1963’s House of the Damned tells the story of an isolated mansion.  It’s a place that many people have tried to live in but no one has ever been willing to stick around for too long.  There are rumors that the mansion is haunted.  In fact, you could even make the claim that the mansion is a house of the damned!  Of course, we all know that there’s no such thing as ghosts, right?

Joseph Schiller (Richard Crane), the new owner of the mansion, calls architect Scott Campbell (Rob Foster) and tells him to go up to the house and check the place out.  Scott points out that he was planning on celebrating his anniversary with his wife, Nancy (Merry Anders).  Joseph say that there is no better way to celebrate an anniversary than to visit a house that might be haunted.  Scott and Nancy (who  is amazingly understanding) head for the house, where all sorts of strange things happen.

What type of strange things?  Keys disappear.  There are weird noises.  Sometimes, it seems like something or someone might be lurking in the shadows.  Could the house be haunted?  While Scott and Nancy try to figure out what’s going on, Joseph shows up with his wife, Loy (Erika Peters).  When Loy disappears, it becomes obvious that something is happening in the house of the damned!

House of the Damned is a briskly paced and occasionally effective haunted house story.  It was directed by Maury Dexter, who was a director who was so fast and so capable of stretching a low budget that, at his best, he gave Roger Corman a run for his money.  House of the Damned is only 63 minutes long and the film’s story isn’t particularly complex but Dexter still manages to create a properly ominous atmosphere and he does keep you guessing as to whether or not the house is actually haunted.  The house itself was the former estate of infamous gangster Bugsy Siegel.  Dexter reportedly spent ten days filming the movie at the Spiegel estate.  Hopefully, he was not bothered by Bugsy’s ghost.

None of the characters are particularly well-developed but they are well-cast and the actors are all likable.  The best performance comes from Erika Peters, who plays Loy as being slightly self-absorbed but ultimately good-hearted.  She also gets to wear a bathing suit that is simply to die for.  This film also features a very early performance from the great Richard Kiel, playing “The Giant.”  It’s always nice to see Richard Kiel in a movie.  Shortly before he passed away in 2014, Kiel visited my Alamo Drafthouse for a showing of The Spy Who Loved Me.  Though it was obvious that he wasn’t in great health, he still took time to answer questions and to show off a rather charming smile.  When a certain redhead told him that she loved him in a beloved 90s golf comedy, he smiled and said, “I believe that jacket belongs to Mr. Gilmore.”

House of the Damned was a nice surprise.  We need more 62-minute films.