In the 1959 “B” movie classic ‘House on Haunted Hill,’ rich oddball Frederick Loren has a proposal for five guests at a possibly haunted mansion: show up, survive a night filled with scares and receive $10,000 each.
The guest of honor is Loren’s estranged wife, Annabelle, who has also concocted a little scheme with one of the guests. However, more spooks and shocks throw a wrench into those plans.
‘House on Haunted Hill’ just like ‘Night of the Living Dead,’ is an entertaining example of a low budget, “B” movie that should be seen during the Halloween season.
This 1959 classic is well known for its opening sequence where all we hear are scary noises for roughly a minute or so. Just listening to the noises already gives the film a sort of campy vibe. Some of the film can be rather campy at times, but it’s still a really fun watch.
Horror legend Vincent Price does an outstanding job as the mysterious millionaire who’s the host of the party. I haven’t seen any other films featuring Price yet, but after watching this, I might have to change that. There are a couple scenes where we see Price talking to some of the guests and with how the filmmakers shot the scenes, it almost makes it look like his character is talking to the audience.
‘House on Haunted Hill’ also delivers quite a few little twists and turns that will really keep you entertained. Sure, there are quite a few scares that are part of the long list of haunted house film cliches, such as a self-playing organ and others. But, all of those moments still make this film truly fun.
Even though it may not be entirely spooky, the original ‘House on Haunted Hill’ is an amusing watch for the Halloween season.
The opening “Scare Trick” was so effective that it actually started the idea of novelty “haunting records.” Records of spooky sounds, sound effects and music that were most commonly used for Halloween, Halloween parties, and make-shift haunted house attractions.
The 1959 classic is also included among the American Film Institute’s 2001 list of 400 movies nominated for the top 100 Most Heart-Pounding American Movies. In 1999, a remake of ‘House on Haunted Hill’ was released in theaters and became a decent hit. And, speaking of the remake, let’s talk about that real quick!
In the 1999 remake, a millionaire with theatrical tendencies, Stephen Price invites a number of people to stay in a creepy building that used to be an insane asylum. Stephen, accompanied by his wife, offers a million dollars to anyone who can stay the whole night without leaving out of fear.
When Stephen and his wife become trapped with their guests, they quickly realize that the place really is haunted - and the spirits dwelling within are very angry.
The 1999 remake is more of a re-imagining of the 1959 classic. Just like the classic, some of the thrills can be rather cheap, yet a few of them can actually be on the scary side. There are a few scenes where the remake can get really creepy, especially when the spirits of the insane asylum start wreaking havoc.
Sure, the remake/re-imagining isn’t really perfect and does have a few weak spots. But, I honestly think of it as a guilty pleasure - it may not be the best, but it’s still entertaining!
Both ‘House on Haunted Hill’ and the 1999 remake are currently available on Tubi. Also, check the theater listings on the website for show dates and times for the 1959 original!
Although this was one of Allied Artists' most profitable films of that period, it fell into the public domain. Despite the widespread availability on home video, the current (2018) holder of the Allied Artists library, Warner Bros., still receives bookings for 35mm release prints.
The large grosses for this film were noticed by Alfred Hitchcock. This led him to create his own low-budget horror film--Psycho (1960).
The opening "Scare Trick" was so effective that it actually started the idea of novelty "haunting records." Records of spooky sounds, sound effects, and music that were most commonly used for Halloween, Halloween parties, and make-shift haunted house attractions.
Cassandra Peterson (Elvira - Mistress of the Dark) once said on Larry King Live (1985) that this was her favorite horror film.
The failure of the original copyright holder to renew the film's copyright resulted in it falling into public domain, meaning that virtually anyone could duplicate and sell a VHS/DVD copy of the film. Therefore, many of the versions of this film available on the market are either severely (and usually badly) edited and/or of extremely poor quality, having been duped from second- or third-generation (or more) copies of the film.
The opening was something of a jump scare gimmick. The total darkness accompanied by horrible noises echoing in a large movie theater would have been terrifying in those days. The effect most likely is lost on modern viewers watching the film on a smaller television screen without the theatrical sound system, volume, and near-total darkness.
The skeleton that rises from the vat of acid is a real human skeleton. Like most movies, it was simply faster and cheaper to buy a real human skeleton from a biological supply house than having one created by the special effects department.
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