The House On Haunted Hill: 1959

 
   The review you are about to read is of the first horror movie that I've actually already seen.  This was awhile ago, and might have been before I even started reviewing horror films.  If you are new to my blog, then it might be helpful to tell you that I never usually re-watch a movie, I only see it once.  So, the fact that this review is for a movie I've already seen before hand, make this quite a rarity.  And for today's review we have something very special, "The House on Haunted Hill".  Thank you, and enjoy.

   Although horror is a genre of film, literature, and generally any other form of entertainment, among film, horror can be a very versatile subject.  There are libraries of horror footage that go from Expressionist to Psychological, Slasher, Supernatural, and the list goes on and on and on!  What I would classify this film to be is one of the more fun one's.  This was because of one man, William Castle.  He had many roles in the film business, but the job he was most known for was turning the movie theater into a haunted house.  In the movie, "The Tingler", the theater seats were rigged with back vibrators.  The plot followed a scientist that figures out about a creature living inside our spines called, "The Tingler".  Apparently the creature grows when someone is scared.  Fortunately, there is a represent to keep the tingler from growing, which is screaming.  

William Castle's introduction for, "The Tingler"

  But you’re not reading this because of, "The Tingler" (But to those of you who are, don't worry, that review isn't far away), your here to read my review of, "The House on haunted Hill".  I just wanted to give you an idea of the impact William Castle made on people everywhere which revolutionized the theater business as we know it.  Anyway I'm so glad that I'm still reviewing and haven't given up, and the reason for that is because of you.  I'm so happy for those of you who enjoy reading my blog, thank you.

   Eccentric millionaire Frederick Loren and his fourth wife, Annabelle, have invited five people to the house on haunted hill for a "Haunted House" party.  Whoever will stay in the house for on night will earn ten thousand dollars each.  As the night progresses, all the guests are trapped inside the house with ghosts, murderers, and other terrors.

  Alright, the premise seems fitting for a horror film, but is that all a horror film needs?  Of course not!  In a sense it has everything one could want, a haunted house accompanied by Vincent Price, where all things scary known to man reside.  But the problem within this equation is the fact that the characters that are guests in the house seem level headed and it wouldn't seem that the supernatural goings on in the house would frighten them so easily(with the exception of one scene:  25:25).  Onto the effects, which are okay considering the time period.  However where the effects usually enhance the atmosphere, this film's effects make it seem less credible that such a haunted house exists.  Speaking of the actual property, look at the house!

                    

   

   This looks more like a warehouse than an actual haunted house!  I know that you could call this, "mixing things up" because of the new design, but everything else in the movie people have already seen in any other haunted house flick.  At least they managed to stay far away from the outside of the house and focus on the inside.  As for The acting, it was good, but stereotypical.  Even Vincent Price is played off as a side character at most times.  Most of the time the story focuses on the survival of the two most attractive people in the story, Lance and Nora.  It’s really sad when the object of love is only shown when two attractive characters stand close to each other and talk.  It’s very clear that the director wanted us to feel this way about them, even though there is no intimacy whatsoever.  

   The rest of the cast is somewhat forgettable and even one character, Ruth Bridges only has around five lines in the entire movie, and she doesn't even die!  I don't know what the audience is supposed to think of this.  As for me, I know that the film is probably one to be taken seriously, but some parts are very confusing towards what your reaction is supposed to be.  Two of the guests, Lance and Nora, travel down to the cellar to go exploring.  They come across a hollow opening and one of them leaves the other alone.  The guest left behind turns around to find an old lady making a face behind her.  The sequence of actions went as follows:  you jump out of your seat; you laugh hysterically, and then remain perplexed as to the event that had just occurred.  It’s probably the only jump scene you'll have to worry about, the only problem with that is that there are a whole bunch of other jump scenes that you don't jump to, so this scene is the only one that I'm counting.  

   Even the events that occur are confusing because you suddenly realize through the movie, that everything that happens that's scary is just filler until another clue shows itself to unravel the mystery a little further.  It doesn't even seem like a party!  From the look of things there's nothing to do given the amount of guests, and it’s pulled off as amusing to the guest of honor, Vincent Price's wife.  Speaking of Vincent and his wife, their relationship is very confusing.  They seem to be happy with each other judging by the tones of their voices but it becomes clear that they have tried to kill each other before, and that's just...creepy. There's a little bit of foreshadowing when Vincent Price is doing the role call for each guest, as if you can already tell the unsatisfying feeling he gets when mentioning his wife's name.  What I would have liked to see is the tension that would keep rising until you couldn't trust any of the residents.  Scratch that...What I would have liked to see is the tension that would keep rising until you couldn't trust any of the residents done correctly. 

To conclude this review, upon the second viewing of this film my thoughts from the beginning have changed entirely.  If your into horror for the enjoyment and don't take things too seriously, you'll like this allot.  The twist at the end was okay but it very well could have been better.  In my opinion it would have worked allot better without the twist, and just stuck with mind numbing spooks.  Instead it tried to input an intelligent plot twist to, "mix things up", but I really thought that the film could have done better without it.  I hope that you enjoyed my review of, "The House on Haunted Hill".

   I give this film 3 gliding witches out of 5 

  P.S  

   Just a little notification.  My first review was of Nosferatu on June 22 2011.  Because of the quantity of time that has passed since this review, and because of my heightening ability to analyze films, I must admit something.  My first review was a great injustice to Nosferatu.  I now know that I could have said so much more because of what I know now.  But I have to keep this review, and never change it because it will always remain a starting place to a wonderful hobby.  I want to do something about this for my 100th review, but I have a long way to go before I get there.  However the main reason I am writing again today is because this is a very special day.  Today marks the one hundred and first day that I started reviewing horror films.  Truth be told I never actually though that I would get this far.  Don't hesitate to expect more reviews after this to come.  Thank you.

  Next Review:  Little Shop of Horrors  1960