Rating: 
Summary: A fiendishly clever horror classic
Review: Just imagine, a haunted house movie that is actually scary. As a jaded modern horror fan watching the video at home, I can't say it really scared me, but I daresay that if you put a couple of hundred people inside a modern movie theatre and showed this film to them, you would get some delightful screams and jumps out of your audience. A movie such as this belongs in black and white, and the whole mood is appropriately creepy. The director left almost nothing out: creaking doors, apparitions, secret rooms, screams (almost so many they become annoying), skeletons, thunder and lightning, organ music, moments of total darkness, a pit of acid, and, last but not least, the inimitable Vincent Price in the role he was born to play. The movie opens with a black screen and the sounds of screaming and moaning, then the disembodied heads of the home's owner and then Loren (Price) float up and introduce the tale to the audience. The credits appear sort of Scooby Doo-ish, but that's not a problem. As for the plot, Mr. Loren (Price) is an eccentric man of wealth throwing a haunted house party for his wife--wife number four, and she is as anxious to kill him as he is to kill her. Five strangers make up the party guests--a former test pilot, a society newspaper columnist, a psychiatrist, an unassuming, vulnerable young lady, and the house's owner Pritchard, who incessantly tells the story of the murders having taken place in the house and continually warns everyone (in between drinks) that the ghosts will never let them survive the night. Each guest has been promised the incredible sum of $10,000 if he/she can survive the night inside the house. Naturally, weird things start to happen, and then all of the party goers find themselves locked in the house prematurely with no hope of escape until morning. Loren distributes the party favors--handguns housed in little miniature coffins. Naturally, rather than stay together, the houseguests end up wandering around on their own, and Norah is especially traumatized throughout the evening by what she sees and experiences. Mrs. Loren is soon found hanging above the stairwell, and the night really starts going downhill after that for everyone else. There are games afoot, the full extent of which are not revealed until the ending of the film. In its original theatrical release, the ever so fiendish director William Castle had a skeleton rigged inside each theater that would appear above the audience's heads at the appropriate time... This is definitely one of the finer horror movies ever made. The effects may seem somewhat silly to modern audiences, but the simplest frights are often the most effective. The ending is not altogether disappointing, which is another plus. The plot itself is gratifyingly complex and twisted. Anyone with an interest in the horror genre should find this Vincent Price gem to be quite a hoot.
Rating: 
Summary: The Master of Gimmicks' take on " The Cat And The Canary"
Review: ...I found the DVD played better on its second run...William Castle's classic was his first collaboration with horror legend Vincent Price. HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL is a surprisingly gentle (mainly) mystery in which millionaire Frederick Loren (Price) offers seven people-four men and three women-$10,000 to attend the birthday party of his wife Annabelle (Carol Ohmart). The catch is that the party is an all night affair held in a haunted mansion that has already claimed the lives of seven people: four men and three women...The fun includes blood dripping from the ceiling, hilarious mummified white-haired apparitions, a severed head in a suitcase and guns cased in miniature coffins as "party favors" and of course, the walking skeleton. Not scary, but a good "horror" for family audiences. The extras on the DVD I viewed were pretty basic, just bios & filmographys for Castle and Price...
Rating:
Summary: FOR 10,000 DOLLARS WOULD YOU SPEND A NIGHT WITH VINCENTPRICE
Review: I absolutley loved this movie. The script writting is wonderful,the acting is treamendous and the surprises you will see in this movie keep you at the end of your seat. This is trueley Vincent Price at his best. The ghost in the basement, the hanged body in the stairwell and the skeleton which appears at the end of the film. Also stars Carol O'Mart,Richard Long, Alan Marshall and Carolyn Craig. This film never has a dull part. So, If you you don't have this movie,you need to buy it.
Rating:
Summary: A B movie delight!!!
Review: I am a devoted fan of the great Vincent Price, and this was one of most wickedly, delightful romps. I love B&W B horror movies, which are quite tame by today's standards, but frankly, much better than the blood red gorefests. There was something about going to the drive-in in the Summer and sitting watching these great spooky stories till dawn - or to sit in the dark with the blanket pulled up over your head peeking out with a bowl of popcorn before you, as Vincent smirked and chuckled his way through all sort of devilish evil. Was there ever any laugh quite like his??? The premise is rich Vincent and his snotty gold-digging wife are having a halloween party. And to have the ultimate halloween party, they have rented the house on haunted hill, complete with ghosts, blood dripping ceilings, a scarey housekeeper who seems to 'float' around, hidden passes, terrified females, walking skeletons, doomsaying Elisha Cook former owner of the house, and a host of guests with their own reasons for being at the party. Price has offered $50,000 to each guest if they survive till dawn, but he has his own reasons for the party, as does his wife who makes no bones about wanting to be a rich widow - and Price is fully aware of it!! With that delightful chuckle, Price is at his best in one gem of a 50's B horror flick!! So turn out the lights, munch on the popcorn and have a stroll through memory lane!!
