Mansion of the Doomed (1976)

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Excellent adaptation.

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

I was pretty impressed with this. Well the film has a lot to live up to, being a carbon copy of so many other films in the small horror sub-genre that might be known as "brilliant surgeon kidnaps victims and operates on them in an attempt to restore his disfigured daughter to her former glory". It's been done before, most notably in the beautiful "Les Yeux Sans Visage", but let's not forget "Mill of the Stone Women", "Corruption", "Faceless" and I'm sure I've missed a few.But there are two quite good differences here: in this plot all the daughter needs is a new pair of eyeballs, and secondly, none of the unwilling "donors" in this movie actually die after their surgery, they are collected, caged and left to go mad!. Which makes for some of the best parts of the story.There are weak spots, however. Richard Basehart is pretty flat as the twisted eye surgeon Dr Chaney (oh please...!) who has no thought but for restoring his daughter's sight. He plays the role on a single note, and give the character no sense at all of anything going beneath the surface. At times I wondered of he had been studying the William Shatner school of acting, as his mumbling and lack of impact got quite annoying after a while. Also - the impossibility of the eye transplants working is obvious very early on. Right at the start, Gloria Grahame (as the doctors assistant/partner) cries "But it's impossible, it would mean destroying the optic nerve" or somesuch argument. The doctor never manages to come back to her on that. And later on, in a scene that actually made me groan out loud, a colleague sees a successful eye transplant and gasps: "But how...?" Dr Chaney just smirks and says "The real question is...why?" No - the real question really IS "how"?!! OK those things aside, the movie does a good job. For all the poor victims, it's a gruesome fate. Being drugged and then waking up in a cage with both your eyeballs missing is a horrific idea and they all manage to portray the right level of hysteria. There's even a great close up of one victim's twitching empty eye sockets near the start. Shame that later on the heavy browed "eyeless" prosthetics make them look like a bit like they are wearing the "Scream" movie killer's mask!! But the plight of these blind, caged victims is what makes the movie. The fact that none of the actors could see through their eyeless make-up probably contributes to their believable portrayals of panic. In fact the character of the daughter almost disappears from the script in the second half of the story, so small is her importance to the tale.The tension is well maintained though, and things move pretty snappily -Dr Chaney seems to go through victims at an incredible rate. And if you have any fears about losing your eyesight, I think this film will definitely give you nightmares.

"Mansion of the Doomed" is an obscure but good horror film, one which I managed to see in a theater when it was first released back in 1976. Strangely enough, the story about a surgeon descending into madness because he was the cause of his daughter's blindness, works on two levels. As the guilt-ridden Dr. Chaney (Richard Basehart) attempts to restore his daughter's sight, literally removing the eyeballs of unwilling victims and transplanting them, one feels pity for this misguided man. In his madness, Chaney also believes he will eventually restore the eyesight of all of his victims, which makes him even more driven. At the same time, the victims are all imprisoned in a basement cell in the doctor's house, where they, themselves eventually go insane. The horror element lies with the attempts of these horribly mutilated souls to both escape and exact revenge on their captors. The cast is very good considering the limited material they had to work with (most of the shocks are visual) and play their parts with feeling. Besides Basehart, there is onetime screen siren Gloria Grahame as his assistant. Unfortunately, she is given little to do, but it's still good to see her. Trish Stewart is the daughter who eventually realizes where all the eyes are coming from. And Lance Henricksen is her boyfriend (and the first victim). Well directed by Michael Pataki and broodingly photographed, "Mansion of the Doomed", despite it's low budget, is an out-of-the-mainstream terror film, which inspires as much sorrow as fear. A DVD has just been released, but the picture quality is below average, and the sound is just OK.

A once gifted surgeon Dr.Chaney has never managed to overcome the painful memory of a tragic car-accident that left his young daughter Nancy blind.Lost in his own private hell of insanity,he kidnaps young people and makes them involuntary donors in an operation attempt to restore his daughter's eye-sight.The real horror begins when the people he disfigured rise up from the dungeon where he keeps them captive to get revenge.This gruesome Charles Band production has real-life footage of actual eye surgery and some gross makeup effects(supplied by Stan Winston).The cinematography by Andrew Davis is pretty good and the film is as dark and creepy as they come.The suffering of the eyeless victims stored in the basement is truly disturbing and effective.Give it a look,if you are not easily disturbed.9 out of 10.

I watch about 2-4 films a day and most of those are horror films. I found a cheap VHS of "Mansion of the Doomed" and bought it since it sounded interesting. This film is truly disturbing and gory, and there are precious few horror movies i can truly say have accomplished that task.The story involves a doctor and his young daughter (early 20's i guess), and the car accident which leaves her blind. He vows to restore her vision and will do anything to achieve that goal. People begin to disappear (including her fiance) and when they wake up in a jail-like cage they have only empty sockets where their eyes once were. The only problem is that his daughter's vision from the transplants is only temporary and degenerates back to blindness every time. With every transplant his daughter becomes more scarred and can now guess what her father has been doing. More and more people begin to disappear and his jail-like cage in his mansion is becoming crowded. The ending is predictable but is quite effective.If you are sensitive when it comes to your eyes, then this film will disturb you. Even hardcore fans of the horror genre will find it difficult not to be shocked at times. This film will leave you shocked and disturbed long after the credits roll.Apparently this was an early Charles Band production, he later formed Empire Pictures and Full Moon pictures. I am surprised I had never heard of this lost gem before. Hopefully someday it will get a worthy re-release.