boris Karloff in it and due to the fun factor. 3/10

Worth a watch if you enjoy the low-budget, B-grade horror of the '60's. No masterpiece, but Karloff is always a treat and the sets are suitably atmospheric. The acting will win no prizes but was ok. All in all, I found the movie watchable - and that's good enough for this genre.

Julissa plays Lucy Durant, a young woman who travels with her fiancee Charles Beasler (Andres Garcia) to visit ancient relative Matthias Morteval (Boris Karloff), in what is a pretty standard period horror. It involves a reading of the will, the typical greedy heirs, and people regularly getting bumped off. The killings are somewhat amusing, because the manufacture of death-dispensing "toys" has been a family pastime for ages.

This was one of four Mexican-American horror films headlined by Karloff that represented the legendary genre actors' last work in movies. It's obviously very low budget, and as a result is very crude. It's also seriously under-lit. It's talky and slowly paced, but its plot is apparently more coherent than those in the other three films in this series. There's mild use of gore, some sexy ladies (Beatriz Baz plays Cordelia, another of those potential heirs), a certain seedy atmosphere, and so-so music composed by Enrico C. Cabiati and Alicia Urreta.

The cast is nondescript performance-wise (that includes the people doing the dubbed-in American voices), although it must be said that Quintin Bulnes (as the dubious Dr. Horvath) and Manuel Alvarado (as the portly Morgenstern Morteval) have great character faces that wouldn't have been out of place in a Universal horror feature of the 30s and 40s.

The real saving grace is Karloff, who's wonderful as always. While it will be dispiriting to his fans to see him reduced to appearing in such schlock, he makes this more entertaining than it has any right to be.

While ultimately underwhelming, "House of Evil" / "Dance of Death" does have that irresistible "late show" quality that always appeals to this viewer.

Five out of 10.

Felt mine was while watching this...but it seems that is the reason for insanity running in the family in this film. Not that makes a lot of sense anyway, as others have mentioned, this was one of Karloff's last films and it's only his screen presence that lends it any credibility at all. It's sad that all of the great legends of the horror films in the sound era were eventually reduced to starring in low grade rubbish like this. Marginally, Boris did get off slightly better than poor old Bela Lugosi but not by much.

Boris does his best and give him credit for trying to hold this mess together. The strident background music doesn't help and distracts from any lucid moment. Apart from Boris, the rest of the Mexican cast are dubbed into some strange, clipped, English monotone that is reminiscent of the type used in porn films of the late seventies.

At a guess I think it's Edgar Allen Poe's 'House of Usher' that this is taken from but you'd be hard pressed to find a great deal of Poe in the finished article.

Still, there are far better films out there with Boris Karloff at his best, search them out and give this a wide berth, unless you want the curse of the 'shrinking brain' too!

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

I've now seen three out of the four Mexican horror movies that that Boris Karloff appeared in (just The Incredible Invasion to go), and of those, Fear Chamber is the worst. But House of Evil comes close.

Karloff plays Matthias Morteval, who summons his relatives to his 'old, dark' home to reveal the contents of his will. After Morteval finally dies, his guests are killed one by one by the old man's mechanical toys. Police inspector Charles Beasler (Andrés García), boyfriend of heiress Lucy Durant (Julissa), comes to suspect that his current case is somehow connected to Morteval and his family.

What a total mess of a movie. Karloff is fine, but the script and direction are all over the place, while the mechanical toys are ridiculous. To make matters worse, much of the action is accompanied by horribly intrusive discordant organ music that really grates on the nerves.

After lots of dull nonsense, very little of which makes sense, it is revealed that Morteval is still alive and has been orchestrating the murders.

2/10. For Karloff completists only.

Horrendously bad film - so much so it is hard to even describe what it was about. The scenes filmed outside at night were not able to be seen! The acting was atrocious; The dialog senseless. In an opening scene there is a discussion between the police and a professor with a girl sitting in the corner of the room that nobody acknowledges until they are leaving the room and the cop brushes a knife across her hair - why? - who knows. Even Karloff was bad. The movie progresses at a snails pace with the camera hanging on some shots stuck for what seemed an eternity before moving. Not even in the so-bad-it's-good category, this one should be avoided.

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

Third in Boris Karloff's 1968 Mexican quartet, "House of Evil" (Serenata Macabra or Macabre Serenade) just might be the best of the bunch, though that's still not saying much. Julissa costars in her third and final entry (replaced by Christa Linder for "Incredible Invasion"), and Quintin Bulnes returns from "Snake People," otherwise an entirely new cast carries a more familiar plotline that almost threatens to make sense toward the conclusion. The picture opens with a second female corpse discovered with the eyes missing, gouged out of their sockets by human hands, with Karloff as Mathias Morteval convinced that the evil of his brother Hugo has returned, guilty of the same type of horrendous crimes in Vienna and Budapest because he felt that eyes followed him everywhere. Dr. Emerick Horvath (Bulnes), Morteval's only friend, knows all about the family history (the year is 1900) and promises to be on hand to welcome the surviving heirs to the old man's fortune, especially as Mathias has yet to actually meet them, his niece Lucy Durant (Julissa) accompanied by her police inspector boyfriend Charles Beasler (Andres Garcia). Also present are nephew Ivor (Angel Espinoza), shedding additional light on Hugo's days at the asylum, nephew Morgenstern (Manuel Alvarado), and cousin Cordelia Rash (Beatriz Baz), listening intently to an organ recital by their benefactor, whose odd nature and callous disposition are forgotten when he doesn't live to join them for dinner. Ivor also shows off the Morteval playroom, filled with lifelike toys said to kill on command, Morgenstern shot in his room by cannon fire, Cordelia slain with a blade wielded by a dancing sheik, and Ivor stalked by a murderous knight. Lucy finds herself left alone with Charles as they learn about the one culprit responsible for all the murders, then watch in amazement as Uncle Mathias emerges to conclude his macabre serenade. Boris looks splendid in red robes and mutton chop whiskers, a sterling 18 minutes screen time and not just a wasted cameo as in "Snake People." Many critics complain about the poor nighttime photography, the fault of substandard, murky prints of its various home video releases, otherwise considered among the more watchable entries in this Mexican final four, only "Incredible Invasion" left to conclude a screen career lasting six decades (the VHS boom would see a new, butchered version called "Dance of Death," not worthy of examination).

