What we have here is a film that shamelessly rips off the classic French film 'Eyes Without a Face', and does it rather well; despite being nowhere near the earlier effort in terms of quality. Rather than the whole face, director Michael Pataki focuses just on the eyes. Seventies cult cinema seems to be obsessed with eyeball violence, and it's not hard to see why as the eyes are the most sensitive part of the body, and having anything happen to them is a worst nightmare for many. While Mansion of the Doomed may not be as graphic and disturbing as its poster suggests it might be, the plot is still macabre enough to satisfy most horror fans. We focus on a doctor who unfortunately has a car crash, which results in the loss of his daughter's eyesight. Consumed with guilt, he decides to put his surgical skills to the test in the form of getting her some new eyeballs. So, naturally, he resorts to abducting various members of the public and proceeds to slice out their eyes in order to quash his guilt and let his daughter have her sight back.
The atmosphere is extremely sleazy, and this is achieved through some dirty cinematography and a focus on the doctor's nasty experiments. The plot gets a little stretched before the end, and aside from the basic premise; there really isn't much to this film, but it's not always important as some of the ideas on display are genuinely horrifying, and definitely make for good horror viewing. The film was obviously shot on a low budget, as there's a very cheap look to it all; but as is the case with many trashy horror films, the low budget style actually elevates the sleaze value of the whole piece. The acting is decent enough, with Richard Basehart delivering a fine performance as the obsessed doctor at the centre of the tale, and receiving understated feedback from Gloria Grahame and Lance Henriksen. Michael Pataki's direction is solid, although the only feature film he directed after this one was an adult version of Cinderella, which I'd love to see. The ending is strong and provides a good climax for a film of this nature, and while overall the film isn't as good as it's main influence; Mansion of the Doomed is still a worthwhile seventies effort.
The atmosphere is extremely sleazy, and this is achieved through some dirty cinematography and a focus on the doctor's nasty experiments. The plot gets a little stretched before the end, and aside from the basic premise; there really isn't much to this film, but it's not always important as some of the ideas on display are genuinely horrifying, and definitely make for good horror viewing. The film was obviously shot on a low budget, as there's a very cheap look to it all; but as is the case with many trashy horror films, the low budget style actually elevates the sleaze value of the whole piece. The acting is decent enough, with Richard Basehart delivering a fine performance as the obsessed doctor at the centre of the tale, and receiving understated feedback from Gloria Grahame and Lance Henriksen. Michael Pataki's direction is solid, although the only feature film he directed after this one was an adult version of Cinderella, which I'd love to see. The ending is strong and provides a good climax for a film of this nature, and while overall the film isn't as good as it's main influence; Mansion of the Doomed is still a worthwhile seventies effort.