House on Haunted Hill *** (1958, Vincent Price, Carol Ohmart, Richard Long, Julie Mitchum, Alan Marshal, Carolyn Craig, Elisha Cook Jnr) – Classic Movie Review 1,090

William Castle’s fondly regarded 1958 black and white horror movie House on Haunted Hill stars Vincent Price as an eccentric millionaire who invites five people for a haunted house party. Whoever spends the whole night there will earn $10,000.

Producer/director William Castle’s fondly regarded 1958 black and white horror movie House on Haunted Hill stars Vincent Price as an eccentric millionaire called Frederick Loren, who hires the title’s old house, scene of various awful murders. He offers a generous reward to people brave enough, or foolhardy enough, to try spend the whole night there, trapped along with ghosts, murderers and various terrors.

Loren and his fourth wife Annabelle (Carol Ohmart) invite five people for their haunted house party. Anyone who can stay in the house for the whole night will earn $10,000.

The five guests are test pilot Lance Schroeder (Richard Long), newspaper columnist Ruth Bridges (Julie Mitchum), psychiatrist Dr David Trent (Alan Marshal) who specialises in hysteria, Nora Manning (Carolyn Craig), who works for one of Loren’s companies, and Watson Pritchard (Elisha Cook Jnr), the house’s owner who disapproves of Loren’s use of the house for his party.

Deliciously camp acting from Price is infectious fun, greatly enlivening an amusing, creepy, occasionally grisly chiller. Price gives the impression of enjoying himself enormously, and he’s great value, the best thing about the film. But there’s also good work from all of the solid cast in support: Ohmart, Long, Mitchum, Marshal, Craig, Cook Jnr, Leona Anderson and Howard Hoffman.

Exterior shots of the house were filmed at the historic Ennis House in Los Feliz, Los Angeles, California.

The house was designed in 1923 by Frank Lloyd Wright for Charles and Mabel Ennis, and built in 1924. The 1975 film The Day of the Locust made extensive use of it as a residence, and 1982’s Blade Runner popularised it with moviegoers.

But most of the film was shot on sound stages, depicting the interior of the house in different styles, including 1890s Victorian, with gas chandeliers and sconces.

Vincent Price in House on Haunted Hill.

Alas on home viewing there will be no sign of producer William Castle’s gimmick called Emergo, in which a lit-up plastic skeleton moved out on a wire over the lucky cinema audience in theatres back then. Some exhibitors rigged an elaborate pulley system near the cinema screen that allowed the skeleton to fly over the audience during a corresponding scene late in the film. More recently, several cinemas have held screenings of the film recreating the Emergo gimmick.

Emergo proved none too popular, sadly, but an undeterred Castle tried again next year in The Tingler, this time with a tingle device under the cinema seat. The Tingler (1959) also stars Vincent Price.

Originally it had an X certificate, though now it’s a 12. It was reworked in 1999 as House on Haunted Hill with Geoffrey Rush, with a 2007 sequel, Return to House on Haunted Hill.

The estimated budget was $200,000 and the box office $2.5 million.

Warner Home Video released the film on DVD as a tie-in to the release of the 1999 remake. In 2005, the film was colourised by Legend Films. The colour version was released on DVD the same year by 20th Century Fox.

It is however in the public domain.

The film is partly inspired by Shirley Jackson’s book The Haunting of Hill House, released earlier that year. The film’s title reworks Jackson’s, and both book and film reference the same subject.

House on Haunted Hill is directed by William Castle, runs 75 minutes, is made by William Castle Productions, is distributed by Allied Artists, is written by Robb White, is shot in black and white by Carl E Guthrie, is produced by William Castle and Robb White (associate producer), and is scored by Von Dexter.

Release date: February 17, 1959.

The cast are Vincent Price as Frederick Loren, Carol Ohmart as Annabelle Loren, Richard Long as Lance Schroeder, Alan Marshal as Dr David Trent, Carolyn Craig as Nora Manning, Elisha Cook Jr as Watson Pritchard, Julie Mitchum as Ruth Bridgers, Leona Anderson as Mrs Slydes, and Howard Hoffman as Jonas Slydes. Skeleton is played by Himself.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1,090

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com