Yoshie (Yûko Kusunoki) receives news that her husband has died under mysterious circumstances. Then she finds out that he had a mistress AND even had a creepy old villa out in the middle of nowhere that she’s inherited. You take the good. You take the bad. You take them both and then you have… the [Japanese] facts of life. A major selling point of this real estate Yoshie has been death-gifted is that it comes with a hunchbacked servant (Akira Nishimura), whose name may or may not be Igor. She’s in her new/old creepy ass domicile for about 5 minutes before the spooky sounds and weird visions and unexplained deaths begin.
Much like another black and white Japanese horror film I absolutely love called The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch (1968), House of Terrors (1965) reminds of reading horror manga from the likes of Kazuo Umezu. Director Hajime Satô would go on to direct another bizarre horror masterpiece called Goke, Body Snatcher from Hell (1968). But with this film, he’s firing on all cylinders bringing the eerie and naughty screenplay by Hajime Takaiwa to life. Takaiwa was a very prolific screenwriter that wrote in pretty much every genre you can think of. Based on this little gem, I wish he’d done more horror!
There’s not enough Japanese horror on disc and we need to cherish every one one of these classics as they come out. House of Terrors is an essential work of Japanese horror cinema with its joyously convoluted plot, over-the-top madness (and horniness) of the characters, and deliciously filmed gothic setpieces. There’s almost as many cobwebs as there are constant screams from the characters! I bet you all of my wealth that House of Terrors pairs beautifully with Hiroki Matsuno’s The Living Skeleton (1968). Do you dare to find out for yourself? Are you prone to the heebie jeebies? Don’t you want a chance to win my fortune (which is actually just a creepy old house and an Igor)? Some restrictions apply.
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