CRIMES OF THE DARK HOUSE

- So since when have crimes been committed in a house with all the lights on? This chop-licking British melodrama stars the gloriously uninhibited Tod Slaughter, playing the unspeakable Sir Henry Glyde. Disposing of his wealthy wife, Glyde replaces her with a look-alike, a recent "graduate" from the local insane asylum. - good gory fun in their own separate ways.


THE CRIMES OF STEPHEN HAWKS

- The Crimes of Stephen Hawke opens at a BBC radio studio, where a variety program is being broadcast. After the singing duo of Flotsam and Jetsom and a comic butcher perform, Tod Slaughter appears as himself to perform a radio play about Stephen Hawkes. Hawkes is, to all appearances, a model of kindliness and decorum. A money-lender, he is compassionate and caring toward his clients, and extremely attentive to his lovely daughter, Julia, whose beauty and innocence make her attractive to many suitors. But Hawkes is not all that he appears. In his guise as he Spine Breaker, he is a merciless and notorious murderer, viciously killing his victims in a gory and painful manner. Aided by his assistant, a strange hunchback, the first killing the audience sees involves an obnoxious but otherwise undeserving child. Eventually, Hawkes even kills his best friend; when the friend's son, Matthew discovers the truth, he vows to hunt down Hawkes himself.