Mansion of the Doomed

Mansion of the Doomed (aka The Eyes of Dr. Chaney, House of Blood and Massacre Mansion) is a 1976 American horror film directed by Michael Pataki (Grave of the Vampire) from a script by Frank Ray Perilli (Zoltan, the Hound of Dracula, The Best of Sex and Violence) and produced by Charles Band (his second movie before Tourist Trap and a plethora of Full Moon Productions). It stars Richard Basehart, Gloria Grahame (Blood and Lace), Trish Stewart and future horror film icon Lance Henriksen. Gory eyeball make-up effects were provided by Stan Winston (Gargoyles, The Bat People).

An insane surgeon (Basehart) transplants eyeballs after guilt prompts him to begin removing the eyes of abducted people in hopes of performing operations on his daughter who lost her own in a car-accident that he caused…

“Class conflict, hysteria and a focus on eye violence elevate this demented offering well beyond its low budget origins, as does a great cast — Basehart’s Dr. Chaney is especially good: dispassionate, obsessed, sleazy and yet somehow the viewer is compelled to identify with this villain — and the desperation of the kidnapped victims is palpable.” Adrian J Smith, Horrorpedia

‘Where it really keeps us on the hop is in the juggling of tones, which plays out like a battle for the tone of the future. In one corner is Dr Chaney, whose very name is a throwback, still transplanting organs in secret as if it might prompt villagers to come a-knocking with torches and pitchforks … In the other corner are the victims in the cage in the cellar with their gruesome empty eye sockets. Perhaps the fight was always going to be won according to whether those victims, who look like monsters from the outset, actually lose their fight with sanity and become actual monsters. To discover the result, you’ll have to watch yourself. I’ll just point out that it ends with a neat irony, the film itself a surprising winner.’ Hal C F Astell, Apocalypse Later