House on Haunted Hill
by William Castle
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DVD details
Actor: Carol Ohmart, Carolyn Craig, Elisha Cook Jr., Richard Long, Vincent PriceDirector: William Castle
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 75 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-09-06
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Legend Films, Inc.
DVD Reviews of House on Haunted Hill
DVD Review: Classic Horror Film....Fun, too
Summary: 5 Stars
This was one of three movies that used to come on TV back in the mid-60's that scared the pants off of me (Invaders From Mars, and The Manster are the other two). For years, I wouldn't go near an open window at night, because of the 'hanging' scene outside Carolyn Craig's window. And the old lady floating by in the cellar, that still jolts me today. Nowadays we joke that she's rolling by on skates. But, back then, it was real spooky stuff. My mother saw this in the movies back in early 1959, and she was pregnant at the time. Towards the end of the flick, after Vincent's puppet skeleton pushes his wife into the acid vat, she said a real skeleton emerged from behind the screen and floated over the audience. She almost went into labor right there in the theater. That William Castle was a genius. The remake was okay, but it wasn't fun like the original. In fact, it was downright dark and disturbing. The 1959 original is a great movie to have in any classic horror collection.DVD Review: William Castle's Spooky Fun House Galore
Summary: 4 Stars
William Castle's fun, somewhat silly, and innocent spooky classic "House on Haunted Hill" holds up as an enjoyable chiller fifty years after it first dangled a skeleton on a string over the heads of screaming and laughing audience members in theaters. For me, the film still has a creepy fun & Halloween charm that can be enjoyed during the season or whenever you wish to view it.
The movie opens with plenty of moaning and screaming, followed by disembodied heads floating in to introduce the House and its history. The main plot concerns Vincent Price (at his villainous best with some great lines) as millionaire Frederick Loren setting up a haunted Birthday party for his wife at one of the most notoriously dangerous haunted houses around. The house has supposedly claimed several victims. So, Price has invited several guests to a Birthday party for his wife. There's a catch but also a prize; the guests will win a $10,000 dollars for spending the night in the House, a House that has claimed victims...if they survive the night. All arrive to the party in hearses and receive complimentary guns in little black coffins.
From there, after midnight, the doors lock leaving the guests trapped...the mayhem begins. We're witness to crashing chandeliers, and pianos playing as if on their own. Maniacal looking wild haired strangers emerge from pitch darkness and pass by to disappear again. Decapitated heads appear and then vanish, and a ghost from a suicide passes by to spook and taunt the living. It may not be Henry James' "Turn of the Screw" but it's a lot of ghoulish fun. Castle was an 'architect' in making fun houses out of movies.
Amidst the so called mysterious ghostliness, there is also intrigue and suspicion amongst the guests and if Price's character can be trusted, and who could be up to something possibly murderous. And, it's all linked together playing on fears of the unknown. So, settle in this Halloween or really, whenever you like, for tonight, the dead are restless and moving...
DVD Review: We Miss You, Vinnie ;-).
Summary: 4 Stars
A lovely, old film. It's neat to watch these period pics, if only to see how much films have evolved over the decades :-). Vinnie, the shriekers, the traditionally-trained theatrical actress/ghost...all wonderful when in the right mood. I'd never seen the original. I'd bought the remake listed below, years ago. After seeing the original. I now think they did a funky job remaking it for modern audiences. Light weight fare, granted, but entertaining. [...]DVD Review: house on haunted hill(colar+b&w)
Summary: 3 Stars
i thought for a classic that it was very good and suspensful and that they should make some of the old classics like this and holiday inn in colar without changing any thig but color.
~redneck beauty~
DVD Review: An influential and essential horror movie, spend a night at this house!
Summary: 5 Stars
Starring the unforgettable Vincent Price, "House on Haunted Hill" is a classic haunted-house story, and at only 75 minutes, is short but sweet. The fact that this was also in black and white makes it even better for the atmosphere of the movie, which itself is already well-done here. Also, I'd like to mention that "House on Haunted Hill" seems to play a pretty huge influence on the slasher films that were to follow. Let's take a look at it:
In "House on Haunted Hill":
-There are a fairly large group of people, that....
-Are in a certain amount of space together...
-Are being picked off one by one...
-It's at night...I know that sounds irrelevant and pointless to throw it, but I figured it fits the cliches of most slasher films.
Having both described some of the aspects of the film and showing it's importance in horror movie history, the review is almost done. However, I would like to add that on the DVD I got as a present, there were many extras such as trailers and a DVD play-a-long game. I'm not sure if all versions of the DVD include these bonuses, but if not, look for the DVD with the cover that's painted and features one of the ladies staring at you.
Well, that about wraps up this review. In short, "House on Haunted Hill" is a highly fun and entertaining haunted-house movie that features some great shocking moments, and should be a fun way to spend your rainy night. Here's to the month of Halloween! Thanks for the time, and peace.
Description of House on Haunted Hill
William Castle's gimmick-laden comic thriller is not so much a horror movie as a fairground funhouse come to life. Vincent Price stars as a deliciously silky millionaire married to a greedy gold digger (Carol Ohmart) who refuses to divorce him. When he turns his wife's idea for a haunted-house party into a contest--$10,000 to whoever will spend the night in "the only truly haunted house in the world"--it seems he may have found an alternative to divorce. Five strangers gather to test their stamina, Price hands each of them delightfully twisted party favors (loaded handguns, delivered in their own tiny coffins), and the spook show begins. Blood drips from the ceiling, zombielike apparitions float through rooms, severed heads and skeletons suddenly appear, and then a guest is found hanging in the stairwell. Full of screams and things that go bump in the night, House on Haunted Hill isn't particularly scary and often makes little sense, but, like a Halloween haunted house, the spectacle of spook-show clich?s is quite entertaining, and Price makes a sardonic master of ceremonies. The original theatrical presentations featured a typically outrageous Castle-engineered gimmick: Emergo, which was nothing more than a skeleton that appeared to fly out of the screen and over the audience on a guide wire. --Sean AxmakerGeneral DVDs
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