The Red House (1947)

Creepy Doesn't Begin to Describe It

OMG!  I just watched one of the creepiest movies of all time!  I dunno, maybe I'm overstating it a little, but this movie was seriously creepy. I ran into The Red House quite by accident on YouTube and I'm so glad I did!  It starred Edward G. Robinson as a psychopathic killer.  

Surprisingly risque

The movie came out in 1947 and kinda hinted at some topics that I thought would have been a bit off-limits back then...a pretty overtly promiscuous teenager girl (played by Julie London), incest (at least that's how I saw part of this film) and a weird affection toward an underage girl.

Some great acting!

A number of things really stuck out in my mind in this film besides the sheer creepiness.  One was the acting of Robinson...insane!  Then there was the acting of Allene Roberts, in which this was her first film role, and I think IMDB said she was just 17 years old at the time.  And I loved the ending!!  Talk about creepy endings!  On 3/17/13, the New York Times did a nice article, and the Movie Projector blog did a great review of the movie.  And there's a really nice review here.

     

Don't put such a high price on courage, it's an overrated virtue. ---Pete Morgan (Robinson)

AW of the New York Times says...

"It's been a long time since the Hollywood artisans have turned out an adult horror number. "The Red House," which arrived at the Globe on Saturday, is just such an edifying offering, which should supply horror-hungry audiences with the chills of the month. For this tenebrous tale of an abandoned house set deep in a tangled and forbidding forest and its impact on the lives of a group of people living close by, is told intelligently and with mounting tension." March 17, 1947

 

FAVORITE SCENE:  The ending!!! 

RATING:  Damn Good!

WATCH AGAIN?:  Definitely!

DO I WANNA OWN IT?: Nah - it's all over Youtube