House on Haunted Hill

House on Haunted Hill (1959)

Runtime: 75 minutes

Directed by: William Castle

Starring: The Great Vincent Price, Elisha Cook, Jr., Carol Ohmart, Richard Long

From: William Castle Productions

To end this month of talking about horror movies, it is appropriate to talk about a classic haunted house film that I just finished watching on Turner Classic Movies. I had seen it once before but that was many years ago. My plans are that I’ll talk about something in another genre and then after that I’ll talk about another horror movie, but one that was on the big screen. No, not a Saw movie. I’ve never seen any of them, believe it or not.

This was from master showman William Castle, who was great at coming up with gimmicks to promote his movies, such as with this, theatres could have a skeleton come flying out and about during a certain point in the movie. He was quite the interesting guy and I wish there were more wacky characters like him in the film business now. At least it would make things more fun. His Wikipedia page has some info about him.

The movie is simple yet effective. Floating heads (literally) start off the movie right away and explain what the plot it. I mean, the pace is pretty quick and like with the last movie I reviewed, for its short runtime a lot is packed in. Five random people are chosen by a wacky couple (Price and Ohmart; Price is a huge reason why this movie is as fun as it is) to spend the night in a haunted house. They end up getting locked in there and each have a gun. If they can survive until sun up, each person gets 10 thousand dollars. It’s so simple and yet it manages to work. It sure as hell didn’t work with the 1999 remake of this, though. Just take my word for it: that movie is just awful and unpleasant, while the original is fun and entertaining. It’s not blood-curdling horror by any means but if you enjoy something that’s a little goofy (I mean, a house has a random pit of acid?) then this is not a bad way to spend 75 minutes. It’s always nice to watch Vincent Price in action and as usual he delivered a memorable performance. Also, the performance of the skeleton (billed as "himself") was memorable.

The plot is actually not as straightforward as it may first sound; Price’s old lady is his fourth wife and he apparently wants her killed. So, that adds some drama to things. Then, there are various twists and turns so things aren’t as they first appear to be. Things pop out suddenly and while it’s light in tone it doesn’t mean it’s not suspenseful or dread-filled, as it is if you go with it. That is why the movie is pretty famous in some circles.

I hope that everyone had a nice Halloween. I’ll be back Wednesday night with a new review.