Dartherer I really don't get the hype.

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Numerootno A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

Aspen Orson There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.

Rainey Dawn This film is not all that bad - it's certainly better than it's rating. Why this film is rated so badly I'll never know. I'll admit there are better dramatic thrillers of the 1940s but this one deserves a better rating than it's getting.Rondo Hatton plays Hal Moffat AKA 'The Creeper' - he's well suited for this role. The only thing I wish is that they had maybe scared or disfigured his real face more - because that is what is suppose to have happened to Hal (had his face disfigured).Jane Adams is Helen Paige - and she's good. I really enjoyed her in this film as well as House of Dracula (1945).This one is a good watch. It's not a "must see" film but it is a film that is enjoyable for certain audiences.6.5/10

mark.waltz One of the more unworthy low budget horror films to be ranked nearly as a bomb, I found this to be quite moving. Rondo Hatton, aka the Creeper, is on a killing spree, and the baffled police can't find him, even though they know who he is. He's actually a very gentle soul but how he got so deformed has lead him to revenge which was the result of a college prank enticed out of jealousy. He falls for the blind but pretty Jane Adams who is the only one kind to him. Hatton, who usually said very little in films, has a surprising amount of dialog here, yet is actually extremely believable and that makes you want to like him even though he is a killer. I presumed that his lack of dialog in other films was because of his lack of talent, but I was glad to be proved wrong. As told in flashback by those who do know him, you can understand why he had to kill. Tom Neal plays the man who reveals all he knows, and that scene is masterful in its story telling. Its also nice to see Donald McBride playing a cop who isn't a buffoon, although his final idiotic line seems to come out of nowhere. Suspenseful and gripping, this is much better than I expected. A Hatton lookalike later showed up in a period adventure, "The Rockateer".

Scarecrow-88 Solid chiller, capitalizing on the popularity of Rondo Hatton's creeper character made popular in the Sherlock Holmes classic, "The Pearl of Death", has The Creeper on the rampage breaking the backs of those he deems responsible for his facial abnormalities, which occurred when a college rival infuriates his temper (both were affectionate for a beauty in their same graduation class) causing a mishap in the chemistry lab. The police have a city-wide manhunt in place, with lots of pressure on Captain MJ Donelly (Donald MacBride) to find The Creeper with the public in a state of panic, the psychopath a media sensation, making all the headlines. The police continue to have a black eye with the city mayor becoming more and more frustrated the longer The Creeper remains at large and not arrested. The possible key to The Creeper's capture is his utter hatred for the former rival, Clifford Scott (Tom Neal) and his wife, Virginia (Jan Wiley), the two he especially holds responsible for his ugly facial scars. Hatton's Hal Moffet was once a rising football star and Clifford was his scholarly tutor, both in love with Virginia. However, Clifford was the man she was in love with and the nerd made sure Hal got placed in the lab thanks to a failing grade. Jane Adams (the lovely hunchback nurse who met a gruesome fate in "House of Dracula") has a crucial role in the potential apprehension of The Creeper as a blind piano instructor he falls in love with (she cannot see his face, therefore does not frighten at his hideous visage). The Creeper wants her to get an eye operation and will try to finagle money from Clifford, with problems ensuing…Like other movies in the same vein, "The Brute Man" sympathizes with a beastly man suffering from the unpleasantness of fate, whether it is a hunched back, ugliness in appearance, or some other bodily malformation that horrifies "normal society". While acknowledging his crimes and not making excuses for them, this film still empathizes with Hatton's grotesque features (not exactly a comment directly from me, but just in the way movies imply how unpleasant he looks), and having him befriending a kindly blind woman who probably would not judge his looks if she had sight just further elaborates a sense of mourning for his predicament, asking us to at least invest emotionally in the way society cringes at his presence, screaming out instead of simply listening to him before doing so. Still, he kills a woman who cries out because she feels threatened and a teenage grocery courier, so Hal isn't a completely sympathetic figure; he's a bonafide killer who needs to be taken off the streets. This movie definitely has the look and feel of a Universal Studios release, with Hatton's involvement a major factor in its appeal to fans of classic horror. Not deserved of such a low rating, I think "The Brute Man" is worthy of discovery.It is so tragic that Hatton did not live long enough to see how much people enjoyed his brief work in the movies--yes, his condition was exploited in a manner that turned him into almost a sideshow, but I think "The Brute Man" establishes that the actor could in fact earn pathos instead of just walking around as a hulking brute destroying people.

ferbs54 Guys, the next time you look in the mirror and don't like what you see, try telling yourself that at least you're not Rondo Hatton. Hatton suffered with the congenital disease acromegaly, which, as Webster's puts it, is "chronic hyperpituitarism marked by progressive enlargement of hands, feet and face." He lived to the age of 52, being felled by a heart attack shortly after making his last film, "The Brute Man," in 1946. This is an extremely well-made little B picture, featuring fine acting by all, a compact story and some real suspense. In it, Hatton plays a former college BMOC who became disfigured after a lab accident and who, years later, begins a murder spree against all his former pals and teachers that he blames for his current condition. He also befriends a pretty, blind piano teacher, who naturally doesn't recoil automatically from the big lug's unique physiognomy. These scenes, with big Rondo and the blind woman, will likely cause most viewers to recall Frankenstein and the blind hermit in "Bride of Frankenstein" (1935), just as his later sacrifices on her behalf are reminiscent of Chaplin's for his blind flower girl in "City Lights" (1931). No, "The Brute Man" is not nearly in the same league as those two immortal classics, but still remains a fine entertainment nevertheless. "Frankenstein" makeup man Jack Pierce contributed his great talents to this film, too, making Hatton (I would imagine) even more of a sight than he was ordinarily. It's hard to feel much sympathy for Rondo's "Creeper" character, cold-blooded psycho that he has become, but somehow, we DO still feel some, to the actor's great credit. Oh, by the way, this DVD looks just terrific; an absolutely first-rate transfer from the fine folks at Image Entertainment.