House on Haunted Hill

1959 "Consult your doctor! Bring your seat belts!"
6.8| 1h15m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 17 February 1959 Released
Producted By: Allied Artists Pictures
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

Frederick Loren has invited five strangers to a party of a lifetime. He is offering each of them $10,000 if they can stay the night in a house. But the house is no ordinary house. This house has a reputation for murder. Frederick offers them each a gun for protection. They all arrived in a hearse and will either leave in it $10,000 richer or leave in it dead!

Genre

Horror, Mystery

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Director

William Castle

Production Companies

Allied Artists Pictures

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House on Haunted Hill Audience Reviews

Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.
Jacomedi A Surprisingly Unforgettable Movie!
Casey Duggan It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny
Tayyab Torres Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.
jadavix "House on Haunted Hill" is a horror movie which may have been unfairly relegated to the bargain bin of history due to the gimmickry of its infamous filmmaker, William Castle. Indeed, during its first showings in the fifties, a skeleton would be lowered down into the audience during a key scene - but apparently this trick was resigned when cinema goers started throwing things at it.Castle, as it turns out, didn't need to resort to such things. He was a more than capable filmmaker: "House on Haunted Hill" features many genuinely shocking, and even frightening, moments.The plot concerns an eccentric millionaire - played by, who else? Vincent Price - who invites a group of people to stay in a supposedly haunted house. If they can last the night, he will give them $10,000.Of course, there are signs that the house may indeed be haunted, but everything is not what it seems, and the guests may have more to fear than spooks.Aside from the indelible Vincent Price, the movie also stars Elisha Cook Jr., a character actor who looks like a smaller, traumatised Jack Nicholson, and Julie Mitchum (brother of Robert) in the last film of her negligible acting career.I was a little troubled by the ending, which seems to try for an open-ended lack of resolution, but doesn't quite get there. Instead it made me think I'd misunderstood something.Aside from this, "House on Haunted Hill" is a must watch for horror fans.
Art Vandelay Vincent Price and the wife are creepy. Elisha Cook is freaking everyone out with this ghost stories. It's a house of murder. The old lady (caretaker?) popping out of the shadows made me jump. There's a nice plot twist. But then the movie drove itself off a cliff. That skeleton. C'mon. I've seen scarier skeletons at the chiropractor's office. And then a semi-confession and boom, movie pretty much ends. It's like back in in the VCR days when you'd tape a late-night movie and your tape would run out before the movie ended. Maybe they ran out of money before they filmed a proper 3rd act.
Michael Ledo This is an old classic available on nearly every old horror film multi-pack in various restored conditioned.A "party" is being held and 5 strangers are invited to spend the night with a reward of $10,000 in 1959 dollars. It is hosted by Vincent Price and his wife Annabelle (Carol Ohmart). Nora Manning (Carolyn Craig) is set up as the "Final Girl" except that formula didn't exist. Special effects include doors closing by themselves, still used today in found footage films. It also has a floating head effect using a black background, common in 50's films. The sound track would be considered over-the-top camp by today's standards, but how else can you make this stuff scary? The feature includes Elisha Cook Jr., who would later defend Capt. Kirk when he was accused of neglect in the death of Finney. He always creates a great character. TV star Richard Long had the classic slick "Brylcreem" hair of the era with a big part on the left side, a style I was forced to wear until adulthood...scarred for life. Worth the flashback.
tomgillespie2002 Horror icon Vincent Price has played the role of a wealthy eccentric countless times, usually holed up in a beautiful if macabre and mysterious castle while toying with his visitors. It's a role that fits his slightly creepy yet irresistibly likable persona like a glove, and served him well throughout his extensive career. Before he became the wink-to-the-camera rogue in the films of Roger Corman and many others, he tended to play his parts more straight-faced, but always with a playful aura. One of his most enjoyable roles is in William Castle's House on Haunted Hill, a film that embraces cliché and camp, yet undoubtedly inspired countless haunted house movies that came in the years that followed.Price plays a charismatic millionaire named Frederick Loren who, at the request of his wife Annabelle (Carol Ohmart), rents a supposedly haunted house to throw a party. He invites five guests - test pilot Lance Schroeder (Richard Long), psychiatrist Dr. David Trent (Alan Marshal), newspaper columnist Ruth Bridgers (Julie Mitchum), one of Loren's employees Nora Manning (Carolyn Craig), and the house's owner Watson Pritchard (Elisha Cook Jr.) - to survive the night for a $10,000 reward. They are each given a small coffin containing a gun, and are offered one last chance to leave before the doors close and lock at midnight. Needing the money and believing the spooky occurrences to be the work of cheap tricks, they all stay, but regret the decision when one of the group is found hanged.It's incredibly basic stuff and only runs for 75 minutes, but Castle's ability to keep the audience guessing and Price's wonderful, brooding performance makes House on Haunted Hill stand out above its many imitators. Castle was known for his gimmicks in the theatre, and here employed 'Emergo', which involved a skeleton being dangled above its terrified audience. Watching it at home, the fun to be had back in the day is of course lost, but the film offers enough genuine jump frights and camp-yet-charming effects to make this an incredibly fun experience on its own. It's certainly not scary, and one scene in particular had me laughing out loud (if you've seen the film, you'll know which moment I mean), but Castle's finest movie makes for a nice alternative to the blood and guts that dominated the genre in the years to come. A silly, deliciously entertaining throwback.