Movie Review: House on the Haunted Hill (1959)

House on the Haunted Hill
William Castle Productions, USA, 1959.

This movie is part of Horror Classics 50 Movie Pack by Mill Creek Entertainment. 

Eccentric millionaire Frederick Loren (Vincent Price) rented the house so that his Annabelle wife (Carol Ohmar) could arrange a haunted house party. Frederick gives $10000 for anyone who spends and survives a night in the house. 

Frederick Loren

Annabelle

The guests are drunk Watson Pritchard (Elisha Cook Jr.), test pilot Lance Schroeder (Richard Long), columnist Ruth Bridgers (Julie Mitchum), psychiatrist Dr. David Trent (Alan Marshal) and Frederick's employee Nora Manning (Carolyn Craig). Frederick's previous wives have died mysteriously and also Annabelle may be in danger. But also Annabelle would like to kill Frederick. 

Ruth Bridgers, Lance Schroeder and Watson Pritchard

Dr. David Trent and Nora Manning

Watson Pritchard introduces the Haunted House. His brother and several other people were murdered there. The heads of the victims were never found. The doors are locked and the windows are barred. No one can leave. In the cellar there is a pit full of acid. Nora sees ghostly apparitions and severed heads. Maybe she is suffering from hysteria? Or maybe not! Frederick ups the ante by offering $15000 if someone dies. Everyone is given a small coffin with a gun to defend themselves from ghosts or other guests. 

Acid pit

Creepy ghost

Small coffin with a gun

This is a horror classic with few but quite effective scares. There is a slight Agatha Christie "And Then There Were None" feel, as a group of people is locked in a house and some of them may be  a murderer. Also it is ambiguous if there are real ghosts or just tricks to make the guests crazy. When the movie was shown in theaters extra scares were created using "Emergo" gimmick: plastic skeleton was flown over the audience. Of the actors most memorable are Vincent Price as fun and creepy gentleman, Elisha Cook Jr. as a nervous drunk and Carol Ohmar as scheming beauty.

Carolyn Craig sets example for later scream queens

Rating: Good 

Starring: Vincent Price, Carol Ohmart, Richard Long, Alan Marshal, Carolyn Craig, Elisha Cook Jr., Julie Mitchum, Leona Anderson, Howard Hoffman, Skeleton 

Director: William Castle