dougdoepke Genuine oddity that showcases actor Hatton's real-life disfigurement. Director Yarbrough has no qualms about close-ups of Hatton's sadly grotesque features. My first viewer response was to recoil, but after awhile I evened out. I can see why some folks consider his showcasing equivalent to exploitation. After all, without him, the programmer would be less than obscure. With him, it's well known to old movie buffs.There's not much more to the storyline than Hatton lurking around in half-light, murdering people he holds responsible for his deformity. All in all, the electricity bill couldn't have been more than a buck-eighty. Surprisingly, however, Hatton's murderous menace is not played up. As a result, a key dramatic impact is sacrificed. I suspect that's to keep the character somewhat sympathetic so as not to completely vilify the vulnerable actor.Nonetheless, the beauteous Jane Adams delivers poignantly as the blind girl who befriends the unfortunate outcast. I like the way her piano playing is used to connect the grotesque man to a realm of needed beauty. There're some good directorial touches that help what's basically a programmer. For example, the opening part where Hatton is separated from the fun-loving youngsters by a pane of glass that just as well be a wall. The staging also indicates that to casual society it's what's on a person's outside that matters, not what's on the inside. Eventually , blind Jane sees what's indeed on the ugly man's inside and he begins to flower. Still, the overall results are too odd to attach a rating's number to. But if you haven't seen the 60-minutes, do, if for no other reason than to catch Hollywood in a really bizarre casting moment.

utgard14 One of the later and weaker Universal horror films. The story is about a disfigured man (Rondo Hatton) who blames two old friends (Tom Neal, Jan Wiley) for an accident that caused him to look the way he does. So he takes his revenge by killing a bunch of people. He also befriends a blind lady (Jane Adams). Honestly, the movie has about fifteen minutes of story that it pads out to almost an hour. Universal disowned it and sold it off to the illustrious PRC for distribution. Hatton's performance isn't very good but given his deteriorating condition it's not surprising. He died not long after this was finished. The best performance comes from the always entertaining Donald MacBride as the police captain out to solve the case. Universal horror buffs will possibly enjoy it more than most. One minor note of interest for Universal or Hatton fans: despite films usually trying to portray Hatton as a hulking giant, here we see him standing opposite Adams and Wiley and it's clear that he wasn't even six feet tall.

dbborroughs Rondo Hatton's final film has him once more playing a character called the Creeper. Hatton plays a disfigured man (surprise) who skulks around killing the people he feels disfigured him. He also kills anyone who gets in his way. On the run from the police the creeper meets a blind piano teacher who isn't afraid of him because she can't see him. Needing an operation to restore her sight the Creeper begins to steal things to get the money for the operation.Filmed at Universal, the story goes that the company balked when Hatton's disfiguring disease killed him before the film could be released and they sold it to PRC. I'd like to think that they sold it because the film wasn't good and the disease story makes them sound more "caring". Lets face it this film is a turkey. Its mostly Hatton stalking through the night for the first half while the police, played with less than all seriousness try to catch him. Its dull and makes you wonder if they removed ten minutes at the start. The second half with the blind girl is so incredibly soapy as to be laughable. Its a really dumb movie that is notable only for it being Hatton's final role.A side note: contrary to whats been posted on numerous web sites, the British H for horror certificate was not created for this film. The classification was in place for well over a decade before this film was released.

FieCrier Following a silhouette of Hatton (or someone made to look like him) walking stiffly, like the blind Frankenstein's monster, an alarm is sent out to police cars to catch The Creeper, who has killed a professor. The Creeper then kills a woman who doesn't recognize him, and a delivery boy who is none too bright. On the run, he chances upon a blind woman who treats him kindly, and whom he feels inclined to be kind to as well (shades of both the blind man from Frankenstein and perhaps City Lights).A flashback reveals the Creeper's weak motivation for the murders, perhaps better explained by his presumed insanity/brain damage.Not a great movie, and definitely inferior to the two other Creeper movies, even though it had the same writer and director as House of Horrors. Yarborough directed several other horror movies, The Creeper (1948) (unrelated to this Creeper) The Devil Bat (1940) starring Bela Lugosi, Hillbillys in a Haunted House (1967), King of the Zombies (1941), the Bowery Bows horror/comedy Master Minds (1949), and She-Wolf of London (1946). He also directed several episodes of The Addams Family!It is sad the way Hatton's look was exploited, in a way even the cast of Freaks was not.