House on Haunted Hill (1959) (original) (raw)
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Original title
House on Haunted Hill
Year
1959
Running time
75 min.
Country
United States
Director
Screenwriter
Cast
Music
Cinematography
Producer
Genre
Horror. Mystery | Supernatural. Haunted Houses
Movie Groups
Synopsis
Vincent Price has one of his juiciest roles in this haunted-house thriller as millionaire playboy Frederick Loren, who invites five guests out to a genuine haunted house, offering them each $10,000 if they spend the night. Elisha Cook Jr. plays one of the guests, a nervous alcoholic who has been in this house before and witnessed some terrible things. Mr. Loren's beautiful but treacherous wife (Carol Ohmart) is also present--and might be out to kill Frederick during the course of the evening; then again, he might be out to kill her. Severed heads, a skeleton, an acid vat, ghostly screams, and a noose that creeps around on its own and strangles unsuspecting victims are just some of the treats in a film that has been spooking delighted audiences on late-night TV for decades. Producer-director William Castle (THE TINGLER) claimed this was filmed in a process called Emergo, which meant that at a key moment a glow-in-the-dark skeleton on a wire was rigged to sail over the audience's heads. The skeleton is long since gone, but the goofy thrills remain in this classic tale, from a script by Robb White.
Rankings Position
Critics' reviews
- "[House On Haunted Hill,] unlike the majority of recent horror films which have depended on mutilations or monsters for chills, reverts to the fundamental of the ghost story -- fear of the unknown."
- "Children may cringe, adults will laugh this one off."
- "The only shocking thing about this film is its utter ineptness."
- "If one had to pick the best of the campy horror films that made [Castle's] reputation, this 1958 feature would probably be it."
- "There's no denying that Castle's directorial crassness does actually supply some genuinely frightening moments."
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