Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

Ceticultsot Beautiful, moving film.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Phillida Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Leofwine_draca One of the four Mexican horrors that Boris Karloff made in the year that he died; all of them are pretty bad but Karloff's presence at least means that they deserve a cursory glance from the horror fan. DANCE OF DEATH is a muddled movie which has, as its basis, one of those clichéd "reading of the will" type plots, set in a typically spooky old mansion, but which also throws in about half a dozen other plot elements as well to try and keep things interesting. However, it doesn't really work.Things kick off with the discovery of an eyeless corpse - ie. an actress with a bit of blood splashed on her face. This is as gory as the film gets, by the way. Via a quick jump-cut we are immediately introduced to Boris Karloff, who soon snuffs it - or so it seems. It's actually quite sad to watch an obviously close to death Karloff in this film, to see how frail and ill-looking he looked at the very end. By this time he was half-dead anyway and apparently one of his lungs had collapsed, but like a trooper he kept on working till the (bitter end). Still, it's pleasing to watch Karloff in a movie again and he's invariably the best actor of the bunch.The rest of the cast are instantly forgettable Mexican faces, forgettable due to their amateurish and wooden acting skills. The only one of any note is a woman called Julissa (just one name), who is at least partially memorable but only for her good looks. She was also in two other Karloff films of this time. Also it's rather obvious that Karloff's scenes were actually filmed in America while the rest were in Mexico due to the difference of film clarity and the sets used.After Karloff's death, his sinister goateed doctor makes everybody wait before they hear the reading of the will. It is at this moment that people begin to die, killed by Karloff's apparently animated toys. One woman is brutally stabbed by the figure of a dancer, another man throttled by a knight, an obese victim shot in the eyes by two miniature cannons. All deaths are executed clumsily so they don't have much impact. While this is going on, the young police inspector hero is lying around somewhere sleeping while his girlfriend is in peril! The influences on this movie are clear. They're obviously trying to emulate some of Corman's Poe films starring Vincent Price, with less impressive effects, it has to be said. This led to the credit "based on a story by Edgar Allen Poe" appearing on the video box I have. At other times we see Karloff playing the organ, scenes which resemble THE BLACK CAT made 33 years earlier. Except there, the music was haunting and mournful, and here, it's screeching and awful! This is a very low budget movie, with the direction on the amateurish side. The camera-work is boring and inept (at one point the cameraman's shadow appears on a table) and the editing particularly confusing; scenes jump from one to another directly after a line of dialogue has just been said; no pauses or dissolves, just a sudden new scene. The same can be said of the abrupt ending. However, there are some atmospheric moments set in cobwebby corridors and a crypt, and one frightening scene sees our hero besieged by killer mechanical soldiers in a museum. The themes of killer toys would further be explored in plus countless cheapie '80s and 90's straight-to-video flicks. DANCE OF DEATH is a poorly-made film, but the sheer quantity of bizarrely-mixed elements make it watchable, if a bit dull.

TheLittleSongbird House of Evil has just one thing going for it, Boris Karloff. One of those actors who always gave his all regardless of the film and material, Karloff's performance is sprightly and dignified, never less than convincing. Unfortunately it is one such performance that deserved a much better film. Nothing else works and any other Karloff film yet to be seen by me has to be really, really bad to be worse than House of Evil. The film is pure tack visually, the sets don't convince at all in Gothic atmosphere and the photography is just slipshod. The dialogue is wretched, a lot of it is ridiculous and senseless and everybody visibly looks awkward saying it. Don't look for a coherent story either, it's instead incredibly dull(not helped by that some scenes are too talky), devoid of thrills, suspense or creepiness and has unintentional humour, mainly because of how bad the dialogue is and how cheesy the deaths are. Let's not forget the music either, shrill, strident and far too obvious, when something sinister or deadly happens the music is annoying and very repetitive too. Last but not least the acting, with the sole exception of Karloff it is very amateurish. In particular Quintin Bulnes seems to be impersonating Peter Lorre, and does so terribly. Julissa is ravishingly beautiful but doesn't have the acting skills to match. All in all, a truly inept film all round apart from Karloff. 2/10 Bethany Cox

Woodyanders The legendary Boris Karloff ended his illustrious career by making four cheapie fright flick clunkers in Mexico. This is the token moody period Gothic horror entry from the bunch. Karloff gives a typically spry and dignified performance as Matthias Morteval, an elderly eccentric patriarch who invites several of his petty, greedy and backbiting no-count relatives to his creepy rundown castle for the reading of a will. Pretty soon the hateful guests are getting bumped off by lethal life-sized toy people who populate the place. Onetime Mexican sex symbol Andres Garcia of "Tintorera" infamy portrays the dashing police officer hero and Julissa looks absolutely ravishing as the sole likable female character. The clunky, plodding (non)direction, trite by-the-numbers script, ugly, washed-out cinematography, ridiculous murder set pieces (a gross fat slob gets blasted right in the face by a miniature cannon!), overwrought string score, morbid gloom-doom atmosphere, largely lousy acting (Karloff notably excepted), cheesy mild gore, poor dubbing and rousing fiery conclusion all lend this enjoyably awful lemon a certain endearingly cruddy and hence oddly amusing ratty charm. A real campy hoot.

Witchfinder General 666 "House Of Evil" aka "Dance Of Death" of 1968 is the first of four infamous and odd last movies starring the great Boris Karloff and directed by Jack Hill and Juan Ibánez. Unlike "Snake People" (1971), "The Incredible Invasion" (also 1971) and "The Fear Chamber" (1972) which were all released after Karloff's death in 1969, "House Of Evil" was released in 1968, when Karloff was still alive. "House Of Evil" is regarded by many as the worst of these four movies, which are without doubt all rather crappy, but definitely have their entertainment value as the unintentional comedies they are. I personally prefer "The Fear Chamber" and "House Of Evil" over the other two, simply for the reason that the lack of the slightest logic is even more extreme, and since there is no suspense whatsoever in any of the movies, the lack of logic increases the unintentional fun factor.The odd story (I don't know if I can really call it a 'plot') is set somewhere in Europe in the 19th century. After some girls are murdered and found with their eyes ripped out, Mathias Morteval (Karloff), an enthusiastic organ player, invites his few remaining relatives to his bizarre mansion, which is full of eerie toys. His kinfolk includes Lucy Durant (Julissa), who is engaged to one of the police inspectors investigating the murders.I won't give away more of the story, but I can assure you that it is quite bizarre throughout the movie. There are some very funny moments, especially some things Karloff's character says. Boris Karloff was without any doubt one of the most brilliant and important icons of the Horror genre who ever lived, and he manages to award this odd movie with a tiny bit of his greatness, and although (or because) his role is (due to a poor script and and directing) in no way scary, it looks like he deliberately plays it with a sense of humor. Just like in the movie's successors "Snake People" and "The Fear Chamber", the female lead is once again played by Julissa. Most of he supporting performances are hilariously amateurish, the cinematography is terrible and the locations and sceneries are beneath contempt. The storyline lacks the least bit of logic and the dialogue often does not make the slightest sense. It is the poor story and dialogue, however, that makes this movie so entertaining to watch. "House Of Evil" may be an extremely crappy attempt of a movie, but it is certainly as (unintentionally) funny as it is bad. Fans of Ed Wood's movies should be very amused, I personally found it hilarious. Crappy but entertaining nevertheless, and definitely worth watching since there's Boris Karloff in it and due to the fun factor. 3/10