House on Haunted Hill: 22 of 31 Horror Movies I've Never Seen

Since I'm sure some of my friends who read this are going to wanna smack me across the back of the head, let's just get it out of the way right now.  I've never seen, to my knowledge, a William Castle film.   It's true.  In fact, outside of most of the universal monster movies and few films from the 70s most of the 50s to 60s horror has somehow evaded me.  Usually it's because I'm not Mr. Horror Movie Guy, despite my knowledge and love for certain genres and eras of horror film.  I simply lack that ability to watch everything just to watch it.  Some call it taste, I just shrug.  Either way, I finally watched the original House on Haunted Hill.

The story is introduced at the beginning of the film.  A eccentric millionaire and his wife invite 7 strangers to spend a night in a supposed haunted house for the sum of $10,000 each.  The caveat, of course, is that the house is supposedly haunted by 7 ghosts of people who died horribly violent deaths and crave to take new souls into their realm.  The eccentric millionaire Frederick Loren is played by the immeasurable Vincent Price who keeps you wondering about his motivation throughout the film.

The film is one of those rare instances of a B-Movie that could easily compete with the A's.  Yes, it has a few cheesy bits and pieces here, but Castle does an excellent job of keeping the audience on it's toes until the grand reveal, which I'll be honest when I say I didn't quite see coming.  I've never seen the remake either so at least I wasn't at that weird viewing disadvantage.  Carolyn Craig plays Norah Manning, a typist for Loren's company and also the face of fear for the audience, though the why is part of the reveal which I am not about to spoil.

Castle utilizes editing and music for what are now considered classic jump scares much like the kinds that flood most films of today.  The brilliance of Castle is in the mood and setting.  He creates an atmosphere where you start to wonder, in context of the events, what is real and what is manipulation.  Couple that with some downright creepy looking actors and moments and you've got some nice classic horror.  Yes there is one moment that falls for the typical, slow moving thing towards screaming woman who also slowly backs away rather than runs, but that's to be expected from this era of film making.  People weren't ready for the hyper realism that dominates much of modern movie making.

The score was also quite good for what was obviously a low budget and the setting equally creepy.  The exterior of the set is the famed Ennis House (used in a plethora of films including The Day Of The Locust and Blade Runner) while the interior is a film set with a Gothic vibe.  All these elements come together and cement the film's place as a classic in horror history.  Not perfect, but certainly enjoyable and a must see for fans of the classics.

4 out of 5 skulls.