House of the Dead is a 1978 anthology film that wants to be a shocker but ultimately falls very flat. It was released as “Alien Zone” originally, and that title has almost nothing to do with the film at all. This is one of those regional films, an old oddity from days gone by that will never return. Made in Oklahoma on a very low budget, filmmaker Sharron Miller does her best to get what she can out of the material, but it is ultimately let down by a ho-hum script and a set of stories that deliver very little zing.
A philandering husband gets let out of cab on a rainy night in the wrong neighborhood. Lost and confused, he accepts shelter from a strange mortician who then proceeds to tell him of the ghastly fate of the four corpses he houses in his living room. One is a teacher whose students prank her one final, deadly time. The second is the story of a serial killer who films his victims as they die. The third involves two police detectives in a competition to solve a murder. And the final vignette is about a bitter man who is a mild dick to people around him and thus suffers a horrible fate for being a minor jerk. This all comes around to our original adulterer, who meets a grim death after fleeing the mortician.
None of the tales are particularly interesting or memorable. You’ve seen their likes before. Some of them are kind of cute and funny, others are morbid. The tone shifts all over the place and nothing feels very cohesive. This is a loose collection of tales that bear no relation with one another except that they’re in the same film. There are no clever twists in the tale as every story simply runs to its natural conclusion. Some credit must be given to the second story, as it might just be the first “Found Footage” story ever released. I’m not positive about that but it’s definitely a way-early entry into that lineage. Also, the cinematography is superb as the film is filled with lots of thick atmosphere. The acting is good, too, although it does feel like stage actors assembled for their first appearance on film.
Overall, House of the Dead isn’t really worth your time unless you’re into regional horror. In which case, come on down because it is an odd little flick that would fit nicely in your collection. Otherwise, unless you’re a completionist, there’s not a lot to recommend here. The running time is short and it’s certainly not a waste of time, but it never really goes anywhere. This one is a perfectly good flat tire that needs inflating.
Two Stars out of Four