Mansion of the Doomed

Hand a Franju-esque plot to an American Exploitation film maker, and you have to be prepared for pretty dire consequences. It's a pleasant surprise, therefore, to find that this rehash of Les Yeux sans Visage is a modest gem of pulp horror. Casting helps tremendously: Basehart is the eminent eye surgeon whose daughter loses her sight when his car crashes; Grahame the devoted assistant who helps him kidnap victims for transplant purposes, and acts as keeper to the unfortunates caged in the cellar, robbed blind. Pataki's direction has the courage of the script's grisly convictions, and he turns in a strong shocker, its relentless assault on the eyes aided by video close-ups of ocular surgery and some excellent make-up work. It's good to see an example of the genre without apocalyptic pretensions, and which doesn't feel the insecure need to send itself up.