Mansion Of The Doomed — Mansion Of The Doomed(Blu Ray)
Mansion Of The Doomed is a taut, at times grim & unsettling mad-doctor horror/ thriller from the mid-1970s. The Charles Band produced film regards a well-dressed & seemingly charming ophthalmologist who is trying to cure his daughters blindness, with his basement rapidly filling up with eyeless and desperate prisoners. Here from 101 Films is a UK release of the film- taking in a new scan of the picture, and a few extras including a new documentary on Mr Band.
Mansion Of The Doomed (aka Eyes, House of Blood, Eyes of Dr. Chaney) is from the year 1976. It was helmed Michael Pataki(Rocky IV, Graduation Day) who is most known as an actor with one hundred and eighty credits. This was the first of two films he directed, the second was a softcore take on the classic fairy tale Cinderella( 1977). And it’s such a pity he didn’t make another film- as he really had a talent for creating a tight & at points troubling horror/ thriller.
The film drops straight into the medical queasy-ness, as over the credits we get monotone TV footage of eye operations. As we get into the film we meet our in his early 60’s Dr Leonard Chaney( Richard Basehart) a well-respected ophthalmologist- who lives in a large mansion in LA. Out while driving with his twentysomething Nancy(Trish Stewart) they have a car crash- in which she loses her sight.
In desperation he invites over his friend Dr Dan Bryan- an early role from cult screen legend Lance Henriksen. He promptly drugs him, taking him down to the basement with the help of his secretary/ partner Katherine( Gloria Grahame). He’s strapped down next to Nancy, with both of his eyes removed & placed in the doctor's daughter- this is shown in graphic fashion, with more TV footage, and a close-up of one of the severed eyes & the head it’s just been removed from.
Dan is put in a basement cell, and seemingly Nancy can now see. But as time passes, and she has a swim her slight fades once again. So the not-so-good doctor decides he must get new subjects to take the eyes from- as he becomes more desperate & unhinged.
Basehart is excellent as the suave, suited, and moustached Doctor- who effectively shifts from being relatively balanced/ sane, to a cunning predator, onto a man unfolding. Henriksen with his eyeless prostatic is also great- helping each new addition to the cell, as well as planning an escape.
The prison itself is largely left in shadows- with some of the inmates disturbingly babbling & crying. When new additions are added the bars of the cell are electrocuted. The gore elements are largely focused, as you’d expect on the eye side of things- with the prisoner's injuries going from raw & red orifices to healed holes. With the thriller/ horror elements well realized- with a mix of large house gothic-ness, and queasy medical/ prison cell moments
The film runs at just under an hour & a half mark- and it grabs you from the off, and as things get more deranged/ demented you're kept held in- with the doc preying on men, women, and children- in an often very charming serial killer manner. I’ve seen the film several times over the years, and I’ve always been entertained/ troubled by the film, and both of these are increased by the excellent scan we have here.
Moving onto this new Blu-Ray, and we get a nicely clean & crisp scan of the film. On the extras side, we get two new things on the disc. First is The Charles Band Empire( 32.53) this is a doc featuring interviews with both Mr Band, and Chris Alexader- Editor of Delirium & director/ writer. It takes us back to Charles's first try at acting- which he didn't enjoy, and how he got into film production via his father Albert. We get discussion about the first film he produced arty spoof Last Foxtrot in Burbank( 1973), before of course moving on to the film to hand. We get talk about the actors, the director, and other members of the crew like Stan Winston, who did the impressive effects. He moves on to touch on his other early-produced films too. This is well worth a play. Next, there’s Cutting Teeth(16.50), an interview with the film editor Harry Keramidas.
The finished release comes presented with an inlay booklet- taking in ‘On Mansion of the Doomed’ by filmmaker and critic Chris Alexander and ‘The Eye is blind if the mind is absent: The legacy of ocular violence & video nasties within Mansion of the Doomed’ by writer Andy Marshall-Roberts.
I’ve seen Mansion Of The Doomed a few times over the years- and it certainly is an impactful, at times grimly troubling film- which is a long way from the tamer/ more playful horror/fantasy Band would become known for. It’s wonderfull to see this new release from 101 Films- with a great scan of the film, and worthy extras.