History Film / TheBruteMan

* SinisterSuffocation: The Creeper's favored murder method is strangulation, which he does with such strength that it goes as quickly as possible and the necks don't necessarily stay whole.
* SnoopingLittleKid: Jimmy is a naïve college-age youngster with a strong interest in the world of criminals and detectives. The ongoing Creeper-centric news items have his attention and so he leaps to the conclusion that the order list secretively delivered to the grocery store must've come from the Creeper. His boss thinks it's nonsense, but because Jimmy has to deliver the order anyway, he has some time to snoop around at the address. It turns out he's right and it is the Creeper who placed the order, but Jimmy lethally fails to keep himself hidden while trying to catch a glimpse of the killer. The boy's disappearance prompts his boss to reconsider his suspicions and call the police to give them the story and the address. That afternoon, Jimmy's corpse is a solid clue to the police that they've found the Creeper's hideout.
* {{Socialite}}: Joan Bemis is introduced while she sees her guests off after a well-received fancy party. She's invited herself for lunch the next morning and evidently lives the single life. The headline upon her murder even identifies her as a socialite.

* SportsHeroBackstory: The Creeper, as Hal, was a star football player back when he was a student at Hampton University and is counted as one of the best ever to come from that university. A particularly celebrated match occurred in his final year against Rensler University, which Hampton won 21 to 7. Hal was responsible for three touchdowns, many broken-field runs, and another three times he converted for extra points; all in all being given near-full credit for the victory that day.
* StockFootage: The opening scenes feature many police cars and motorcycles rolling out, all of which was shot for an older film. The same goes for the bird's-eye view scenes during the football game. The intro footage of the Creeper's walking shadow are recycled from ''House of Horrors''.

* TranquilFury: The Creeper gets his hands on one of the extra edition newspapers revealing that Helen is now working with the police to get him behind bars. Helen was the only person to show the Creeper kindness in a long time and he has gone out of his way to repay her by getting money for her to have eye surgery. The look on his face when he looks up from the newspaper is the most hate-filled one he ever sports in the course of the film as he decides then and there to murder her.

* MeaningfulGift: The Creeper stalks the streets and comes across a luxurious costume brooch in a window display. It depicts a bird and is fitted with rhinestones and molded glass. At this point, the Creeper has only met Helen once and although she showed him kindness, the police cut their talk short. Still, the moment he sees the brooch he thinks of her and that it'll make a fine gift if he'd go back, which he does that very evening. It's only when she doesn't respond when he holds up the gift that he realizes that she's blind. Though when he hands it over, she can feel that it is quality piece of jewelry and is delighted.

* MoralityPet: Despite that they met when the Creeper burgled his way into her apartment and vaguely threatened her, Helen never fears him and gives him the benefit of doubt when he admits to being chased by some men. She helps him escape them and the Creeper returns later to thank her. They strike up a friendship; the only positive interaction the Creeper has with anyone in the film. Where at best he intimidates others, he goes out of his way to care for Helen, even taking some risks to finance her eye surgery.
* MusicForCourage: Helen was playing piano moments before she befriended the Creeper. When he leaves and she hears gunshots and other noises of struggle, which she believes to be from the Creeper as he tries to escape dangerous gansters, she can't do anything to help him and instead resumes playing piano to keep herself calm and hopeful.

* NewspaperBackstory: While going through the Creeper's stuff, Donelly finds a bundle of newspaper clippings that are of major benefit to the investigation. The one article the camera zooms in on is titled "Popular Trio" and shows a photo of three former Hampton University students: Clifford Scott, Virginia Rogers, and Hal Moffat. By process of elimination, the police are quick to deduce that Hal is the Creeper and when questioned, the other two have information that convincingly outlines a motive.

* PoorCommunicationKills: The police have the Creeper in their sights when he enters an apartment through an open window. Helen, the woman living there, is blind and ends up sympathetic to the Creeper when he tells her some men are after him. With the police at the door, Helen instructs him to hide while she tries to throw them off his trail. As per the Hot Pursuit doctrine, the police barge in in search for the Creeper and do not specifically identify themselves, which wouldn't be all that necessary if Helen could only see their uniforms. But she can't, and she specifically doesn't say this to the men because it allows her to honestly answer, when questioned, that she didn't see anyone. As a result of the miscommunication, the Creeper gets away.

