SAVAGE INTRUDER

Miriam Hopkins

SAVAGE INTRUDER (aka Hollywood Horror House/1970). Written, produced, and directed by Donald Wolfe.

A maniac is running about murdering and dismembering women and leaving their body parts laying about, such as at the bottom of the hill where the Hollywood sign is located. Meanwhile retired movie star Katherine Packard (Miriam Hopkins), who lives in a fabulous old mansion, gets drunk, falls down the stairs, and winds up in a wheelchair. A very strange male nurse named Vic Valance (John David Garfield) is hired to look after Katherine, but before long they are engaged in what might be termed an inappropriate relationship. This does not sit well with the other women in the household: secretary Leslie (Gale Sondergaard); elderly cook Mildred (Florence Lake): and especially housekeeper Greta (Virginia Wing), who is also sleeping with Valance. Then people begin disappearing ...

(John) David Garfield

Savage Intruder is a seriously perverted version of Sunset Boulevard, with a little Night Must Fall thrown in for good measure. The plot is still workable, but the script could have stood some improvement, and while some scenes are well-handled, others are schlocky, and there are times when the direction gets pseudo-psychedelic and artsy-fartsy. A little gore is thrown in now and then, almost enough to classify this as an early slasher film. One bathroom mutilation murder is a bit reminiscent of the splatter films to come. The film gets points for holding the viewer's attention, and there are some good performances as well.

Gale Sondergaard and Miriam Hopkins

This was the last film role for Hopkins, who died two years later at 69. She seems to be enjoying herself in this, having a laugh at her own excesses, and lustily kissing her paramour, pining for some vodka, and getting drunk at a Christmas parade in Hollywood (where she gets boos for railing about "hoods and queers" ruining Hollywood boulevard). Garfield [The Stepmother], the son of John Garfield, has his moments, but he just doesn't seem ready to take on such a big and difficult role as this; he comes off like a talented amateur where other actors could have really taken off in this part. Virginia Wing was introduced in this film, and she's at least professional, and had a few more credits over the years up until the present day.

Gale Sondergaard investigates

Florence Lake, who was younger than Hopkins but looks older, amassed nearly 200 credits, and was a solid character actress of a certain type. However, the actor who makes the best impression is Gale Sondergaard, who registers her usual authority as Hopkins' stern and efficient secretary, and who eventually becomes quite frightened for her employer. Last but not least we have Joe Besser of Three Stooges fame playing a tour bus driver who takes people past Hopkins' house, actually the Norma Talmadge estate in Hollywood. Hopkins at times seems to be channeling her old rival Bette Davis, but this film did not have anything like the box office of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

Verdict: Does show how old movie stars often wind up mired in alcohol and really awful people. **1/2.