Some may feel differently, but I’m always up for a directorial bait-and-switch, if it serves the story properly, which it very much does in House on Haunted Hill. Some may feel differently, but that is one of the aspects that I absolutely love about the film, because in many ways, I feel like it would eventually go on to influence horror movies like April Fool's Day, where you think there’s a serial killer on the loose, but in reality, it’s all an elaborate setup for a college co-ed to try out her plan to create a murder mystery bed and breakfast. Loren in her state of frenzy, allowing his wife to run off with her new suitor, with no one being the wiser.Īnd while there are some seemingly supernatural forces at play in House on Haunted Hill, we technically don’t really see any actual ghosts, making the house’s phantasmal status up for debate. As it turns out, the pair have put together this elaborate ruse to drive the unsuspecting Nora to the brink of insanity, so much so that she would shoot Mr. Trent, behind the eerie events that take place. While it’s been heralded for decades now as a tale of supernatural horror, what’s interesting to me is that technically, that categorization is up for debate, once the full game that is afoot in House is revealed, where it’s not ghosts that are terrorizing the partygoers, it’s actually Annabelle and her secret lover, Dr. David Trent (Alan Marshal), Nora Manning (Carolyn Craig), who works for one of Frederick’s companies, and Watson Pritchard (Elisha Cook), the man who owns the titular home at the center of the House on Haunted Hill.Īs the night unfolds, a series of strange occurrences begin to plague the party guests, as doors mysterious close, a chandelier falls, an organ somehow plays itself, and it's evident that those stuck inside the home are in mortal danger-but from who, or what, exactly remains to be seen. Loren up on his unconventional offer include test pilot Lance Schroeder (Richard Long), noted columnist Ruth Bridges (Julie Mitchum), psychiatrist Dr. If you’ve somehow never seen House on Haunted Hill, or its 1999 remake, which shares many of the original’s plot points, the setup is straightforward: a playboy millionaire named Frederick Loren (the legendary Vincent Price) is throwing a haunted house party in honor of his wife, Annabelle (Carol Ohmart), and invites five strangers to stay with them in the property overnight, promising to award them each $10,000 if they can make it until the morning. Like many of Castle’s genre efforts, it delivered up immersive thrills and chills, and House became yet another major turning point in Castle’s career as well, cementing his legacy as the true king of B-Movies and an independent film producer outside of the Hollywood system. “Only the ghosts in this house are glad we’re here.” While William Castle didn’t invent the “strangers meeting in a singular location under sinister circumstances” motif that was at the heart of House on Haunted Hill back in 1959 (Agatha Christie brought that into the fold decades prior with her iconic mystery novels, and her storytelling influence is undoubtedly felt here), it was Castle’s late ’50s shocker that repopularized it amongst movie fans in America, with the help of his “Emergo” gimmicks, and building on the grand success of Macabre just a year prior.Ĭastle put out a lot of memorable horror jaunts during his career, and even 60 years since House on Haunted Hill first thrilled audiences with its supernaturally charged mystery, its influence looms over the realm of genre storytelling and is still being felt today.
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