House On Haunted Hill Review

‘House on Haunted Hill’ (1959) is a gem of a film. I’ve watched it for years now and I have a great time doing so every time. The house is spooky, the jumps scary, and the shrieks ear piercing, just the way they should be!

Vincent Price does an outstanding job as Frederick Loren, an eccentric millionaire who devises a plan; he invites five seemingly random people to an old house he rents for a party in the hopes that the “haunted house” will do the deed of killing off his greedy wife for him. However, his wife Annabelle (Carol Ohmart) has no intention of going quietly and has dastardly plans of her own. Who will survive this night is anyone’s guess.

Frederick’s incentive is simple: $50,000 is to be split amongst any of the guests who remain in the house the entire evening and live to see the morning. It’s a simple enough premise if it wasn’t complicated by floating ghosts, falling chandeliers, vats of acid, walking skeletons, and hanging guests!

I love this movie because it doesn’t take itself serious. It is standard haunted house fare, a big house, isolated and locked down with only one entrance that can’t be opened until dawn of the next morning. Two creepy caretakers, lots of rooms with bars on the windows, and plenty of hidden passages make finding a way out impossible and give the nefarious plenty of opportunities to conduct their dastardly deeds. Cheesy gags that are purposely meant to frighten the guests but are not real in the context of the story add to the mischievousness.

Throw in the psycho guest who believes in ghost and babbles constantly about the evil history of the house (the owner of the house in this story), the Doctor that seems to be present in every haunted house story, the alpha male hero of the group, and the easily frightened woman with a scream that can shatter glass, and you’re in for a great time even if it is fairly predictable.

There are enough of these type films that you have to really want to enjoy a film, and not critique it, to really understand why this film stands above most others. It is by no means a masterpiece of cinema but the actors all do great jobs portraying characters needed to make a story such as this come together. The house doesn’t detract, and the frights given by the gags you see make up for the shortage of any real ghostly frights elsewhere; this is one of the few haunted house movies I’ve seen where the house itself doesn’t deliver any frights.

‘House on Haunted Hill’ was directed by William Castle who was known for his in-theatre gimmicks. This movie was labeled as being filmed in “Emergo”, and during one scene where a skeleton walks towards Frederick’s wife, an actual skeleton hung on a wire would fly out from the side of the screen and float over the audience. Unfortunately the gimmick was short lived, once word got out about it the skeleton became the target of soda cups, sling shots and anything else that could be thrown at it. I would have loved to have seen it myself.

‘House on Haunted Hill’ is a typical Vincent Price classic and deservedly so. Go into it expecting such and you’re in for a great time.

The movie is embedded below for your viewing.

Horror Hotel Review

‘Horror Hotel’ (1960) was a refreshing change of pace from the recent horror films I’ve seen of late. The black and white photography fits the colonial timeframe of the picture perfectly, and it does a great job giving you a sense of isolation, maybe even that you are lost in time.

But don’t let the pretty pictures fool you, things are definitely not right in Whitewood, Massachusetts. Witchcraft is the order of the day for college student Nan Barlow (Venetia Stevenson) who is visiting the town to do research for her term paper. She is studying under Prof. Alan Driscoll (Christopher Lee) and he has sent her to this little town as it has some historical significance; years earlier, a witch by the name of Elizabeth Selwyn was burned at the stake for witchcraft there.

However if there is one thing “research” usually leads too, it’s sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong. She discovers a witch’s cult in Whitewood and in doing so becomes an unwilling participant in this year’s Candlemas ceremony.

Later, Nan fails to show up at a party she was expected at and her family and friends start to worry. They invade the town of Whitewood to find out what happened. With Candlemas Eve past them and the Witches’ Sabbath only days away, they have little time to find out the doings of the witch’s cult that has roosted in Whitewood for centuries before others go missing as well.

Venetia and Betta St. John (who plays Patricia Russell) both give good performances as does Norman Macowan who plays the town’s pastor, Reverend Russell. Christopher Lee is always exceptional and although his part here is minor compared to others, it still stands out as a great role for him. The music in the film is decent as well and it manages to do a great job of adding to each scene in which it is present, truly atmospheric.

But still, the fog shrouded town of Whitewood is the stand out of the movie. With what is apparently a population of fewer than 15 people, the buildings (all shot on sets, no location shooting) and residents do an outstanding job of placing you in the colonial era and letting you know all too well that you are not welcome in their quaint little town. This is a witchcraft practicing town that intends on staying that way. That is, unless Nan’s friends have anything to say about it.

If witch stories, colonial period pieces, and just a tad bit of fright is your thing, ‘Horror Hotel’ (or as it was originally titled, ‘The City of the Dead’) is a definite see. Just don’t go into it expecting the next great ‘Drag Me To Hell’ movie or you will be very disappointed. This 1960 film was released the same year as ‘Psycho’ and, like it’s Hitchcock peer, shows its age when watching by newcomers to that era of horror film.

The movie is embedded below for your viewing.

Carnival of Souls Review

I owned ‘Carnival of Souls’on DVD almost a full year before I actually sat down to watch it, but had I known what I was getting I never would have waited so long. It is one movie that is definitely a cult film, you will either be a rabid fan of it or fail to see just what the hype is about. I was truly fixated on Candace Hilligoss’ performance, the organ music and just the overall look and feel of the film. Even the ambient sounds during various scenes kept me both watching and listening.

Gene Moore did the pipe organ score for the film, haunting in its own right, and used everywhere, from Candace’s role as an organist in the film, to scene scores and it even plays from a radio you see in the film. You never get tired of hearing it.

‘Carnival of Souls’ tells the story of Mary Henry, played by Candace, a professional organist who is the sole survivor in an auto accident. Although you have no idea of how Mary was before the accident it is mentioned early in the film that she’s different for some reason, not herself, changed since the accident.

Not to put her life on hold, she moves to a new town and takes on a job as a church organist. Along the way, she sees an abandoned carnival alongside the road that keeps her attention; she’s brought back to it several times for some reason, haunting her. Mary also encounters moments of strange phenomena where suddenly and for no reason, all the sound in the air is gone, she doesn’t appear to be visible to anyone, and no one responds or acknowledges her in any way. Later, just as quickly as it started, it ends. Ghostly people appear to her randomly, first just one man is seen several times, but towards the end of the film there are many.

While she struggles to understand it all, a neighbor of hers starts to be pushy, wanting to be close to her, the church pastor fires her from her job, a doctor starts to question her sanity. Yet, it’s all done in such a way to make it somewhat interesting and not detract from Mary’s delusions, and in some ways they add to them.

The twist to it all revealed at the end is never fully explained that I saw, but that’s part of what makes this film work. Add in Sidney Berger’s decent performance of her alcoholic neighbor and the intriguing carnival grounds themselves, throw action out the window but psychological suspense in and you have a great way to spend 80 minutes.