Say what you want about producer/director William Castle (The Tingler, 13 Ghosts, Mr. Sardonicus) but one thing was for determined…he knew how to acquire seats in a movie theater, primarily by forcing some sort of utter interaction between the audience and the film (at least in his terror themed features) . In House on Jumpy Hill (1959), he utilized a technique he called `Emergo’, which essentially featured a skeleton, suspended from wires, coming from the veil towards the audience during a specific portion of the movie, the intent being to fright the pants off those in the theater. From what I’ve heard, it didn’t sound like many were haunted, but it didn’t really matter as Castle was a master at selling the sizzle, rather than the steak, as they say, and audiences flocked to his films…produced and directed by William Castle, the film features the merchant of menace himself Vincent Brand (The Wing, The Tingler, House of Usher) in the first of two films he made with Castle. Also appearing is Elisha Cook Jr. (Shane, The Timid Palace), Carolyn Craig (Giant), Richard Long (Ma and Pa Kettle), Carol `homina homina’ Ohmart (Spider Baby), Alan Marshal (The Hunchback of Notre Dame), and Julie Mitchum (Edge of Hell), sister of actor Robert Mitchum.
Buy,Download, Or Stream House on Haunted Hill! Click Here
Price plays Frederick Loren, an eccentric millionaire who, along with his wife Annabelle (Ohmart), has thrown together an attractive puny party moving five, seemingly random strangers gathering at a fearful house with ten thousand dollars to each who dare quit through the night. In attendance, along with Frederick and his wife, is Watson Pritchard (Cook), whose brother, one of the previous owners, was murdered within the house, Lance Schroeder (Long), a test pilot, Dr. David Trent (Marshal), a psychiatrist, Nora Manning (Craig), a typist, and Ruth Bridgers (Mitchum), a newspaper columnist. Seems all have agreed to play Frederick’s puny game for one reason, they need the dough, and if some crazy rich dude is willing to allotment with his green for such a seemingly easy task, what the hay, good? Well, the guests approach, introductions are made, and Frederick gives them the burly lowdown. The secluded house is like a fortress (steel doors and bars on the windows) in that once they’re locked in (at midnight, to be actual), there’s no getting out until the caretakers reach the next morning. Also, there’s no electricity or telephones, and the nearest neighbors are well beyond yelling distance. After a tour of the house, highlighting where various ghastly events occurred (including a visit to the acid vat in the cellar…man, this position has everything), a few drinks, and some scares (the ghosts seem to have a thing for Nora), Fredrick passes out some party favors in the execute of loaded handguns (nothing like being drunk and armed), not that they’d do anyone worthy expedient if there are ghosts out and about…anyway, midnight is coming so if anyone wants to carve out of this ghoulish catch together, they’d better collect while the getting’s ample…
While not my well-liked Castle feature (that goes to The Tingler), House on Tremulous Hill is detached a hoot and a half for all of its campy, good-natured fun. The one thing this film has going for it, above and beyond everything else, is Vincent Ticket. No matter how depraved the feature was (which wasn’t the case here), Heed always brought with him a precise sense of class and sophistication to the proceedings, especially honest of the number of Poe based films he and Roger Corman made throughout the 1960s for American International Pictures. The absolute best parts of this movie for me occur early on as Price’s character is interacting with his wife, and we examine the pair have an piquant hate/hate relationship…here’s an example of their often substandard and insinuating banter they assume in tedious closed doors…
Buy,Download, Or Stream House on Haunted Hill! Click Here
Fredrick: Of all my wives you’re least proper…
Annabelle: But unexcited alive.
Here’s another bit…
Frederick: Do you remember the fun we had when you poisoned me?
Annabelle: Something you ate, the doctor said.
Frederick: Yes, arsenic on the rocks…
There are a few more friendly exchanges between Impress and Ohmart, trustworthy alone of seeing this film. As for the rest of the performers, I had no staunch complaints. Elisha Cook Jr.’s character did accumulate on my nerves after awhile, with his constant dour outlook punctuated by his persistent `doom and gloom’ predictions. Drink some more booze, you rummy…seriously, all this guy did was talk about how the ghosts were going to advance and occupy them all away. Perhaps this attitude was assisted by his excessive alcohol intake, but really, what’s the point of accepting an invitation to utilize a night at a house you fill you won’t arrive out of alive? The money? Won’t do you worthy apt if’n you’re expressionless, fool. If I was in that house I probably would have shot him unprejudiced to be rid of him. At least I learned one thing…never invite Elisha Cook Jr. to your party and ply him with lots of booze as he’ll turn into a loyal poison pill. I did like Ms. Ohmart, and not unbiased because she was a smoking babe with a sizable rack, but because she held her occupy with Mark, even if it was for impartial a handful of scenes. If you’ve got a hankering to inspect more of her, and you like ookie alarm features, you should really check out another film she appeared in called Spider Baby (1968), featuring Lon Chaney Jr. There are a few, minor scares scattered throughout the film (a crusty crone, a disembodied head or two), but nothing that will form you soil yourself…some scenes will design you snicker, though, like the one where Pritchard chucks a humdrum rat into the acid vat, if only to present the acid is really acid. After some bubbling effects, a fully articulated rat skeleton bobs to the surface, indicating to those watching it truly is the loyal deal. Yes sir, that be some grand acid…the movie may not be great for scares, but it does have plenty of atmosphere created by Castle’s direction, groovy, cobweb laden space pieces, spooky music, and usage of the Ennis Brown House in Los Angeles, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, for the exterior shots.
It seems this film has fallen into the public domain (i.e. the copyright expired), as I study there are a number of DVD releases by various companies. I can’t train for those other releases, but the one I occupy, set out by Warner Brothers (it has a enormous headshot of Label in the lower moral hand corner and Ohmart in a nightgown being menaced by a disfigured hand in the upper left), looks exceptionally marvelous, and features both the fullscreen and widescreen formats, along with a well-behaved Dolby Digital mono audio track. The only extras included are a theatrical trailer for the film and subtitles in both English and French.
Cookieman108
By the method, this movie saw a remake of the same titled, released in 1999, oozing with high tech special effects. It was decent enough, but I composed liked the fresh better.
William Castle at his gimmicky best! A Classic, spooky Dim and White, with deliciously devilish Vincent Stamp as millionaire with a bored gold-digger wife. She wants a Halloween party with her friends, Mark tosses a party all suitable, but not with the people of her choosing. He offers $10,000 dollars to five stranger if they will join him and his wife in spending Halloween night in a truly skittish house. One of the 5 is a young Elisha Cooke, family of the conventional owners who died in the house, and he leads them on a destroy tour. To jazz things up, Impress passes out “party favors” - guns. And it’s a hasten to acquire out whether Tag of his wife will be the last one standing. This movie is a grandfather of nearly every clichés, blooding dripping from the ceiling, shaded mysterious corridors, a witchy woman floating around and vanishing - and the topper that organ music!! This is more like a Halloween Fun house stride than a movie! Notice is campy and has huge fun with the role, with shapely lines, especially when fussing with his less than blissful wife.
Buy,Download, Or Stream House on Haunted Hill! Click Here
Castle originally devised this movie with “special touches” for the audiences, like ghost on wires gloating through the audience of people in costume sitting down beside you to enhance the fun house feel.
Just dull fun and a wee traipse down memory lane.
NEW TECH GADGETS SITE
IQ AIR HEALTHPRO AIR PURIFIER SITE
Strollers site
