Director William Castle and writer Robb White were known primarily for one thing, which is creating gimmicks for many of their otherwise B-productions in order to build the reputation of their films and generate an audience. House on Haunted Hill was no exception, using what was referred to as the “Emergo.” When a skeleton presents itself on screen, another skeleton appeared and descended over the theater audience. However, the relevance of this film plays a much bigger role in the history of cinema when aligned with the fact that Alfred Hitchcock, upon seeing the returns for Castle’s film, begun to consider making a horror film. The film is now known as Psycho.
The film opens with two floating heads, foreshadowing one of the film’s main themes. One head is owned by Watson Pritchard (Elisha Cook Junior). Pritchard tells the tale of a mansion as it comes into view in the background (the Ennis Brown House in Los Angeles designed by Frank Lloyd Wright). He reviews its bloody past, which consists of seven deaths. The second head is that of millionaire Frederick Loren (Vincent Price). It materializes, telling of his invitation of five guests to the mansion for a game: Anyone of the guests which willingly stays the night will receive 10,000 dollars. We watch as each of the aforementioned people arrive in hearses for the occasion as we are given brief biographical sketches of each. Quickly we discover that the guests’ sole similarity is their desire or need for money.
Another theme quickly emerges when the scene cuts to Annabelle Loren (Carol Ohmart), Frederick’s fourth wife, as the couple viciously quibble with one another as the guests enter the house. To further add to the tension, Pritchard doesn’t waste any time disclosing to the other guests the history of the house. Four men and three women died within the confines in which they have been invited. As one guest notes, there is one symbolic death for each of the people currently there now. Frederick appears and gives the partygoers the official rules for the game with the addendum that, should anyone decide they don’t want to stay, they have until midnight to decide to do so, sans cash.
Before midnight, the viewer is given just enough eeriness to side with Pritchard until Frederick reveals two housekeepers, Mrs. Slydes (Leona Anderson) and her husband Jonas Slydes (Howard Hoffman), who account for the strange happenings since everyone’s arrival. However, before anyone is given the chance to leave, the housekeepers abruptly depart for the night, locking one and all inside. For those unconvinced that physical danger is present, Frederick gives each guest an atmospheric party favor, a miniature coffin with a gun inside. However, as Pritchard notes, guns don’t work on the dead, only the living.
The plot continues to develop. Though the preliminary ghosts prior to midnight having been explained rationality, more unaccountable occurrences ensue. But, for the sake of surprise and in order to keep the reader objective, my plot synopsis must end here.
I will state that the film is well-plotted in that its pacing and storyline have no difficulties in retaining the audience’s attention (with or without “Emergo”). However, the film’s abrupt close leaves the viewer feeling excessively empty handed and, upon reflection, we are left with countless narrative holes. I am intentionally being vague in order not to destroy the mystery of Haunted Hill but will say that the history of the house becomes somewhat arbitrary, parts of which becoming blaring non sequiturs by the end, thus depriving the film of the power it had worked so hard to achieve in its brief seventy-five minutes. White becomes too preoccupied in one direction, the house itself, instead of the other, the people enclosed within. He should have allowed the house’s occupants to haunt its grounds, not vice versa. I was left with the impression that a larger budget, in order to expand and justify the story and the house’s history to a full two hours, might have allowed the work the time to enter the horror annals as one of the greatest.
This is not the say that the film isn’t effective. It is outstandingly creepy even by modern standards and, upon the first occurrence with the pronounced paranormal, I thought to myself that the audience which had to first face the film was undoubtedly mortally horrified. Castle allows his production to drip with atmosphere, in part due to the ambiguity of the house’s history (the audience is forced to quickly side with Pritchard or the skeptics) and its open spaces. In order to skirt around the budget, cinematographer Carl Guthrie uses many wide-angle shots in order to force benefit of the doubt from the viewer. This is compounded by the tension created by the cast, which come across quite convincingly, allowing their reservations about being contained in a house overnight against their will without an indicator of whether Frederick’s offer is worthy of the bounty or not to be plausible in a rarely sold premise. Much credit is due to two people behind the scenes as in front. First is editor Roy Livingston’s judgment to maintain the tension by cutting back and forth from the guests to the Lorens’ martial bickering every other scene. Secondly, Von Dexter masterfully exploits the atmosphere and the expanses of the house with his score, further adding to the uncertainty of what lies within.
Considering that the film invalidates itself by its climax, I would state that the film is essential viewing for those desiring a sense of horror history, not a creative, intellectually engaging tale.
-Egregious Gurnow
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