House on Haunted Hill (1959)


Producer and director William Castle is much more known for his gimmicks than he is for the actual movies he made.  House on Haunted Hill, for example, had a gag called "Emergo", in which at a certain point in the movie a plastic skeleton would emerge from above the screen and float over the audience before being reigned back in. It was one of his more famous tricks, but the reason House on Haunted Hill has remained a Halloween classic all these years, other than the fact it is in the public domain, is that Castle managed to come up with a fun movie to go along with it.

A millionaire names Frederick Loren (Vincent Price) rents a house owned by Watson Pritchard (Elisha Cook Jr.) for a party suggested by his wife Annabelle (Carol Ohmart).  The house Pritchard owns is his family residence and is reputed to be haunted.  Loren offers his guests - pilot Lance Schroeder (Richard Long), secretary Norah Manning (Carolyn Craig), psychologist Dr. David Trent (Alan Marshal) and columnist Ruth Bridges (Julie Mitchum), as well as Pritchard - ten thousand dollars if they can remain in the house from midnight until 8:00 am the next morning.  

The reason the house has a reputation is there had already been seven murders involving previous occupants, including two of Pritchard's family.  It even has a vat of acid in the basement in which one of the victims was dispatched.  As things unfold it is discovered that the Lorens are not a loving couple and that Frederick has a habit of losing wives.  When Annabelle turns up dead everyone, and especially Frederick, comes under suspicion, but it turns out that there may be a bit more of a cunning plot involved.

Robb White wrote the script and, though the mystery at the center of it all is quite convoluted and there is nothing that hasn't been seen before in "old dark house" movies, it is quite a lot of fun.  The movie opens with a blank screen and blood-curdling scream, followed by a number of noises and the disembodied head of Pritchard giving a quick introduction to the house before Loren gives us our cast of characters.  Vincent Price is in prime form in this and, despite the gimmicky premise and Castle's carnival style of presenting a film, keeps things rather low key and doesn't go for some of the hammier acting he is known for.

Carol Ohmart is quite entertaining as Loren's scheming wife, while Richard Long and Carolyn Craig, who get the majority of the screen time other than Price, are okay.  It's the typical square-jawed hero and middle class heroine one sees in many movies of the 1950s, although it's pretty obvious that Craig was hired for her ability to scream her head off.  

Besides the opening the so-called scares, outside of Annabelle appearing outside of Norah's window, are kind of on the corny side.  This is by design as, though Pritchard talks a lot about ghosts in the house, this isn't a movie where any are shown.  If one wants to see ghosts it is best to go for another Castle film, Thirteen Ghosts, in which the audience was originally given special glasses to see them on screen.  This is more of a low-budget murder mystery with some hints of supernatural activity to get things moving.  Move they do, as I have to imagine that William Castle, although an obvious businessman, was forever having a blast making these movies.

House on Haunted Hill (1959)
Time: 75 minutes
Starring: Vincent Price, Carol Ohmart, Richard Long, Carolyn Craig, Elisha Cook Jr., Alan Marshal, Julie Mitchum
Director: William Castle

 

Comments

  1. PT DillowayOctober 20, 2024 at 4:56 PM

    It's pretty quaint by today's standards. I said on my blog it's basically as scary as a Scooby Doo episode.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dick McGeeOctober 21, 2024 at 4:50 AM

    This is one of those annual October films in my circle, as much part of the Halloween season as listening to Alice's Restaurant is part of getting ready for Thanksgiving. Scary, no, but as with moist things the presence of Vincent Price elevates it considerably.

    ReplyDelete

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