Scott Campbell (Ron Foster) is an architect. He and his wife Nancy (Merry Anders) have just celebrated their wedding anniversary. Scott receives a call from a friend of his, Joseph Schiller (Richard Crane). Joe is a lawyer that represents the estate of Priscilla Rochester (Georgia Schmidt). When Priscilla was committed to an insane asylum the huge family mansion was rented out to an unusual man named Captain Arbuckle. The captain was an old circus showman who lived in the house for years. When his lease expired the captain disappeared. Joe’s firm needs to have a survey done on the estate. He hires Scott for the job. Joe and Nancy drive all day to get to the mansion. When they find the mansion locked, they go to the real estate agent, Mr. Quinby (Dal McKennon) to get the keys. Quinby makes a remark about there being at least fifty doors in the mansion and thirteen keys.
Scott and Nancy do a little exploring and then settle in for the night. During the night a strange looking creature sneaks into the bedroom and takes the keys. The next day, after searching all over for them, they find the keys returned but two of them are missing. Having already heard strange noises in the house they decide to check the mansion and see which keys are missing. They find one locked room of which none of the keys open. Before they can look for the remaining door, which is opened by the second missing key, there is a knock on the door.
Joe’s wife Loy Schiller (Erika Peters) is at the door. She came without Joe. Loy and Joe are having some difficulties and Loy, pissed off at her husband, left without waiting for him to pick her up. When Joe finally gets there the tiff between Joe and Loy continues. Not long after that, Loy disappears. With strange things happening Scott starts to wonder if Priscilla Rochester is still in the asylum or if she has escaped and returned home. Scott gets verification that Priscilla is firmly locked up. Still, there is something strange going on at the estate and the locked doors with the missing keys may contain the secret to the mystery.
“House of the Damned” was released in 1963 and was directed by Maury Dexter. It is a gothic style horror thriller as well as an old dark house mystery.
The movie, despite its rather disappointing and bland ending, does have some great atmosphere. There is a slow rising tension to the film that adds to the creepy haunted house theme. The beginning music enhances the gothic directing. It is an interesting little low budget film.
The casting of the movie was inspired by Tod Browning’s “Freaks” 1932 and incorporates some actual circus freaks. Featured are John Gilmore, a legless man, and Frieda Pushnik, an armless and legless woman. Frieda was exploited by Ripley’s Believe it or not and Ringling Brothers. The film also features a young Richard Kiel as a circus giant.
Filming was done at the Greystone Park and Mansion, also known as the Doheny Mansion, in Beverly Hills, California. Dozens of movies and music videos have used the mansion as part of their setting, including “The Lost World: Jurassic Park”, 1997 “X-Men” 2000, “Spiderman 3” 2007, and “Star Trek Into Darkness” 2013.