Scripts from the Crypt

He made the Universal back lot his own personal preyground: Rondo Hatton, who attained B-movie stardom at the very end of his life via the role of the spine-snapping serial killer The Creeper. The victim of a disfiguring disease, Hatton needed no makeup when he played this night stalker in The Pearl of Death (1944), House of Horrors (1946) and The Brute Man (1946).

A lot of misery and physical pain were packed into Rondo Hatton’s 51 years on Earth and he met his challenges with courage. This book tells his full story and pays tribute with a biography chapter, the lowdown on The Brute Man’s production and theatrical release, artist George Chastain’s tribute to other “brute men” of the movies, and more. Also: Rondo’s miraculous 21st-century “rebirth” as a coveted award for the finest in Monster Kid achievement.