The house on Haunted Hill

Year of release : 1959

 

Run time : 1h15min

 

Genre : Horror / Crime

 

Cast : Vincent Price

 

 

A millionaire is willing to give 10.000 dollars to five people locked in a haunted house with him and his wife, as long as they stay until morning, and don't die. He chose people who are greedy, who gamble, and who need the money to support their family.

 

The man and his wife(the forth) don't get along, as he thinks she tried to poison him. So, instead of bringing to the rented house the guests she chose, he made a list of his own.

 

The owner of the house shows them around,telling them about the murderous ghosts and how many people died in awful ways in the house. Speaking about an acid murder they discover the acid is still in the hole in the basement.

 

The movie doesn't have the supernatural element to it,as the remake has, and leans more on the spouses' quarrel.

 

The haunted house is the same one from Blade Runner, The Ennis House,in Los Feliz,Los Angeles.

 

The actors were fine, although I found the screaming to be too much, as the screams were very long, and the camera stayed on the women's scared faces for too long, as they had to keep their eyes and mouth wide open.

The psychiatrist was annoying , everything being hysteria to him.

 

The visual effects did not exist, as everything was done with props, and it was funny, as in one scene, the ghost which is supposed to scare one of the women, is not facing her, but more facing the audience,but she screams scared out of her mind, while she doesn't move from the "ghost"! I laughed so hard!

 

I hated the soundtrack,it was so loud,no matter how I changed the volume.

 

The movie is streaming on Amazon Prime Video, Classix, DirecTv, Epix Amazon Channel, Freevee Amazon Channel, Hoopla, Kanopy, Pluto Tv, Redbox, Shudder, The Roku Channel, Tubi Tv, Vudu Free, and is for rent or sale on Amazon, Apple, Google, Vudu, YouTube .

 

Rating : Could have been a contender !