On February 2, 1946, Rondo Hatton died from the progression of his acromegaly, and his failing health in the months prior affected production of ''The Brute Man'' as his scenes needed to be retaken the most by far. ''House of Horrors'' was still released on February 22, but ''The Brute Man'' was kept back. There are two (non-conflicting) stories as to why. One goes that after Hatton's death from the very thing that got him his contract, Universal feared that releasing the film would generate controversy. The other relates to the merge of Universal and International Pictures in mid-1946 and the studio's new A-Movie-focused business model. The horror genre in particular had become synonymous with B-Movies and Universal rapidly released most of them in anticipation of the merge, so ''The Brute Man'' became a prime candidate for peddling when it was still on the shelves post-merge. In any case, ''The Brute Man'' was sold to Producers Releasing Corporation in August for a little over the cost of production, $125,000, which incidentally makes it one of PRC's expensive films. PRC brought the film to theaters on October 1, 1946, after which it fell off the radar for a few decades. Today, ''The Brute Man'' is owned by Cinedigm following its acquisition of Films Around the World.

The Creeper's past takes inspiration from Hatton's own history and the marketing Hollywood launched around it. Hatton himself was a popular student and an avid football player since his high school days, taking up coaching and sports journalism when he aged out of his prime. During UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, Hatton fought in France and was exposed to poison gas. He got diagnosed with acromegaly during the 1920s and by 1938, when Hatton had a handful of film roles to his name, the popular story was that his acromegaly was a result of the gas exposure. Likewise, the Creeper develops acromegaly from being caught in a chemical explosion during laboratory work. A nod is made too to Universal's film history through the presence of a kind and blind musician, which, like it does the Creeper, a decade prior humanized FrankensteinsMonster in ''Film/BrideOfFrankenstein''.

* ActOfTrueLove: The Creeper knows that if Helen could see, she likely would have been repulsed like everyone else and not befriended him. And if she would get a surgery to see again, she might very well reject him after all. But she's shown him a kindness he hasn't experienced in a long time and for that, he's willing to risk losing her by getting the money together for her to pay for surgery. It's not a small amount either and requires the Creeper to abandon the plans he returned to his home city for in the first place so he can focus on getting the money.

* ConcealingCanvas: Virginia hides her jewels in a wall safe hidden behind a painting of some flowers in her bedroom. It is one of several paintings in the well-decorated room, so the hiding spot is a fairly good one.

* DramaticSitDown: Aside from the Creeper coming into her apartment without asking the evening they met, Helen has only ever been treated with kindness, concern, and candidness by him. She values his visits and believes him to be good person that at most has made a misstep to get in trouble with some other men. When she learns that those other men are the police trying to capture because he's a multi-count murderer, she needs to sit down to let that reality sink in.
* DutchAngle: The Creeper is sometimes in frame with the camera aiming up from the side to add an intimidation factor. The Dutch angle is used in the opening scene as he calmly evades the police, when he notices Jimmy peaking through his window, when he approaches to murder Jimmy, and when he walks over to Helen's apartment to take revenge her for her betrayal.

** With the police hot on his trail, the Creeper climbs up the fire escape and enters an open window from which piano music flows. The pianist is Helen and she befriends the Creeper. After that, he twice uses the door to visit her, but he's on the run from the police again the fourth time. To keep them off his trail, he uses the window again. His fifth visit is also by window, this time because he intends to murder her, so it's the more fitting way to get to her.

* EtTuBrute: The Creeper is still looking into getting money for Helen's surgery when he hears a paperboy shout about how a blind woman is now helping the police catch the Creeper. The words hit hard, so he buys himself a newspaper to ensure there's no misunderstanding and when he's sure, he heads over to Helen's apartment to kill her for her treachery. But this was all a setup for Helen's true betrayal: a police ambush with herself as the bait. The cops jump out of their hiding places before the Creeper can lay a finger on her and overpower him. With the danger averted, Helen needs time to come to terms with her guilt.

* FreakLabAccident: In utter rage that Clifford has misled him about the answers to the chemistry test that day and makes a show of taking Victoria on a date while he is stuck making up for the test with an assignment, Hal throws an erlenmeyer he's working with to the ground. The chemicals inside generate and explosion in which Hal gets caught. The initial injuries are bad enough to require his head to be fully bandaged, but the chemicals also affect his glands and nerves, meaning his disfiguration continues and he'll never have his old looks back.
* FreshClue: The Creeper takes the secret entrance out of his hideout when he hears the police coming. His opportunity to get away is narrow and he can't afford to turn off the stove with which he was heating water for coffee. The police duo realize the Creeper can't be far away and order over more men to comb the waterfront, but the murderer manages to elude them.
* FreudianSlip: After the police commissioner chews him out to distract the city representatives, Lieutenant Gates says that he'll "pass the buc--the ''word'' to the rest of the department."

