Filming Location: BODY DOUBLE - the Chemosphere House

Movie Location - The Chemosphere House

(seen in Body Double (1984), The Outer Limits (1963))

Retro-futuristic architecture is even more fun to visit if it's appeared in a movie. This octagonal house, built on a single stilt, looks too visually interesting to be true. I thought it might even have been a special effect, when I saw it in Body Double. It certainly looks like it's been drastically enhanced by matte painting in this grab...

Brian De Palma's sexed up reworking of Hitchcock's Rear Window certainly intends that we're more interested in what the occupier is looking at out of such a structure. With a view of half of Los Angeles, one window catches Craig Wasson's attention, as it provides a steady stream of nudity, sex and violence...

Body Double also stars Melanie Griffith, Gregg Henry and, Frankie Goes To Hollywood! An explicit, sexual thriller, De Palma attempts to outdo Dressed To Kill and give his critics the finger at the same time. It's most famous for a ridiculous murder weapon, more fearsome than a chain saw but barely portable...

In the 80s, I'd originally assumed that De Palma was the first to use such a great location, and that it was also a relatively new building. I was in for a surprise when watching the second series of the original The Outer Limits. 'The Duplicate Man' episode had used it first, twenty years earlier, with a tale of a psychotically violent, escaped alien prisoner, the Megasoid...

Yes, that's a Megasoid...

Honestly, it's more fearsome in the story, (primarily a take on the dangers of cloning). The episode also shows the lift that allows access to the house from ground level.

The design inspired the look of Sam Rockwell's house in the first Charlie's Angels movie (2000) - but updated it with a more futuristic look.

The Chemosphere House was built in 1960, designed by architect John Lautner. It's also been called 'the flying saucer house', despite the angles. The unusual design partly inspired by the need to build on a 45-degree slope! Besides looking great, the views from inside must be glorious.

Our recent trip to Los Angeles involved driving over the Hollywood Hills a few times. Near the Universal City Overlook, an official observation point on Mulholland Drive, there's a turning for Torreyson Drive along which you can find the Chemosphere. Its single stilt now largely obscured  by trees.

Here's the location on Google Maps, note the Chemosphere is bottom left. But obviously have a little respect, it's still a privately-owned house.

And here's a well-illustrated article with more spectacular views of the house...

(Top photo and last two photos taken by Mark Hodgson and David Tarrington.)