House on Haunted Hill

Rating:
Summary: Darling, the only ghoul in the house is you!
Review: William Castle liked to promote his films with gimmicks, and the gimmick for THE HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL was Emerg-O: at the peak of the action, a glowing skeleton "emerged from the screen" and flew out over the audience on a wire. By most accounts Emerg-O caused more laughter than chills, but fortunately Castle never relied on gimmicks alone: he also liked bona fide stars, and for HAUNTED HILL his star of choice was none other than the legendary horror star Vincent Price.

Like most Castle films, HAUNTED HILL's plot reworks a well-worn theme. Millionaire Price and his wife Carol Ohmart give a "haunted house party" for five strangers chosen at random and promised ten thousand dollars if they last the night. The catch: the doors lock at midnight, after which there is no escape until the caretakers return in the morning. While the story itself doesn't hold many surprises, the script is unexpectedly witty, and Price plays it in a slightly prissy, very high-camp manner with a tremendous dose of the black humor for which he was so famous--and the little known Carol Ohmart is every bit his match, snapping out memorable lines ("Darling, the only ghoul in the house is you!") in every scene. Together they elevate the film well above what you might otherwise expect, and when combined with the largely wooden supporting cast and some of the silliest this-is-supposed-to-scare-you effects imaginable the result is a cult classic with plenty of camp appeal.

In addition to Price and Ohmart, the film is also surprisingly atmospheric. Shot in and around one of Frank Lloyd Wright's more famous structures, the grainy "late show" look of the film (due more to accident and age than deliberate intent) is very entertaining, the cinematic devices (everything from disembodied heads, irises, and jump-cuts) are very appealing, and the sound track (which sounds like a mix of piano bass keyes, sythesizer, and soprano vocals) is exactly what you'd want for this obvious but extremely entertaining flick. Of all the Castle films, THE HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL is my personal favorite, and it should rate very high with fans of cult, camp, and Vincent Price. And I'll go further than that: of all his memorable appearances, I do believe this was Price's best. A great choice for both family movie night or a sophistocated Halloween howl--very recommended!

Rating:
Summary: I was playing too :)
Review: This has been one of my favorite Price movies since i was a child. Great mystery and very scary. Who can stay in the House on Haunted Hill all night for $10,000? Oh yes, you have to survive to collect. There are two DVD versions of this movie and the one pictured with this review is the best of the two. The other is very fuzzy, in fact its horrible. This one plays very clean and crisp.

Rating:
Summary: Chiller classic
Review: A favorite of late saturday night Chiller Theater. A twisted tale of a millionare and his wife who believe murder is better then divorce. Spend a night in this frightening home and recieve $10,000 if you survive the night. This party includes pistols as party favors and decapitated heads in the closets. Best to watch in the dark but beware the ghosts are hunger, now they are coming for me, next they will come for you.

Rating:
Summary: One Of Price and Castle's Best
Review: William Castle had a knack for scaring audiences, and he couldn't have found a better actor than Vincent Price to help him carry this story off. Full of genuine scary moments (especially the scene where the skeleton accuses a guest of misdeeds). Elisha Cook Jr. is great as the one house guest who refuses to see any good in the whole situation.

Rating:
Summary: A Hauntingly Wonderful Watch
Review: This movie, although made in 1958 when technological advancement was just starting to emerge, is uncomparable to the Geoffrey Rush remake. The movie's use of lighting, suspense techniques, an intricate plot, and the fact that it is in black and white, not to mention the great Vincent Price, make it more thrilling than most modern day horror films. I highly recommend it for any dark and stormy night.

Rating:
Summary: Hokey Fun with the master!
Review: Vincent Price, that rare terrific actor who doesnt mind at all starring in films like these. Its no wonder he has a cult following. Surely he is one of the actors that looks like he is having so much fun with a hokey script and some bizaare happenings that no one seems to mind at all.

He can scare us...but not too much..we still like him because of his tremendous charisma..very few actors have attained that status...Carol Ohmart seems to be annoyed she is even in this film..Richard Long..is thankful for a paycheck for this opus...and of course Elisha Cook Jr. seems to have taken a bit too much of benzedrene ( hourly)

WHO CARES..the editing is fine..and the film has some unique montage setups..sit back and think if you were in a position with a date and someone told you if you didnt leave by Midnight...you couldnt leave at all??

