House on Haunted Hill is a vintage horror film from 1959. It is of course shot on black and white film. Featuring the considerable talents of Vincent Price you know this one will be great! Price is of course looking and sounding as debonaire as always. I’m a big fan of this guys work and this one is no exception.
THE PLOT
The plot centres in on Price’s wealthy, and serial husband character Frederick who is unhappy with his current wife Annabelle. Annabelle is his fourth or fifth wife by the way. Annabelle organises a party of sorts which involves spending a night in a haunted house with 5 other guests for a reward of $10,000 (a lot of money back in the times of black and white cinema) for anyone who survives the night.
Some of the party believe in the supernatural and of course others do not. It’s not long before a few bumps in the night and macabre goings on have everyone scared for their life and wanting get out.
THE VERDICT
The dialogue is excellent and the story is extremely well written. The viewer is engrossed through out the whole story. This movie has a certain old world charm about it that cannot seem to be recreated in this day and age. The gore factor is non-existent but this means the story has to rely on dialogue and plot development the whole way through. It does very well thank you very much! The movie has a genuinely creepy atmosphere about it, and the sound effects compliment the film perfectly keeping the viewer rivetted. This is not going to scare hardened gore-fiends but is a very entertaining and compelling watch.
Plot wise within House on Haunted Hill, there are a few twists and developments that are expertly written into the story development and everything in my opinion works rather well. I won’t ruin them here but rest assured it will keep you guessing~
Of course its up on Youtube so check it out here! You won’t be dissapointed!