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Hillbillys in a Haunted House

Hillbillys in a Haunted House

List Price: $9.99
Your Price: $9.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Merle Haggard vs. John Carradine!
Review: "Hillbillies in a Haunted House" is a sequel to "Las Vegas Hillbillies" and is one of the most entertaining Country and Western monster musicals ever made. Ferlin Husky, Don Bowman, and Joi Lansing are an act on their way to the Nashville Jamboree who decide to spend the night in a haunted house, where they meet up with, among others, Linda Ho, Basil Rathbone, Lon Chaney, a Gorilla, and best of all, the always cheery John Carradine. Along the way there are many country songs (including one truly dreadful number by Joi all about the history of gowns...) some of which are good, and some of which aren't. I loved "The Cat Came Back", and was amused by the extremely youthful Merle Haggard cameos.

There is a conspiracy involving an agency named M.O.T.H.E.R. and a villain named Dr. Fu. There is a guy in a gorilla suit (George Barrows, perhaps?) Best of all is the television broadcast that Jeepers watches to help him go to sleep in which the hilariously scowling faces of the villains haunt poor Jeepers while a bad C&W song is being performed. Needless to say, John Carradine wins the contest for chewing the scenery. His scowls and eyebrow twitches never fail to make me laugh. There are silly subplots about spies and the like, and homage is paid to Ed Wood in the 'timeless' day/night location shots (and continuity gaffes of positively Woodsian proportions.)

Finally arriving in Nashville, the last fifteen or so minutes of the film are good old C&W stage acts like Merle Haggard, Sonny James, Molly Bee, and Marcella Wright.

If you like Country music, particularly the vintage stuff, or you just like goofy, nonsensical movies that make you laugh, though sometimes you aren't sure why, this film is for you.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Merle Haggard vs. John Carradine!
Review: "Hillbillies in a Haunted House" is a sequel to "Las Vegas Hillbillies" and is one of the most entertaining Country and Western monster musicals ever made. Ferlin Husky, Don Bowman, and Joi Lansing are an act on their way to the Nashville Jamboree who decide to spend the night in a haunted house, where they meet up with, among others, Linda Ho, Basil Rathbone, Lon Chaney, a Gorilla, and best of all, the always cheery John Carradine. Along the way there are many country songs (including one truly dreadful number by Joi all about the history of gowns...) some of which are good, and some of which aren't. I loved "The Cat Came Back", and was amused by the extremely youthful Merle Haggard cameos.

There is a conspiracy involving an agency named M.O.T.H.E.R. and a villain named Dr. Fu. There is a guy in a gorilla suit (George Barrows, perhaps?) Best of all is the television broadcast that Jeepers watches to help him go to sleep in which the hilariously scowling faces of the villains haunt poor Jeepers while a bad C&W song is being performed. Needless to say, John Carradine wins the contest for chewing the scenery. His scowls and eyebrow twitches never fail to make me laugh. There are silly subplots about spies and the like, and homage is paid to Ed Wood in the 'timeless' day/night location shots (and continuity gaffes of positively Woodsian proportions.)

Finally arriving in Nashville, the last fifteen or so minutes of the film are good old C&W stage acts like Merle Haggard, Sonny James, Molly Bee, and Marcella Wright.

If you like Country music, particularly the vintage stuff, or you just like goofy, nonsensical movies that make you laugh, though sometimes you aren't sure why, this film is for you.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: The Worst
Review: About as bad as a movie can be. This thing must have even emptied the rural drive-ins it was clearly made for. As for the presence of the great Basil Rathbone, this is an object lesson about what selling out can lead to in the end.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Beautiful Joi Lansing & tradional country music at its best!
Review: At first, i thought i was just buying another run-of-the-mill B movie. But, having the lovely Joi Lansing on the cast list convinced me to buy it! Boy am i glad i did! Not only did i enjoy the many visible and personal charms of the voluptuous Joi Lansing, but, also the great sounds of traditional country music from superstars such as Sonny James, Ferlin Husky, Merle Haggard, and others! Since buying this tape, i have watched it atleast 10 times!! And i plan on watching it a lot more often too! While the storyline is only fair to average, the cast featuring the beauty of Miss Lansing, the great country music stars, and the veteran horror film stars save this movie and its plot! This sequel to "Las Vegas Hillbillys" is far superior than what that flick was.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Rather enjoyable actually...
Review: Hackneyed plot, poor acting, dodgy songs, TERRIBLE miming to those songs and flat direction are all present in HILLBILLYS IN A HAUNTED HOUSE, yet I just can't bring myself to hate this film. Everything is just so sweet and niave, without a hint of malice about it. Seeing Basil Rathbone slumming it made me gasp in horror, but he still tips the film over into 'acceptable' by his mere appearance.
A Country and Western duet and their nervous manager are on the way to the "Nashville Jamboree" when a storm (which we never see) forces them to hole up in the titular haunted mansion. Bag of nerves "Jeepers" needs a rest anyway, so this is the ideal place for a cosy quiet night and a sing-song. Needless to say, the house is occupied by spies who (in typical 'Scooby Doo' manner) use electronic trickery to scare away unwanted visitors. When the spies' pet gorilla (don't ask) kidnaps the female singer "Boots Malone", our two heroes begin the hunt for her. Things wrap up nicely with the trio ending up in Nashville and the last 20 minutes consists of music numbers from people I've never heard of accompanied by stock footage of an appreciative audience from 10 years before!
I mean, just read the audacity of that plot and you'll see what I mean. Joi Lansing as 'Boots' is a pretty & shapely platinum blonde that cheers up the film no end (I didn't think she would fit into that iron maiden in which the villains imprison her as she's, ahem, a little big in front!) and actually offers a nice performance. The comedy is pretty basic, but there are a couple of funny lines lines from nervous wreck "Jeepers" (not many, though!)
Best of all, this film is a reminder of better times that probably never existed and is ideal when you're feeling fed up and need something to watch with a friend, if only to mercilessly pull apart. Even then, you'll have had a good time...

