Classic Horrors Club

“The House & the Brain”(1973) is “inspired” by a novella by Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton called, “The Haunted & the Haunters; or, The House & the Brain,” which is why the only thing they have in common is a house. In the TV-movie version, the house isn’t even haunted. Instead, it’s occupied by a young woman under the influence of a strange guardian and she cannot physically leave the house. Supernatural, yes. Ghosts, not so sure.

On one hand, this makes the story an unlikely candidate for the Classic Ghosts moniker. On the other hand, it’s a nice diversion from the other movies in the series. You say, “potato,” I say “tomato.” Yes, there are similarities in structure to the two different kinds of tales, especially with their shared devotion to elements of the soap opera. I haven’t seen the last one yet, but I bet the thrills are going to revolve around a romance.

Feelings of deja vu wash over Marianna Gallatin (Carol Willard) when a handsome soldier, David Vaughan (Keith Charles), comes knocking at the door in response to a newspaper advertisement about a room to rent. She doesn’t want to answer, but the housekeeper, Judith Bolton (Maurice Carter) insists. It’s not long before we realize that this is a cycle. It’s happened before, but Marianna doesn’t remember… and it will likely happen again…

…unless someone can break the cycle. Constantine (Hurd Hatfield) is not about to let that happen. Now that I think about it, I’m not sure what he has to gain; maybe I missed something. It doesn’t matter; he’s pure evil. Judith tries to help Marianna escape but, while she may not be under Constantin’s influence, she obviously fears him. David tries to help, but he can’t get her to leave the house for a date, much less to escape from Constantin.

“The House & the Brain”has the least star-studded cast of all the Classic Ghosts. It’s fun to see that Hatfield, so compelling in The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945), has continued to age and remain a very handsome man. However, I am not familiar with anyone else. (I never watched The Rockford Files, in which Corbett appeared.) Robert Hover is the only other person that has a picture in IMDb, and he played a lieutenant in a dream sequence.

I appreciate how the Classic Ghosts movies don’t shy away from a downbeat conclusion. They’re not exactly “twist” endings, but neither are they happy endings. This one is the most effective of the ones I’ve seen so far.  They’d all be more effective if we hadn’t already figured out the nature of the occurrences ourselves. On the other hand, it’s always validating to have confirmation of your suspicions.

After watching, I wanted to know what “the Brain” in the title meant. I’m not embarrassed to admit I researched to learn that it:

…typically represents the mind or mental state of a person, often used metaphorically to suggest that the “house” (a physical space) is somehow connected to or influenced by the inner thoughts and experiences of an individual, often in a haunting or psychological context.

Thank you for that, Google AI Overview. I’ll study your “key points about the meaning” later, keeping in mind that “generative AI is experimental.” 

Next week: Deadly Visitor…