Rating: 
Summary: Good movie, terrible sound quality
Review: Movie rating: 3 stars
Sound quality: 1 star (Note: This review is of the Silver Screams DVD release). William Castle's classic "gentle" horror in which millionaire Frederick Loren (Vincent Price) offers five people $10,000 if they survive a night in a haunted house. I'm sure if you buy this from Amazon, you'll be fine. I just thought I'd better let Australasian readers know that they should avoid the Mira Entertainment DVD release of HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL as you can't hear a thing. I had to turn the volume on my TV and DVD player up to max, and I still couldn't hear it. This really annoyed me as I'm a huge Vincent Price fan. But don't let this put you off buying other Mira DVDs. I have several more DVDs distributed by them and the sound quality is fine. Just avoid HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL. Buy it here instead.
Rating:
Summary: FORGET THE REMAKE......
Review: You can't go wrong with this classic old chestnut. William Castle presents Vincent Price at his most sinister and debonair as the millionaire hosting a "haunted house party". A group of needy (i.e."broke") people are invited to attend with the ones who survive getting a big sum of money. The house is a veritable fortress with a legacy of evil and murder. Ghosts supposedly roam the place seeking new victims. Blood drips from the ceiling onto the hand of a woman---"marking" her as one soon to die. Carol Ohmart as Price's spoiled greedy wife slinks around telling everyone that Price is dangerous. Elisha Cook Jr. is at his looney weirdest as the lone survivor of a previous "party"-- drunkenly intoning omens of doom for one and all. Richard Long (from TV's "The Big Valley") is the level headed hero and pretty Carolyn Craig is the innocent damsel-in-distress screaming her head off at every spooky turn. The skeleton in the cellar gimmick is still fun. Great to watch on Halloween. And perfectly OK for kids too. But those adults who remember who Castle was and know Vincent Price like a relative will cherish this lovable old goodie the most.
Rating:
Summary: a Vincent Price classic
Review: what we seem to have is a battle between the unknown. this is classic horror, done in a melodramatic way, much like the Universal horror classics of the early '30s where all you needed was mystery, atmosphere, and an outrageous plot. now, sadly, everything apparently has to be realistic and not fantastic? that's a shame. This 1958 classic is about a man who allows several people the chance to compete against one another: the game is that the people have to survive a night's stay at the house and whoever does wins a fortune. Vincent is his suave best in this, appearing the way he would become stereotyped: tall, wearing a suit, having a thin mustache, and those beady eyes ready to pierce into someone's soul with that classic Vincent stare. William Castle directed this movie. It's campy, of course. 1958 horror, and nearly every horror film afterward was geared toward teenagers at drive-in's and this film is one of Price's best. His icy dialogue to his nagging, arrogant wife is great and she gets what she has coming to her...by way of a hilariously campy skeleton who's coming toward her with a gun. the senseless remake was un-called for. even though it brought some publicity for this 1958 original, the remake didn't have Vincent's heart and soul nor did it have much camp value. this 1958 version is the one you should look for...a must-have for ALL Vincent Price fans.
Rating:
Summary: Stupid!
Review: This film was a bit basic, as it is such an old film it lacks realistic quality, i would recommend this to people who very much like black and white movies, this is not one for the younger viewer.it isnt very scary,more like a ghost train ride.full of surprises!
Rating: 
Summary: Beware the night.
Review: Five people are challenged to spend the night in a haunted house. As you can see, this flick just oozes with original ideas. This fright festival of 1959 vintage has a treasured place in the realm of "so bad, it's good" nostalgia that keeps aging baby boomers going. Schlock director William Castle pulls out all the stops in this hilarious re-working of the "haunted house" cliches. The humor is no doubt unintentional, but who cares? It's still funny 40 years later. Vincent Price mugs his way through the script looking pained and worried in all the expected places. The obligatory vat of acid in the basement serves its usual purpose. As the screaming Nora Manning encounters the dead woman hanging in the stairway, a monstrous hand reaches around the corner and grabs for her. This tidbit of terror goes otherwise unexplained. Another thing that leaves the viewer wondering is the spot on the ceiling that drips blood. It's spooky, but the script takes it nowhere. The house itself looks more as an ancient Egyptian temple than the Victorian manse that typically populates haunted house stories. Elisha Cook hangs around as the descendant of the original owner. When he is drunk enough he gloomily foretells doom. The old lady who floats through the basement is a great funhouse moment. Put it all together and it is fine fun, in a reverse sort of a way. Watch it on Halloween or any time that Saturday matinee nonsense is warranted. The cleaned-up DVD version is more palatable than the lower grade VHS edition that previously haunted our movie shelf. Recommended for multiple viewing. ;-)
Rating:
Summary: Not scary, but I still loved it 1.5 stars as horror
Review: I have to rate this as a horror film. I think it was actually ment to be a black comedy, and viewed in that since, it's great.
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