Skip to main content

From The Corner: House on Haunted Hill (1959)

I have a confession to make: I'm a fan of black and white horror movies.  Why would I, a man born in the heyday of horror films like "Halloween", "Texas Chainsaw Massacre", and others be a fan of primitive black and white ones?

Simple, they're fun, and "House on Haunted Hill" is an example of that fun.

This 1959 B-movie was produced and directed by William Castle- the master of movie gimmicks like "Percepto"... the joy buzzer seats used for his movie, "The Tingler".  "House on Haunted Hill" had "Emergo"- a plastic skeleton that would "fly" over the audience at the appropriate moment in the movie.  The flying skeleton was quite popular (and is even credited in the end credits), and helped the movie to become quite successful.  The movie was so successful in fact that, Alfred Hitchcok was spurred to make "Psycho"... which in turned inspired William Castle to produce "Homicidal".  Recently, in 2010, a film revival by New York's Film Forum played several of Castle's films- WITH the original styled gimmicks included, and "House on Haunted Hill" was one of the ones played.

This is the sort of movie where you gather friends together, have a couple of drinks, share pizza and have fun.  While, the scares may not stand up to what's splashed across the screens now, the sense of fun is still there.  You can still enjoy Vincent Price's dry wit and sinister smile.  You can still have a good time watching Elisha Cook's performance as the drunken, terrified owner of the house.  You can still be entertained by "House on Haunted Hill".

The acting, sets and visuals are very theatrical in nature- almost as if you were watching a play on stage (greatly enhanced I'm sure with the use of "Emergo").  There aren't a lot of sets used, which would actually make it easy to do a play based on it.  It was simple, clean and yet provided the right theatrical mood for the story and events taking place.

The story and pacing were pretty good, and lends itself to various other interpretations if one were so inclined.  I'll admit that the suspense wasn't silky smooth, but really don't mind that the moment the "shock" moments occur.  Some of the characters were a little flat, but  Vincent Price, Elisha Cook, and Carol Ohmart, make up for it with their peformances.

When I'm in the mood for a fun, entertaining excursion into the black and white horror category, one of my first choices is William Castle's "House on Haunted Hill"... one of "The Good".  I might even rig up an "Emergo" system for it...

Follow Mike S @TerrorCorner
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Justin Cider welcomes a Homewrecker to the Fanily

COVID-19 has impacted pretty much everything and, although some industries have slowly been able to get rolling again, sport is one that remains in limbo. This holds true for the world of Thrash Wrestling, which we in The Basement are a proud sponsor of. But the men and woman of Thrash Wrestling continue to challenge each other, and entertain fans, in a creative way. Which is why Jason and Shawn welcome Thrash Wrestler Justin Cider into the ring... err, Basement, when From The Basements takes over the Radio NL 610 AM airwaves at 6:05 tonight! Cider will update listeners on how Thrash Wrestling continues with social distancing in place. And he'll shed some light on the future of the sport, how people can support his Fanily, and more! And stick with us, as Justin joins The Basement Boys for a review of the new horror/comedy Homewrecker starring Alex Essoe and Precious Chong. Does this female-focused comedic thriller deliver the goods? Tune in after the 6 o'clock news ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Top 5 quotes from the Rambo franchise

It's Rambo Day, which means it's a day we celebrate all things Rambo. And no, we didn't make that up. It's a real thing, and part of the lead in to Rambo: Last Blood coming out on Friday. We were going to celebrate by doing a Top 5 favourite Rambo kills, but the fine folks at Arrow in the Head already did something like that, so I figured why not share our favourite Rambo quotes. I like quotes. Quotes are good. Anyway, here we go with our Top 5, in no particular order: 5) "They drew first blood." - John Rambo, First Blood (1982) Because it's always cool when the hero references the title of the movie in a quote. 4) "Live for nothing, or die for something. Your call." - John Rambo, Rambo (2008) Because it's 100-per-cent truth, and is the exclamation mark on a great monologue by Stallone. 3) "I could have killed 'em all. I could kill you. In town, you're the law. Out here, it's me. Don't push it, or I'l...
Post a Comment
Read more

Grace Victoria Patterson returns

What's this? Two podcasts From The Basement in less than nine months? Has the world gone mad!?! No, but when past Basement guest Grace Victoria Patterson asked nicely if she could return to this fine podcast, Jason and Shawn -- agreeable sorts that they are -- said yes. Hence we have this new episode for your ear holes! Grace provides an update on her career, which has seen the cheerleader-turned-actress appear in no fewer than eight films plus a TV series, with more projects on the way. She and Jason talk all about this, plus some other stuff. What kind of stuff? Stick with us! And stay tuned, as The Basement Boys discuss a whole slew of movies and television, including the Netflix Jimmy Savile documentary, The Batman, the horror romp The Cellar and more! It's podcasting that's so awesome, you'll be awesomed out by its awesomeness! What are you waiting for? Push play and enjoy!
Post a Comment
Read more