Older horror movies might not have had today’s stunning technical effects, but their value cannot be discounted. Take, for example, Peter Castle’s The House on Haunted Hill. The movie is one of Vincent Price’s better known works and helped to inspire a decades later remake not to mention future forms of media.
Plot Synopsis
The film begins with the head of Frederick Loren (Price) introducing the characters that he has invited to the House on Haunted Hill for a ghost party. Each person is different than the other, such as a psychiatrist, a drunk, a gambler, a secretary and a pilot. Loren is an eccentric millionaire who will award $10, 000 to any person who stays the entire night.
The party is the brainchild of his wife Annabelle. Loren has had several wives before her, who have died of apparent heart attacks in their mid-twenties. The idea that Loren actually murdered them for being disobedient is implied. Annabelle does not want to join them.
However, Annabelle and the psychiatrist with whom she is having an affair, conspire against Loren. Annabelle fakes her own death, but Loren is on to her, and backs her into a wine vat filled with acid. The psychiatrist suffers the same fate. It turns out that they were behind the strange occurrences in the house.
Analysis
The unravelling of the plot leaves some unanswered questions. For example, the viewer never does learn whether or not the house is legitimately haunted. The party guests do face some apparent horrors but some of them were planted by Annabelle and her accomplice. But were any of them real? The viewer never knows for sure.
At the end, Loren says, “I’m ready for justice to decide whether I’m innocent or guilty” after the party guests discover that Loren kills his wife to save his own life. But the viewer never knows how the situation was handled by the police, or if Loren was ever convicted of murder.
The Remake
The film inspired a much less entertaining remake titled House on Haunted Hill. The film was only loosely based on the original. The concept was what made the original so interesting. It is an early predecessor to reality television, as a group of varied strangers meet in the house to win a prize. The $10, 000 prize sounds small, but it was a much larger sum in 1959.
DVD
The House on Haunted Hill is still readily available on DVD. Sometimes it is offered as a standalone movie, and other times it is combined with several other movies. In some cases it is offered with other Vincent Price movies. Try looking for them at stores like WalMart, Target or Best Buy. Failing that, you should be able to find a copy at Amazon.
Derek Clendening - I'm a freelance writer and have combined writing with my love of football. I'm very opinionated about football, which you can learn more ...
