House on Haunted Hill (1959)

Director: William Castle

Writer: Robb White

Tagline: See it with someone with warm hands!

Actors: Vincent Price, Carolyn Craig, Richard Long, Elisha Cook Jr., Carol Ohmart, Alan Marshal, Julie Mitchum, Leona Anderson, Howard Hoffman

Runtime: 1h 15m

Category: Ghost, Killer, Psychological

Synopsis: Five strangers with seemingly nothing in common, are invited to a “haunted house” party by the eccentric millionaire, Frederick Loren. He has offered each of the five, ten thousand dollars to stay in the house through the night. The owner of the house, a Mr. Pritchard, one of the five, tells a harrowing tale of murder within the walls of the massive house. Overall a total of seven deaths have occurred at this residence; four men, and three women…the exact number of people at the party.

Once the festivities get underway, so does the terror! Between the bickering of Mr. and Mrs. Loren, and the hysterics of Ms. Nora Manning, it is inevitable that something terrible is going to happen. Later, an evil scheme is revealed that might teeter Mr. Loren’s integrity off kilter. Whose voices are those? Who will survive?

Review: Being the basis of one of my favorite scary movies, House on Haunted Hill (1999) (hey, bet you didn’t see that coming), I just had to review it. Apart from that…this movie was awesome! Anything with Vincent Price in it is bound to be great. I could listen to that man talk for days…maybe even weeks. LunchBox made a really cool observation a couple days ago…what if Vincent Price read the Bible for an audio book? Do you have any idea how many people would buy that? Lots! Read me the Bible Mr. Price!

This movie was really something. The story was different, and new for the times. It was something that kinda made you cringe; that someone would be that nuts to invite you to a haunted house for a party for someone you didn’t even know, and for staying you got ten g’s. It just felt like he was willing something to happen, but that was probably the point anyway. But the story was interesting to say the least. The only things that bothered me about the story were; 1) why the house was so heavily fortified anyway. Not even Mr. Pritchard explained that one. And 2) Dr. Trent. It just seemed cliché that he was schooled in hysterics…almost like he was a deliberately placed character. Maybe it’s just me.

The acting was not bad at all. I actually thought that the acting was dead on with each character. Plus…I can’t knock Price for anything. But I thought that each actor was compelling in their own right and did give me a sense of dedication to their individual character.

The script, I must mention, blew me away. Simple. Profound. Beautiful. They just don’t make scripts like this anymore. I was just taken back by the amount of control and precision delivered with this script. No phoniness, no overly extravagant dialog (like their trying to make it smarter than it really is), not even a single curse word. It’s just amazing! Looking back on some of the movies I’ve seen…I just wince. It pains me to think just how far from the mastery of scripting we, as a cinematic society, have fallen.

Rating: 22. If watched at night, in the dark, this movie is pretty terrifying; nothing like its younger counterpart, but terrifying none the least. My only complaints have been stated above and carry a little pull in my rating. Another thing that got me was the Nora character. I know that she was supposed to be the center of all of the “scariness” but her character just seemed more whiney and needy than necessary. I think that it took away from the scenes a little bit…not much…but a little. But overall I thought that this movie was fantastic and should be viewed by anyone who claims to be a horror movie fanatic. So…see it. (22of25).