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I'd rather eat green road apples in July than see this again
Review: Hey ya'll. Yessa yessa, this film is scraping the bottom of the cider barrel. Although the voluptious 'Boots Malone' and the Oriental chick with the constant pearl necklace give some great eye candy, this film takes a nose dive shortly after the opening credits. I like the car though, it seems to have been made with over 30 handguns and rifles.

Not much to say here some country singers playing honest to goodness country entertainers wind up staying the night in a house that everyone in town believes is haunted. It's not, it's run by spies or something masterminded by the hot Asian chick, who also has Lou Chaney Jr. (aka The Wolf Man) as a henchman. There is also the skinny, corpse like dude who floats around the movie like a ghastly fart.

The directing is imaginative with the dream sequences. This movie also pulls in country acts by showing them on the television. Yeah right, way to break up a non-existant plot. Even if you like old time country Hee Haw music, this movie is a stretch.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Oh Mr. Rathbone,what happened to you?
Review: How sad to see such a great actor such as Basil Rathbone in this crap after all his great films of the thirties,maybe it was personal financial troubles that forced him to accept his role in this movie that is so bad that it makes Plan 9 look acceptable.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Jeepers !!!!
Review: I can't say anything bad about a movie with Merle Haggard, Joi Lansing, Lon Chaney,Basil Rathborne, JohnCarradine, and Molly Bee. So what if has little or no plot and some bad corny country humor and a man in a goriila suit......I'd sooner watch this than most of latest so-called country music crap

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A JOI TO BEHOLD!!
Review: If you don't have a serious bone in your body, you'll love this 'so-bad-it's-good' movie. It's a follow-up to LAS VEGAS HILLBILLYS with some of the original characters. Ferlin Husky is 'Woody Wetherbee' again...but this time around, the beautiful Joi Lansing takes on Mamie Van Doren's role of 'Boots Malone.' This is an update of one of those Bela Lugosi/East Side Kids/Ghosts-On-The-Loose-type old dark house movies but with country music and film making from the school of Ed Wood Jr. There are the Ed Wood 'confusion between day and night' shots, boom mike shadows, a graveyard at the back of the house resembling the one in "Plan 9" as Richard Webb (TVs Captain Midnight) hides behind a very skinny branch to see Lon Chaney Jr emerge from the crypt. We have a gorilla on the loose and Oriental spies/villains with names like Madam Wong and Dr. Fu. Great dialog, too. Example- Madam Wong (after seeing a kidnapped, bound and gagged Joi Lansing in the cellar)to John Carradine:"YOU IDIOT!" John Carradine:"THE GORILLA DID IT!" The last 15 minutes of the movie consist of great country music acts from the mid 60s. Merle Haggard does the classic "Swingin' Doors" and Molly Bee (looking a bit like a young Connie Stevens in a sequined cowboy hat) does "Heartbreak U.S.A." Sonny James appears earlier for a couple of numbers and the delectable Joi sings her heart out with "Full-Time Lover." (Joi can also be found as an extra feature on Something Weirds 'Horrors Of Spider Island' DVD. It's a Scopitone juke box film short called "Web Of Love" and is worth the price of the disc alone). Buy this DVD now and put it on your shelf next to "ROAD TO NASHVILLE" and "LAS VEGAS HILLBILLIES." Good fun at a good price! Thanks Amazon.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Jumping for Joi in a haunted house!
Review: Joi Lansing stars as "Boots" Malome, a
country-western singer who gets mixed up with spies, ghosts, and
gorillas in a haunted house while taking shelter from a storm on
her way to Nashville with her partner Ferlin Husky. 'Nuff said
about the plot of this strange concoction of horror, music, and
comedy, which is just a contrivance to present the musical
numbers anyway. The rest of the cast features such stalwart
horror-film stars as Basil Rathbone, John Carradine, and Lon
Chaney Jr. There are cameo appearances by Molly Bee, Merle
Haggard, Sonny James and others.

This DVD is bereft of special features. There's just the chapter
index and some prevues of other, more notable, films. But the
price is right, the image and sound quality are good, and Joi
Lansing really stands out, if you know what I mean, and I think
you do! Don't miss this one!


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