One of those cheap low budget horror films Boris Karloff made late in his career. Stinks in every possible way. Even Boris can't save it and, frankly, he doesn't seem to try. I'm sure this was just a paycheck to him. It's a boring, talky movie that looks so ugly that it made my eyes hurt. Avoid this unless you absolutely have to see every movie Boris Karloff made. There's really nothing to recommend about this mess.

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.

'House of Evil' aka 'Dance of Death' is a dreadful and incoherent Mexican horror film starring the legendary Boris Karloff in his final on-screen appearance. Bizarrely inept, poorly paced and terribly acted (except for Karloff), this is one of those films that proves a great actor like Karloff can't save a bad film, but it doesn't stop them from being an iconic cinematic legend.

The Plot = Set in 1900, a dying wealthy man named Matthias Morteval (Boris Karloff) invites his dysfunctional family members to his mansion for a will reading. However, he dies and soon the relatives are being killed off one by one by his killer robotic toys.

This is one of four Mexican horror films that Boris Karloff made right at the end of his career and judging by the ratings the other three got, they aren't any better than this and I will not be seeking those out. The only positive aspect that I could give is that Boris Karloff gives a great performance, and the movie does have a nice classic gothic looking atmosphere to it, but everything is let down by the poor lighting and horrible storytelling which at times introduces some interesting ideas, but they are quickly discarded as the plot meanders and drags along until its final moments. Even when the death scenes finally happen, they poorly staged and filmed and fails to add any excitement to the production as it leads to a highly predictable climax.

Overall 'House of Evil' could have been a fun call back to the classic old dark house horror films, but sadly it's not, just a sad boring mess.

In the late 1960s after a long and productive career, Boris Karloff, who was then in his late 70s and in poor health, was asked if he planned to retire. His reply was "He who rests...rusts! Not me. I plan to die in harness." And that's just what he did...almost. He died at 81 just two months after completing a series of four Mexican pictures. While his persistence was admirable, his final cinematic efforts were not. In fact they were pretty awful rivaling the movies that Bela Lugosi made at the end of his career for Ed Wood. This wasn't Karloff's fault. In fact he seemed more energetic in these last four films then he had been in the previous four bigger budget movies where he had been primarily seated in a wheelchair. The problem was in the way these Mexican titles were put together.

His health and the high altitude kept Karloff from going to Mexico City to shoot the films and so his scenes were all shot in Hollywood with an American director (Jack Hill) and an American script. Once his scenes were in the can, the Mexican portions using Mexican actors were filmed and then Boris' scenes were edited in. Director Hill, who had made the cult favorite SPIDER BABY with Lon Chaney Jr, was an old hand at creating composite films. Usually foreign films were purchased and then American scenes were shot and fitted into them. For these Mexican movies the process was reversed. Once back in Mexico, the producers rewrote the original scripts and did pretty much what they wanted including the addition of unsavory and rather violent material.

Fortunately Boris died before he had a chance to see these hybrid curiosities and so it is left for fans of BK to make of them what they will. Unquestionably the best of the lot was the first screenplay, HOUSE OF EVIL, which recycles the story of the dying patriarch and the greedy relatives gathered for the reading of his will. The twist here is that they are bumped off by his collection of mechanical toys. Next came ISLE OF THE SNAKE PEOPLE, a tale of zombies with Karloff as the head of a voodoo cult. The third to be filmed was THE INCREDIBLE INVASION which borrows from Karloff's THE INVISIBLE RAY (1936) and adds outer space aliens. Finally there was THE FEAR CHAMBER which is the weakest so you could say that each movie got progressively worse.

The first two were released a year after being completed. The last two had to wait until 1971 which was two years after Karloff died. All four played the drive-in circuit as double features and were quickly forgotten. In 1987, twenty years after the films were made, a company called Parasol Group Ltd released them on VHS in an edited form and gave them new titles. They became, in order, DANCE OF DEATH, CULT OF THE DEAD, ALIEN TERROR, and TORTURE ZONE. All four are characterized by cheap sets, unimaginative photography, and are badly dubbed. CULT and ZONE have brief nudity and some graphic violence. It is these rather flat looking VHS copies that VCI has issued on DVD as part of their Sprocket Vault series. For BK completists only...For more reviews visit The Capsule Critic.