MovieCriticMarvelfan This movie is pretty gruesome but almost has no gore or blood, instead by using some really gruesome topics (eyeball transplants),a good music score (though rather short and repetitive), and good acting (Basehart plays it straight) this is a good horror movie.Gloria Grahame, the late Grahame who was a big movie star at one point (like Basehart) is his helper as the good old Dr. Chaney (Basehart) looks for hapless victims to give their eyes for his daughter who went blind after an accident.His an accredited scientist who keeps misdoings a secret, and lures people he knows including another doctor (played by a young Lance Henriksen early in his movie career), a real estate agent and a prostitute to name a few.He is only trying to blow his ego by proclaiming new improvements in eye research which take a big nosedive when his daughter starts rejecting the eye donor transplants. Of course this doesn't stop the doctor from getting more victims.Of course that's another gruesome area as he doesn't kill them, after plucking out their eyes he "stores" them in his underground lab with other lab animals.These scenes were the most chilling and most effective as you see these people trying to get out but not having their eyes provides a big obstacle.The ending is pretty satisfying though, and the movie overall is good. I would check it out.

Paul Andrews I watched this last night on a twenty plus year old VHS tape I brought of eBay, under it's UK title 'Massacre mansion'. We open with shots of Dr Leonard Chaney (Richard Basehart) walking through a hospital, he goes to a patient and inserts his thumbs into her eye sockets. As it turns out this is just a nightmare, according to the accompanying monologue by Basehart anyway. He goes on to talk about his daughter Nancy Chaney (Trish Stewart), we see scenes of her swimming in a pool with her boyfriend Dr Dan Bryan (Lance Henriksen) with Doc Chaney lovingly looking on. He also talks of an accident. While driving along a dog runs out in front of Doc Chaney's car, he swerves to miss it and he crashes the car. Nancy, who was a passenger, is blinded in the accident. Luckily Doc Chaney isn't an ordinary Doctor, no he happens to be an eye surgeon! Using his medical expertise and help from his assistant Katherine (Gloria Grahame) he sets out to restore Nancy's sight by an eye transplant. Unfortunately the eyes need to be fresh, which means he needs to kidnap people and take their eyes out. First up it's Nancy's boyfriend and one of Doc Chaney's fellow professionals Doc Bryan. The transplant works to start with, however Nancy soon loses her sight again. Doc Chaney needs to know what went wrong so he prepares another operation, again the eyes are rejected. After several more operations he is still no closer to permanently restoring Nancy's sight. To add to his worries his basement is rapidly filling up with his eyeless victims, who he wants to keep alive so when he has discovered the secret he can give them back their sight too. Produced by Charles and Albert Band (and not a killer toy in sight!), cinematography by Andrew Davis (who would later go on to direct films such as the fugitive and under siege), make up effects by Stan Winston (terminator, jurassic park etc.) and directed by Micheal Pataki, massacre mansion has quality both in front and behind the camera. However that doesn't make it a particularly good film. The central idea is good, Doc Chaney isn't portrayed as a monster, but as a loving father who becomes more and more desperate as the hole he's dug himself gets deeper by the minute. The victims aren't simply there to be used, the film shows them trapped and blinded trying to help and comfort each other, it tries to make them part of the film that you want to care about. There's no real gore in it, except the first transplant which is shown, the others cut away before Doc Chaney begins to operate, but various shots are shown on a black and white monitor that Doc Chaney looks at to help himself, it wouldn't surprise me if this was real eye surgery footage. Whats there is, is quite effective, and the effect of the victims having no eyes is also well done. My biggest problem with it is that it's all rather dull and forgettable, and a little bit slow. Not bad I suppose, just average.

marcburrage This is trash, pure and simple. But it's so bad it'll make you laugh. The fact that Lance Henriksen gets top billing, yet plays a very minor role, doesn't say much for the leads.Rent it and watch it after a night of hard drinking.

mlhouk9 While no classic, this low budget thriller exceeds its reputation. Creating a truly oppressive atmosphere-just what the story calls for-it features a strong performance by Richard Basehart and good support from a young Lance Henrikson. Particularly creepy, though not in a horror movie way, is the sequence where Basehart picks up a little girl to be his next subject, which, while not graphic, may be a bit much for some viewers. Yes, it is a sleazy movie, but for this story that is appropriate. The only letdown is the total waste of Gloria Grahame, who is given little to work with. She deserved better.