House on Haunted Hill
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- This article is about the original 1959 film. For the 1999 remake see House on Haunted Hill (1999).
House on Haunted Hill is a 1959 horror film. It was directed by William Castle and starred Vincent Price as eccentric millionaire Fredrick Loren. He and his 4th wife, Annabelle, have invited 5 people to the house for a "Haunted House" party. Whoever stays in the house for one night will earn ten thousand dollars. As the night progresses, all the guests are trapped inside the house with ghosts, murderers, and other terrors.
The film's style is similar in some retrospects to the E.C. comic books of the era, such as Tales from the Crypt, and features elements of campy humor. The theatrical trailer promoted the film as The House on Haunted Hill, although all advertising material, and the title on the film itself were simply titled House on Haunted Hill. The film is best known for a famous promotional gimmick used in the film's original theatrical release called "Emergo": William Castle placed an elaborate pulley system in each theater showing the film; allowing a plastic skeleton to be flown over the audience at the appropriate time. [link] [link]
Thanks to Castle's gimmicky theatrical run, the film became a huge success. Alfred Hitchcock took notice of the low-budget film's performance at the box office, and set out to make his own low-budget horror film, which became the critically acclaimed hit Psycho (Ironically, Castle himself was a Hitchcock fan, and tried to imitate his work).
House on Haunted Hill was originally released by Allied Artists Pictures Corporation. The film has since fallen into the public domain, and is available in a number of unauthorized issues of questionable legitimacy. Two major studios have released the film in remastered versions. Warner Home Video released the film on DVD as a tie-in to promote the release of the 1999 remake. In 2005, the film was colorized by Legend Films. The color version was released on DVD the same year by 20th Century Fox. Extras prepared by Legend Films for the Fox DVD release included an audio commentary track by comedian Michael J. Nelson, of Mystery Science Theater 3000 fame, two versions of the trailer, and a slideshow of images from the film's original press book. The colorized release was very well received.
See also
- Ennis House, a house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright that was used as the title "House" in the 1959 film.
External links
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