Rating:
Summary: Good Vincent Price movie
Review: This is a good movie that is boosted by Vincent Price's performance. He is an eccentric millionaire that throws a party for his wife (haunted house party). He offers $10,000 to the guests that will spend the night in the house. The guests endure skeletons, blood dripping from the ceiling, a severed head, a witch, and acid in the basement. It's hard to go wrong with a Vincent Price movie.

Rating:
Summary: Price's Best
Review: House on Haunted Hill is a classic movie about eccentric millionare named Frederick Lauren and his wife, Annabelle. They rent an old, creepy, gloomy house on a desolate hill and throw a party, "a haunted house party." The party only has has 7 guests, 4 men and 3 women (the same amout of people that have died in the house). If each guest stays all night in the house they each recieve $10,000, "or they're next of ki[n] just in case they don't survive." Vincent Price, Carol Ohmart and Elisha Cook star in this wonderful terrifying classic directed by William Castle. This movie is great because its origional, & they use props like fake heads in suitcases, and organs playing music with no player, instead of computers like the awful remake from 1999. See this movie you'll really enjoy it.

Rating:
Summary: House On Haunted Hill '59: The Ultimate Print Is WB's DVD
Review: My original copy of House On Haunted Hill was a budget video cassette, so you can imagine how much of an improvement the DVD was! I noticed a tiny bit of noise on the film, especially near the beginning and the end, and often when a scene changed, but in general the picture was quiet to silent.

I was struck by my ability to see the quality of the original film: in particular, the scene where the chandelier falls in the hallway near the beginning, the shot from the top of the room is softer than the surrounding shots... perhaps because stunt doubles were being used? I don't know and I'm not sure how to find out, but it sure wasn't noticeable in the video cassette I had! :)

Another amazing difference was being able to read the ending credits! Again in my video tape the end credits were ghosts themselves, completely bleeding out any recognizable letters.

The audio, to my ears, was excellent considering the source material. The noise floor was remarkably low, and dynamics were impressive as well. Some websites comment on a minor lack of bass, but again compared to the video, voices were remarkably warm.

Only the slightest hint of stressing of the limits of the audio system were detectable only during screams or occasionally during complex organ chords... possibly due more to the organ than the recording. Any distortion was kept to an amazing minimum, such that I doubt your average person would catch it.

The widescreen version was an eye-opener as well. This movie is laid out better than it appears if you've only seen the cropped version! Excellent subject balance shows up scene after scene... and the loss of this balance is obvious (and unavoidable) in the pan-and-scan version. In the opening credits as the doctor looks down upon the city so far below the house and the hill, the feeling of being way up above seems lost in the cramped pan-and-scan version.

In pan-and-scan, shoulders are constantly cropped off, people feel stuffed into the scene, perspective is occasionally off, and to my eyes it is just not as appealing a presentation visually as the original widescreen.

Pan-and-scan also occasionally gave motion in the room a jerky movement as the pan-and-scan tried to follow the focus of the action... often leaving out nice details available only in the widescreen version. Again, I have heard the pan-and-scan gives more detail for what is there, but I personally saw no loss in the widescreen version whatsoever.

The scene on the front cover of the DVD with Annabelle recoiling from a gruesome hand isn't in the film; possibly it is taken from publicity stills? I believe the same is true for the shot of Norra Manning looking through the cobwebs... and the shot of Frederick & Annabelle on the front inside cover... and the shot of Jonas Slydes holding Norra on the back cover... makes you wish there was a collector's book of publicity stills to go with it, huh?

Of course as a HOHH junkie I would have loved a full disc of extras, but the trailer is a wonderful addition by itself and will work well as a teaser for the movie to show my friends and get them hooked. :-) This is and will always been a classic Halloween movie; this DVD beautifully preserves it for Halloweens to come. I couldn't be happier with my purchase!

"What husband hasn't at one time wanted to kill his wife?" - Frederick Loren, chapter 15

Rating:
Summary: Great classic
Review: Classic horror movie. It's Vincent Price..enough said!