Halloween Havoc!: Miriam Hopkins in SAVAGE INTRUDER (Avco Embassy 1970)

SAVAGE INTRUDER (aka HOLLYWOOD HORROR HOUSE) is the psychotronic slasher version of SUNSET BOULEVARD, with a dash of PSYCHO thrown in for good measure. Glamorous 30s star Miriam Hopkins plays Katherine Packard, an alcoholic has-been, but this is no WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE. It’s demented, sleazy, unsavory, and a good time!

We start with some stock footage of Hollywood’s Golden Era, then the credits roll over shots of the decrepit Hollywood sign). (If you think you recognize the film premiere of THE DANCING CAVALIER, you’re right! It’s lifted from the film-within-a-film in SINGIN IN THE RAIN). The next scene shows us a young man following a middle-aged woman from a bar. He breaks into her home, conks her on the noggin, and starts sawing off her hand with an electric carving knife! When she wakes up screaming, he pulls out his hatchet and chops her to bits. He’s a serial killer who’s been terrorizing Tinsletown, and he’s played by John David Garfield, son of the late actor. While young Mr. Garfield has his dad’s looks and voice, he’s no chip off the acting block. In fact, he later went behind the cameras to work as an editor. But on with the show….

A tour bus takes us to the estate of retired actress Katherine Packard (and yes, that’s ex-Stooge Joe Besser as your tour guide). The psycho-killer debarks and introduces himself as “Laurel N. Hardy”, looking for a job as nurse for Miss Packard. The old dame got drunk and fell down the stairs, breaking her leg in the process. Leslie (former SPIDER WOMAN and Oscar winner Gale Sondergaard), the mistress of the house, interviews Hardy, who’s real name is Vic Valance. Vic ingratiates himself with Katherine, and the elderly ex-star falls in love with him (croaking the tune “Taking a Chance on Love” in a scene I hope is supposed to be funny…cause it is!) Vic’s also involved with younger housemaid Greta (Virginia Wing), scandalizing Leslie and cook Mildred (Florence Lake, who costarred opposite Edgar Kennedy in a series of comedy shorts, and was older sister to Dagwood Bumstead himself, Arthur Lake).

Vic shoots some dope, and has a flashback about his youth. It seems he was an abused child, whose mother was an alcoholic prostitute. He sees her with three or four skeezy dudes slobbering all over her, and takes a hatchet to them. In fact, Vic takes a hatchet to everybody by the end of the movie, leaving him alone in the house with a mannequin made up like Miriam Hopkins. This was Miss Hopkins last role, and she’s a hoot! Chewing the scenery with the best of them, Miriam overacts and plays to the back row, but somehow it works. The scene where Vic takes her to a Hollywood hippie party is high-camp, especially when a midget drug dealer offers her some acid (“The only trips I take are to Europe”, she deadpans). Producer/writer/director Donald Wolfe must’ve been tripping himself when he concocted this vulgar stew. It’s got some suspenseful moments and plenty of gore, and  is a perfect time capsule of late 60s/early 70s Hollywood debauchery.

Worth seeing for the cast alone, SAVAGE INTRUDER is a unique low-budget shocker that will please any Grindhouse fan. It’s far from the best in the “Aging Star Does Horror” genre, but you won’t be disappointed by this raunchy romp, filmed inside the Norma Talmadge Estate. Put it on your late-night Halloween list, while the kiddos are sleeping, and dive into the delightful decadence of SAVAGE INTRUDER.