The House Where Hell Froze Over

The films of Texan Sherrald F “Brownie” Brownrigg are often maligned as dull and tiresome, with Keep My Grave Open — as it’s more popularly known — often judged as the worst of the four horror/thrillers he produced during the early 1970s. Brownrigg himself considered this to be his most technically accomplished film, and was one of two pictures he s together with Breakfast at Tiffany’s producer Marty Jurow, each costing just $150,000. The film itself is typical of Brownrigg: unhurried yet dotted with startling set pieces highlighting peculiar moments and/or grisly horror. The genuine performances from many of Brownrigg’s regular acting troupe are complimented by low-level camera angles, inventive match-cuts and the bleak verisimilitude of the Texas locations. Recommended, but perhaps to the more patient viewer.

A middle-aged thumb-tripper breaks into a secluded house, helping himself to the contents of the fridge, but his illicit nocturnal dining is quickly curtailed however by a black-gloved, sabre-wielding maniac, who chops the opportunistic burglar down to size. Residing in the house are middle-aged spinster Lesley Fontaine (Camilla Carr; Don’t Look in the Basement) and the unseen, reclusive Kevin who shuns contact, staying in his room.

This initial kill is soon followed by a second: the flirtatious girlfriend of Lesley’s stableman, Robert (Stephen Tobolowsky; Deadwood), also meets an untimely demise — run through by the same sabre, whilst she waits for Robert in an outhouse (an effective giallo-like set piece). A third murder occurs. This time it’s Robert himself, who, after being lured upstairs by Lesley for sexual favours, gets a grisly slice of the action across his throat, whereupon the camera finally reveals it’s been a cross-dressing Lesley all along.

Unaware of the triple homicide, Lesley’s portly physician, Dr. Emerson (Gene Ross) implores her to return to the psychiatric hospital believing her mental state to be deteriorating, but what of the mysterious Kevin? Is he really the maniacal alter ego of Lesley or is there something stranger afoot?