Finally found this film on YouTube after years of looking for it under the title "Ghost of the Hunchback". (The film was apparently available on Amazon Prime but is no longer, at least not "in my area"). Who would not be intrigued by the prospect of a Japanese take on the then-current Italian Gothic horror cycle? Adding to the strange mix, this version is dubbed into Italian, with the credits being anglicized in that weird Italian way - a bunch of unconvincing English sounding names, this time appended to a film obviously made by a Japanese director with Japanese actors, and subtitled in English! But no matter. The film does not disappoint, and is in fact considerably more gruesome and sexually frank (and perverse) than almost any Italian counterpart from the same time period that I can think of ,and conjures up a very effectively creepy atmosphere. The rather free-wheeling plot is hard to summarize (and therefore to spoil) and actually doesn't feel particularly Japanese, in terms of what we might expect from Japanese horror. Director Hajime Sato doesn't seem to have made too many films, but is responsible for another big favorite of mine, the rather amazing "Goke, Body Snatcher From Hell". Both films play with and freely mix genre conventions, provide ample shocks and surprises along the way, display a lot of visual flair and end with a certain grim finality. I wish he had made more movies.
Review of House of Terrors
