Sometimes, the background story of a certain film production is more interesting than the actual film itself. This is definitely the case here. "The Brute Man" and the more or less simultaneously produced "House of Horror" both star Rondo Hatton and only got released after his death at the age of 51. Hatton suffered from Acromegaly, a terrible illness which caused for the bones in his body to deform badly. As an effect from his Acromegaly, Hatton looked like an authentic boogeyman without make-up and thus he quickly got typecast as monstrous and merciless killer, like The Creeper in the two aforementioned titles. Allegedly the good people at Universal Studios became so ashamed and remorseful about exploiting Hatton's looks and condition that they decided to sell the rights of "The Brute Man" to an inferior yet more unscrupulous production company. Is it immoral and completely insensitive to cash in on the physical handicaps of actors and deliberately use their disfigurements to frighten viewers? Yes, probably
On the other hand, it was Hatton's looks that put the food on the table during the last years of his life and made him a cult monument. If he was a "regular" actor, Hatton would have been long forgotten, but now – more than sixty years after his death – he's still a genre legend almost as famous as Boris Karloff or Lon Chaney even though he starred in a lot less films. "The Brute Man" on itself, with its running time of barely 1 hour, is actually a very passable and unmemorable film. Hatton stars as Hal Moffat, but the tabloids and news bulletins baptized him as The Creeper. Moffat is out on a vengeance spree to kill all the people that he holds responsible for the chemistry lab accident that mutilated his face. Whilst on the run for the police, he breaks into the apartment of blind but beautiful and gentle piano teacher Helen Paige. Since she can't see his face and refuses to judge him, a tender friendship develops between them. The plot – as far as there is one – makes very little sense. The film somehow wants us to believe that Hal Moffat is basically a good and gracious person who got wronged by various opponents. But, quite frankly, what happened to him at school is ludicrous and he was responsible for his accident himself. Also, even though he's being sensitive and warm to Helen he still continues his murder spree and also kills innocent people like grocery delivery boys. The police hunt for The Creeper is dull and the entire story is pretty much told in a mere ten minutes.
Review of The Brute Man