* GratuitousLaboratoryFlasks: The front of the university's chemistry lab is filled with all kinds of glassware and labelled bottles, even though the area is so small at most two people could work there. Hal has to perform an experiment at the table in the center where all manners of glassware stands ready, but he only seems to need four or so pieces and the ones he does use he doesn't use the way they should be used.

* LetsSplitUpGang: Captain Donelly and Lieutenant Gates together go check if the Creeper is hiding at waterfront shack 23. The Creeper notices them in time and escapes through a secret door. When Donelly and Gates enter, they find the stove on and Jimmy's fresh corpse in the corner. Despite the clear threat, Donelly sends Gates away to get some men and search the waterfront while he himself continues to look though the Creeper's possessions for clues. fortunately for Donelly, the Creeper doesn't feel like taking risks and stays in hiding.

The Creeper series was announced on November 8, 1944 when trades such as ''The Hollywood Reporter'' and the ''New York Herald Tribune'' reported that Ben Pivar had been given the task of renewing Universal's horror stable and that the Creeper series was the foremost project. The first film of the series was to be called ''The House of Horrors''. However, as early as December 16, the ''Showmen's Trade Review'' and others stated that the first film was to be titled ''The Brute Man''. This name showed up as the first film to be until around July, followed by the first mention of ''Murder Mansion'' on September 7. ''Murder Mansion'' is the mid-production name for ''House of Horrors''. It's possible that the three names were all tied to the same script, but it's also possible that there were arguments behind the scenes which film should be the first. In the end, ''The Brute Man'' became the second film, with filming starting on November 15, 1945.

On February 2, 1946, Rondo Hatton died from the progression of his acromegaly, and his failing health in the months prior affected production of ''The Brute Man''. Many times, his scenes needed to be retaken and a few settled-on shots betray that Hatton's focus was elsewhere. ''House of Horrors'' was still released on February 22, but ''The Brute Man'' was kept back. There are two (non-conflicting) stories as to why. One goes that after Hatton's death from the very thing that got him his contract, Universal feared that releasing the film would generate controversy. The other goes that when Universal and International Pictures merged in mid-1946 and a new A-Movie-focused course was taken, Universal-International wanted to be rid of several B-Movies still on the shelves. The horror genre in particular had become synonymous with B-Movies and Universal got most out in anticipation of the merge, so ''The Brute Man'' was a prime candidate for peddling. In any case, ''The Brute Man'' was sold to Producers Releasing Corporation in August for a little over the cost of production, $125,000, which incidentally makes it one of PRC's expensive films. PRC brought the film to theaters on October 1, 1946, after which it fell off the radar for a few decades. Today, ''The Brute Man'' is owned by Cinedigm following its acquisition of Films Around the World.

The Creeper series was announced on November 8, 1944 when trades such as ''The Hollywood Reporter'' and the ''New York Herald Tribune'' reported that Ben Pivar had been given the task of renewing Universal's horror stable and that the Creeper series was the foremost project. The first film of the series was to be called ''The House of Horrors''. However, as early as December 16, the ''Showmen's Trade Review'' and others stated that the first film was to be called ''The Brute Man''. This name showed up as the first film to be until around July, alongside notifications that ''Murder Mansion'', a pre-production name for ''House of Horrors'', would be the first Creeper film. It's possible that the three names were all tied to the same script, but it's also possible that there were arguments behind the scenes which film should be the first. In the end, ''The Brute Man'' became the second film, with filming starting on November 15, 1945.

''The Brute Man'' is a Franchise/UniversalHorror BMovie that falls under both the {{Thriller}} and {{Horror}} genres and occasionally dips into FilmNoir and proto-SlasherMovie territory. It is the second Creeper film and a {{prequel}} to ''House of Horrors'', made and released mere months later. The story sees the Creeper return to his home city after years of absence to take murderous revenge on his old university classmates for the circumstances that left him with a disfigured face. Universal's faith in the Creeper series was strong, but ''The Brute Man'' is its last entry because of the rapidly declining health and eventual death of Creator/RondoHatton. ''The Brute Man'' was his last film.

''The Brute Man'' is a Franchise/UniversalHorror BMovie that falls under both the {{Thriller}} and {{Horror}} genres and occasionally dips into FilmNoir and proto-SlasherMovie territory. It is the second Creeper film and a {{prequel}} to ''House of Horrors'', made and released only months apart. The story sees the Creeper return to his home city after years of absence to take murderous revenge on his old university classmates for the circumstances that left him with a disfigured face. Universal's faith in the Creeper series was strong, but ''The Brute Man'' is its last entry because of the rapidly declining health and eventual death of Creator/RondoHatton. ''The Brute Man'' was his last film.

