House of Evil

Boris Karloff stars in this Mexican-English horror film as Matthias Morteval, owner of mysterious Morhenge Mansion. When dead bodies begin turning up nearby with their eyes torn out, Matthias is convinced the family curse must have been passed on, and he gathers the heirs to the mansion in an effort to flush out the killer. Lovely Lucy Durant (Julissa) is the heroine, who brings her police inspector fiancé (Andres Garcia), along for the ride. Together the lovebirds stalk the gloomy halls of Morhenge, encountering skeletons, taxidermy, weird organ music, and life-size toys that have a habit of coming alive and killing the relatives one by one...

This was one of the last films Karloff made before his death the following year. Director Jack Hill (who would later go on to launch Pam Grier to stardom with FOXY BROWN and COFFY) scripted and shot Karloff's scenes in Los Angeles, and the rest of the movie was completed in Mexico with a different director. The results are uneven, but fascinating, and should intrigue fans of Karloff, and the unusual.