blumdeluxe "House of mystery" tells the story of a vicious archaeologist that stole a treasure several decades ago and is now supposed to give some of it to the rightful shareholders when all of a sudden they are attacked and one by one eliminated by a mysterious gorilla. Sounds a bit stupid, is a bit stupid.From its general setting (mysterious murders, one by one gets killed) the film can be seen as a classic crime movie, since this is a structure countless old movies follow. The supernatural elements of the plot ruined it a bit for me because they turn out rather cheap and I'm just not enough a believer to think that some magic ape is on a killing straw (Though there is an explanation in the end, to be fair). Some of the characters are supposed to add some comic value to the movie. Sometimes that works out well, most often it remains quite superficial.All in all this is an okay movie, but not one anyone needs to see. It's not a total waste of time but you'll surely find something better quite easily.

MartinHafer During the 1930s, there were quite a few spooky old house and murder mystery films--so the bizarre plot of this turkey isn't all that bizarre for the time. However, I call it a turkey because the film is so badly made on so many levels--you can't help but laugh at the ineptitude of the film makers and actors.The film begins in Asia. A really stupid white guy not only invades the sacred Temple of the Ape, but he killed one of the creatures there as well. When he's confronted by the priest, the idiot basically says he could care less about it. No wonder this jerk soon finds himself cursed! Oddly, throughout this entire scene you see gorillas--yes, African gorillas around the place. And, during the course of the film, they appear again. No, not real gorillas but the lame 1930s guy in a gorilla costume variety of gorillas.I was surprised but the folks in the temple did not kill the idiot and he soon returned home. Apparently, though, he appeared to believe in the 'curse of Kali (oddly, pronounced 'Kay-lie'--though a teeny bit of research would have shown them that this was the wrong pronunciation). Now if you believe you are cursed and those around you are cursed, what would you expect him to do? Yep, invite a whole bunch of folks to his house and see them one after the other brutally murdered. And, if you are one of the folks invited, you'd naturally stick around and just wait to be murdered--at least in the stupid bizarro world!! In addition to this awful plot (though it does have a bit of a nice twist near the end), you have very, very bad acting and direction. A few of the 'actors' had trouble delivering their lines and two of the characters were beyond poorly written. The insurance guy was a one-note obnoxious jerk and the sickly lady just sounded like she could have used a good rap in the mouth--both were incredibly annoying and seemed less real than having Huckleberry Hound play their parts. The only character I liked at all, and she WAY overplayed the role, was the grouchy old lady with the henpecked husband--at least she was entertaining. But otherwise, the best actor might just have been the guy in the gorilla suit--it was THAT bad!By the way, I was really torn by this film. Part of me wanted to give it a well-deserved score of 2. But, the film did have one nice twist and although bad, there are much worse films out there, so I'll be generous and score it 3. Too bad I can't give it a 2.5!

wes-connors "The mansion of a retired adventurer is the scene of some mysterious happenings, all apparently caused by the 'Curse of Kali'. The authorities and the adventurer's relatives all end up caught in the middle of these bizarre events, with plenty of suspicious characters to choose from. It's going to take some clever detective work to uncover the truth and bring those responsible to justice," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis. The film begins in 1913 Asia, where the Hindu curse begins. Twenty years later, this connects with a group of investors gathering at a spooky old mansion, to collect their share of the Hindi's treasure. Supposedly, the Hindu curse resurfaces, claiming the lives of greedy treasure-seekers. The curse manifests itself as a stuffed gorilla (first seen in 1913 Asia) seems to come alive, and kill people. "Pocahontas" is somehow involved. Honest Injun. *** House of Mystery (3/30/34) William Nigh ~ Clay Clement, Ed Lowry, Verna Hillie

Chuck Straub House of Mystery is ok as a 1934 mystery movie with a respectful dose of comedy thrown in. I was hoping for something a little scarier but that never came about. As a mystery, I thought it was below average but the strange and often comedic characters did keep things interesting. The movie doesn't drag or bog down, but that may be in large part to the fact that the film is only 62 minutes long. It never really met my expectations but had enough going for it that it managed to keep my interest. My impression of this movie is that it was just an ok movie, nothing special, but certainly not bad. If you see it, I think you might get some enjoyment out of it, but if you don't see it, you're really not missing too much. A respectable but forgettable 30s mystery movie.