* DeathGlare: Before his disappearance, the volatile Hal could conjure up an ominous glare if physical violence, for the time being, was not an option. As the Creeper, he kills with unsettling indifference,

The Creeper's past takes inspiration from Hatton's own history and the marketing Hollywood launched around it. Hatton himself was a popular student and an avid football player since his high school days, taking up coaching and reporting when he aged out of his prime. During UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, Hatton fought in France and was exposed to poison gas. He got diagnosed with acromegaly during the 1920s and by 1938, when Hatton had a handful of film roles to his name, the popular story was that his acromegaly was a result of the gas exposure. Likewise, the Creeper develops acromegaly from being caught in a chemical explosion during laboratory work.

Because ''The Brute Man'' and ''House of Horrors'' were practically produced back-to-back, their credits largely overlap. The directing was handled by Jean Yarbrough, while Philip Cahn did the editing. This includes fitting several scenes of older stock footage in with the new footage.

* ArmorPiercingResponse: Helen is taken to the police station when she unknowingly fences jewelry the Creeper stole for her to pay for surgery. She is shocked to learn that her mysterious new friend is wanted by the police, but knowing him only as a polite and gentle soul, she unassumingly asks what it is that he's done. Captain Donelly bluntly answers "Murder. At wholesale. He happens to be the Creeper." Helen needs to sit down upon hearing that.

* BloodlessCarnage: The Creeper kills by strangulation, so by far most of the film's violence is therefore bloodless. However, the Creeper himself gets shot in the thighs at close range and while it hurts him, it barely incapacitates him and there's only one single shot in which he's bleeding. It's not a lot, though it would be enough to stain the carpet in the next shot if by that time the blood hadn't disappeared.
%%* BlindAndTheBeast: The Creeper is used to rejection and repulsion for his disfigurement, until he runs into the blind Helen. She insists that she can see who he really is inside, and that he's simply misunderstood.

* DeathGlare: Before his disappearance, the volatile Hal could conjure up an ominous glare if physical violence, for the time being, was not an option.

* DutchAngle: The Creeper is sometimes in frame with the camera aiming up from the side to add an intimidation factor. The Dutch angle is used in the opening scene as he calmly evades the police, when he notices Jimmy peaking through his window, when he approaches to murder Jimmy, and when he walks over to Helen's apartment to murder her for her betrayal.

%%* MoralityPet:

* MysteriousNote: Because he can't afford to be seen, the Creeper does his shopping by shoving a list of things he needs and a delivery address under the door of a grocery store at night. The store owner thinks nothing of it as a customer is a customer, but his sole employee

%%* VillainProtagonist: The Creeper's

On February 2, 1946, Rondo Hatton died from the progression of his acromegaly, and his failing health in the months prior affected production of ''The Brute Man''. Many times, his scenes needed to be retaken and a few settled-on shots betray he wasn't all there during filming. ''House of Horrors'' was still released on February 22, but ''The Brute Man'' was kept back. There are two (non-conflicting) stories as to why. One goes that after Hatton's death from the very thing that got him his contract, Universal feared that releasing the film would generate controversy. The other goes that when Universal and International Pictures merged in mid-1946 and a new A-Movie-focussed course was taken, Universal-International wanted to be rid of several B-Movies still on the shelves. The horror genre in particular had become synonymous with B-Movies and the last "true" horror film Universal would release in the 1940s was ''The Cat Creeps'' in May, so ''The Brute Man'' was a prime candidate for peddling. In any case, ''The Brute Man'' was sold to Producers Releasing Corporation in August for a little over the cost of production, $125,000, which incidentally makes it one of PRC's expensive films. PRC brought the film to theaters on October 1, 1946, after which it fell off the radar for a few decades. Today, ''The Brute Man'' is owned by Cinedigm following its acquisition of Films Around the World.

The Creeper's past takes inspiration from Hatton's own history and the marketing Universal launched around it. Hatton himself was a popular student and an avid football player since his high school days, taking up coaching and reporting when he aged out of his prime. During UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, Hatton fought in France and was exposed to poison gas. He got diagnosed with acromegaly during the 1920s and by 1938, when Hatton had a handful of film roles to his name, the popular story was that his acromegaly was a result of the gas exposure. Similarly, the Creeper develops acromegaly from being caught in the explosion of a chemical during a laboratory accident.