1978’s The House of the Dead is notable for being directed by a woman, with stories that arguably give a glimpse into future trends in horror
Throughout the month of August, I’ll be discussing anthology films, sharing reviews and recommendations. If you have any anthology recommendations, please contact me on Twitter. You can look through my Letterboxd list of anthology films I enjoy and those I want to watch.
I recently purchased The House of the Dead in a Vinegar Syndrome sale. I had watched it only one time before, having been recommended it by my friend Paul. I found the anthology enjoyable, and fell in love with the cover art. I thought it would look great in my small collection:
The House of the Dead has four stories and one wraparound narrative. During my first viewing, there were two stories in particular that stood out to me. After rewatching the film for this post, The House of the Dead has become one of my favorite horror anthologies. With some light spoilers, I’d like to discuss why, in my opinion, The House of the Dead was a bit ahead of its time, and an anthology film worth watching.
Women in Horror
One of my favorite things about the film is that it was directed by a woman, Sharron Miller. Miller worked as a script supervisor and editor before making The House of the Dead, her first film. After, she worked in television. As she discusses in her interview on the Vinegar Syndrome blu-ray, women directors were scarce in those days, particularly in the horror genre. Although Miller stated she would have liked to do more features, there were more opportunities available for women in television. The House of the Dead remains her only feature film.
I personally would have liked to see more films from Miller in the genre, but she reveals in the interview that making a horror movie wasn’t something she thought she would ever do. Apparently, she was supposed to direct a docudrama but that project fell through, leading her to take on the script for The House of the Dead.
I can recall women filmmakers who have made contributions to anthologies (there’s XX, which is an all female anthology, and Southbound, which director Roxanne Benjamin contributed to), but off the top of my head, The House of the Dead is the only one I can think of that was entirely directed by (one) woman. It’s unfortunate that women directors are underrepresented in horror. The tide does seem to be changing a bit, and there seems to be more opportunities for women filmmakers today than there were before. That said, I’d love for more anthologies by women!
The Stories: A Glimpse Into the Future of Horror?
The House of the Dead opens with a melancholic jazzy tune called The Sound of Goodbye, which I believe is original to the film, composed by Stan Worth. It’s a somber piece that sets a gloomy tone for the wraparound narrative. We’re introduced to Talmudge, a married man having an affair with a married woman. After spending the night together, he leaves her to go back to his hotel. But something is off, and when he gets out of the cab, he’s not at his hotel. Stranded in the rain, Talmudge soon finds relief in an abandoned-looking building when a strange man lets him in. After a cup of coffee and a quick chat, it turns out this man is a mortician. He tells Talmudge that “the rain is a deceiver”, acting as a veil over reality. Before he allows Talmudge to leave, the mortician demands that Talmudge listen to a few stories. The mortician brings him to some caskets and one by one, describes how the dead ended up there.
The stories all have to do with unsavory and/or deeply flawed characters. In the first, we see a mean schoolteacher who seems to hate children, and she becomes terrorized in her own home. The second segment in the collection brings us face to face with a serial killer, while the third involves a detective and an inspector trying to outsmart the other. The last segment is about a selfish boss who has little compassion for the suffering of others. It is the second and the fourth that I’d like to focus on. (Obvious warning for spoilers ahead!)
A Precursor to the Found Footage Subgenre
When I watched The House of the Dead for the first time, I was struck by this segment, which is about a photographer and serial killer named Growski. Growski sets up a motion camera in his house and films himself killing the various women he brings home on dates. The audience witnesses the murders from the perspective of the camera. His killings are juxtaposed against footage of his arrest, where cameras and journalists record him being dragged away.
While the look of this story doesn’t resemble what we know found footage to be today, I thought it was remarkable that it used the concept of a killer committing his acts on camera. Growski speaks into the camera – i.e., directly to the audience – acting as a narrator. The House of the Dead came out about two years before Cannibal Holocaust, which is a film widely regarded as being the first feature to use found footage.
Aside from the found footage element, which puts The House of the Dead ahead of its time, I find the segment to be uncomfortably realistic. This segment in The House of the Dead shows the different ways the victims respond to discovering the camera, and to the realization that their situation was dangerous.
The first victim, Julie, is polite, cheerful, and attempts to make conversation with Growski about his passion for photography. She accidentally offends him by saying she likes to take “snapshots” too. He uses this to his advantage. He convinces her to remove her nylon pantyhose for a “magic trick.” Julie is clearly uncomfortable (she admits at one point to feeling “silly”), but goes along with her soon-to-be-killer out of politeness and as a way to make up for her previous offense. Of course, there is no magic trick, and he uses her pantyhose to strangle her.
The second victim, Carol, begins inspecting the camera out of curiosity. She notices a humming nose coming from it, and realizes the camera is recording. She boldly confronts Growski, and outright calls him a creep, but he strangles her, too.
The third victim in the segment also stands up to Growski. Prior to her coming over, Growski speaks into the camera and talks about how he’s convinced that this woman is attracted to him: “She’s got the hots for me. I can tell. Probably because I wowed her with my clever wits and subtle sexuality.” This is clearly delusion on his part. No surprise, she rejects his advances and demands to call for a taxi. While using the phone, Growski stabs her.
As a woman, I’ve experienced and witnessed the ways in which women are told to behave around men. This puts the responsibility on women to prevent harm against us. And yet the truth is that a woman can try to do everything “right” and still be harmed by men. While I’m not sure if it was intentional or not on behalf of the screenwriter, this segment in The House of the Dead explores this, with the three victims responding in various ways, including politeness, confrontation, and calling for help.
Before Saw, There was The House of the Dead
The other segment that impressed me was the final one, in which a self-centered man finds himself trapped in a parking garage. His unknown attacker, or attackers, terrorize him with various torturous situations, like the one pictured above. It’s a bit difficult to have sympathy for such an unsavory character. It reminded me of 2004’s Saw, in which characters find themselves in games of torture.
Both Miller and screenwriter O’Malley said in their Vinegar Syndrome interviews that this story was their favorite, and it’s easy to see why. Out of all the segments, this was probably the most nerve-wracking — there’s a particularly tense moment in which the main character finds himself at the bottom of an elevator shaft. Miller calls herself an “actor’s director” and it’s especially evident here. The main character of the segment spends a bulk of it alone on screen, and working with little dialogue, he successfully conveys the horror of the situation.
A Note on the Film’s Title
I keep referring to the film as The House of the Dead, but it’s also known as Alien Zone. O’Malley originally titled it Five Faces of Terror. The first distributor of the film changed the title to Alien Zone, but it’s not entirely clear why. Spoiler: There are no aliens in the film! The House of the Dead/Alien Zone predated Ridley Scott’s Alien by about a year, so it couldn’t be an attempt to capitalize off it’s popularity. “Zone”, however, is an obvious nod to Twilight Zone.
But then distributors changed again, as well as the title: Alien Zone became The House of the Dead. It’s a more fitting title, but unfortunately generic.
Budget constraints are evident in The House of the Dead, particularly in the first segment, which has some dated special effects. There’s no gore, despite the various torture set ups and on-camera killings. In the interview on the blu-ray, Miller states that she didn’t have the budget to do what she wanted. In my opinion, the lack of gore doesn’t take away from the film’s enjoyment. While The House of the Dead is not particularly frightening, it’s a notable part of horror history.
Sources:
- Audio interviews featured on the Vinegar Syndrome blu-ray edition
- IMDB
- Letterboxd
I link to Letterboxd throughout. If you’re on Letterboxd, feel free to add me; I log all the films I watch.
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