The Magic Sword
Director- Donald Wolfe
Cast- Miriam Hopkins, David Garfield
Country of Origin- US
Distributor - Vinegar Syndrome
Number of Discs - 1
Reviewed by Bobby Morgan
Date- 03/03/2020
The opening credits roll over the famous Hollywood sign in a state of severe disrepair (rust, graffiti, the whole nine yards), and once they conclude, John Arthur Morrill’s (A Boy and His Dog, Truck Stop Women) camera pans down to the gruesome visual of a dismembered corpse baking in pieces under the warm and unforgiving California sun. Welcome to Hollywood Horror House, one of the last – and most ignored – entries in the short-lived “hagsploitation” movement of 1960’s fright flicks.
A good day for has-been Hollywood starlet Katharine Packard (Miriam Hopkins) is soaking her crumbling mind in enough alcohol and prescription pharmaceuticals to delude herself into thinking she’s still the toast of Tinseltown. During one such episode, she sustains a broken leg in a fall down a steep staircase and requires even more assistance than her long-suffering secretary Leslie (Gale Sondergaard) can provide. Katharine gets a lucky break when young, handsome, and able-bodied Vic Valance (David Garfield) shows up at her door one afternoon ready and willing to serve as her caregiver.
Despite the misgivings of Leslie and other members of the house staff, Katharine quickly forms a bond with Vic that gives her a much-needed morale boost and him some very deep pockets to tap in order to fund the lavish lifestyle he has always desired. But he’s not just some gold-digging gigolo out to drain Katharine’s considerable earnings before moving on. There’s a lot more going on in the mind of Vic than anyone can figure out, and there’s strong evidence to suggest he may be the serial killer who has been dicing up the middle-aged female citizenry of Los Angeles.
Put a dash of psycho horror, a generous heaping of faded Hollywood glamor, a few scoops of campy humor and Skittles-colored psychedelic hallucinations, and an astoundingly loopy ending I’m still trying to comprehend into that new juicer you just bought on sale at Bed Bath & Beyond, and the end result is bound to look something like the crazed concoction writer-director Donald Wolfe whipped up five decades ago. First conceived under the title The Comeback and later filmed (and re-released theatrically) as Savage Intruder, Hollywood Horror House may not be easily considered a good movie, but it is rarely a boring one.
Lacking the star power before or behind the camera that other hag horror classics like Whatever Happened to Baby Jane and Strait-Jacket delivered to paying audiences, Wolfe goes balls deep with grotesque violence (that his camera graciously refuses to wallow in) and lurid atmosphere in an attempt to craft a stylish shocker that would be better appreciated by the grindhouse crowds. The indisputable highlights of Hollywood Horror House are Vic’s drug-induced nightmares of checkered hallways and ugly men leering over his objectified mother. Though this could have been a fresco more unnerving than anything Hieronymous Bosch could paint, the effect on screen elicits more unintentional laughs that frights, and yet it works perversely well for this movie.
In her final performance (she passed away in 1972), Miriam Hopkins (The Heiress) is able to locate the few shreds of sympathy still lurking within the pampered princess of the silver screen who has a comfortable life but secretly yearns for a loving companion. She gave the performance everything she had left as an actor and the effort reflects mightily in the final product. The same can be said for Gale Sondergaard (The Mark of Zorro), though she continued to act for a decade following Hopkins’ death. David Garfield, the only son of legendary actor John Garfield, royally hams it up as the demented Vic; although his acting career would peter out by 1975, Garfield later transitioned into film editing, starting out as an assistant editor on The Electric Horseman and Damien: Omen II and eventually flying solo in the cutting room for films like All the Right Moves and The Karate Kid Part II.
Wolfe backs up his main cast members with briefer turns from longtime Hollywood character players like Florence Lake (The Day of the Locust), Lester Matthews (The Adventures of Robin Hood), Jason Johnson (Fireball 500), Riza Royce (House of Wax), silent film comedian Minta Durfee, and even the most-loathed of all of Curly’s replacements in the Three Stooges, Joe Besser, in his last screen appearance as a tour bus driver. The wickedly playful and baroque music score is credited to Stu Phillips (Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, Battlestar Galactica), but it’s mostly material he composed for 1968’s The Name of the Game is Kill.
The home video history of Hollywood Horror House has been soiled by the unpleasant memory of many subpar transfers, the sorriest of which in recent years has to be the VHS-sourced master on Full Moon’s 2016 DVD release. Vinegar Syndrome’s new high-definition transfer, culled from a 4K scan of the original 35mm camera negative, restores the film to its intended 1.85:1 widescreen aspect ratio and is a beauty all the way through. The grain is present and quite rich while acting texture to the image, while fine details in faces and set design look crisp and authentic. That crazy color scheme has never looked lusher and more vibrant and is the centerpiece of this restored master. I also couldn’t spot a single trace of print damage, indicating the negative has been kept in great condition all these years. Backing up the revitalized picture quality is an excellent English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track that generously spreads the various sound mix elements across the dual-channel option without creating overlap or distortion, even if the final audio comes across as flat and basic (which is all this movie really requires). English subtitles have also been included.
The main bonus feature is a new audio commentary track that pairs up journalist and film historian David Del Valle (SinisterImage.com) with B-movie filmmaker David DeCoteau (Nightmare Sisters) for a spirited discussion of all things related to Hollywood Horror House and the people on both sides of the camera who made it. Film buffs will find this track very informative and a lot of fun, as I did. Then there’s a promotional image gallery, and that’s it for the extras on the disc. Vinegar Syndrome has also supplied a standard-definition DVD copy and a reversible cover sleeve that carries the alternate Savage Intruder title on the opposite side.
Hollywood Horror House is a delicious slice of Tinseltown Gothic schlock that manages to be entertaining while overcoming its limitations with a few inspiring visual and narrative touches of its own. Vinegar Syndrome’s Blu-ray release comes recommended for its stellar picture and sound and enjoyable film historian commentary track.
