Director – Joseph Larraz, Screenplay – Derek Ford, Producer – Diana Daubeney, Photography – Trevor Wrenn, Art Direction – John Hoesli. Production Company – Blackwater Film.
Cast
Andrea Allan (Valerie Jennings), Karl Lanchbury (Paul), Lawrence Keane (Mike), Maggie Walker (Susannah), Peter Forbes-Robertson (Mr. Hornby), Judy Matheson (Lorna Collins), Annabella Wood (Stella), Alex Leppard (Terry), Edmund Pegge (Kent), Barbara Meale (First Victim), Richard Aylen (Inspector Matheson), Daphne Lea (Mrs Dabney)
Plot
The model Valerie is dragged away by her boyfriend Mike as he breaks into a house in the countryside. They are forced to hide as people come, They are then witness as a man in black leather stabs a woman to death. Valerie flees as the killer comes after her. Returning to her flat in London, Valerie finds she is being stalked and believes that one of the people around her is the killer returned to finish the job.
Joseph or Jose Larraz (1929-2013) is a director whose films have gained a small following. Born in Spain, Larraz started out as a comic-book artist and then turned director with Whirlpool (1970) and Deviation (1971), respectively Danish and Swedish exploitation films shot in England. The House That Vanished was Larraz’s fourth film, by which time he had relocated to England. There he went on to make Symptoms (1974) and Vampyres (1974), the works on which his reputation is founded. From 1976, Larraz relocated back to Spain and made a succession of other films up to the early 2000s, including a number of other horror films with Stigma (1979), The National Mummy (1980), Rest in Pieces (1987), The Edge of the Axe (1988) and Deadly Manor/Savage Lust (1990), in between assorted adult films.
Larraz’s English films fall in as part of the Anglo-Horror cycle that was burgeoning in the 1970s thanks to the successes being had by Hammer Films and other British studios. The House That Vanished belongs to the vein of Psycho Films that were popularised by Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960) and other imitators throughout the 1960s, which included several efforts from Hammer and the Italian giallo film. In contrast to most of its Anglo-horror peers, The House That Vanished is a more modern work, quite different to the Hammer films, even their psycho-thrillers – the nearest equivalent might be Hammer’s Straight on Till Morning (1972).
The House That Vanished belongs more in the company of other UK efforts of the period such as The Haunted House of Horror (1969) and the films of Pete Walker who was finding his stride around this time with the likes of The Flesh and Blood Show (1972), House of Whipcord (1974) and House of Mortal Sin/The Confessional (1976). Certainly, the scene where Barbara Meale undresses and is then killed as Andrea Allan and Lawrence Keane are watching as they hide in a cupboard is in essence the Psycho shower scene with a couple of more graphic twists on the dial and added nudity.
Karl Lanchbury and Andrea Allen
Joseph Larraz has a small reputation, although The House That Vanished did little to convince me to join his cult. Larraz creates atmosphere without any real plot. There is a long preamble with Andrea Allan allowing boyfriend Lawrence Keane to drag her to the house in the country – we are not quite sure why but it appears that he is burgling it – where they inadvertently witness the murder. She escapes, although it is never clear what happens to him. The rest of the film then follows Andrea as she returns to work and has the feeling that people everywhere are stalking her or have sinister intent.
After Andrea Allan returns home from the house in the country, The House That Vanished consists of endless build-up scenes. Much of what happens in terms of advancing the plot could be reduced to about five minutes of screen time. There are endless scenes with Andrea Allan goes into the downstairs apartment, thinking she hears noises or people entering her apartment. In the latter regard, there is a scene where the killer enters the apartment while Judy Matheson is home – after this, Judy just drops out of the show and references are made that she has been killed. This, along with what happened to Andrea’s boyfriend Lawrence Keane, seems to indicate that scenes have been cut – the original British version of the film apparently runs fifteen minutes longer than the American cut (seen here) that is in current dvd release.
Certainly, Joseph Larraz does occasionally give these scenes something sinister or perverse – like where we see shy nervous Karl Lanchbury in bed with his aunt (Maggie Walker). But what it feels that would have helped the film no end is if Larraz’s endless build-up had been contained in a tight plot like it was in Psycho or one of the Hammer psycho-thrillers.
The House That Vanished has a cast of largely unknown names. Judy Matheson, who plays Andrea Allan’s flatmate, had roles in some other Anglo-horror films such as Lust for a Vampire (1971), Twins of Evil (1972) and Pete Walker’s The Flesh and Blood Show. Peter Forbes-Robertson, who cuts a wonderfully sinister presence as the neighbour with the pigeons, was a minor actor of the era. Lead actress Andrea Allan only made seven film appearances and then dropped off of screens, while everyone else is even less known.
