Family Viewing: 'House on Haunted Hill'

Someone has a bone to pick with Carol Ohmart in the campy, creepy 'House on Haunted Hill'

House on Haunted Hill


Who made it: Directed by William Castle. With Vincent Price, Carol Ohmart.

Audience appeal: 10 and up

Once upon a time: Poor Frederick Loren. What can a bored-to-death millionaire do to amuse himself these days? Well, how about inviting five desperate people to a dusk-til-dawn party in a gruesomely haunted house, providing each with a loaded revolver and promising $10,000 to anyone who can survive the night? Providing anyone does survive the night...

Inappropriate material: It's a horror movie so, yes, there are some scares - including a hanging, and some black-and-white gore.

Why kids will like it: The movie is basically a haunted-house ride from the boardwalk, complete with sudden shocks like a mad old hag (who seems to be on roller skates), a hovering ghost and a lively skeleton. But like those summertime attractions, it mixes its just-say-boo moments with a wicked sense of humor, much of it courtesy of Vincent Price. He'd flirted with horror films before, but this point in his career he was ready to commit to the genre, and would follow up this film with a long string of Poe adaptations and gaily grand guignols.

Why adults will like it: Mostly for Price, who gives the film just the right amount of camp — particularly in his scenes with Carol Ohmart, who plays his scheming and equally acerbic wife. But the scares are fun (the dripping bloodstain is particularly lovely), the cast has a few familiar faces (including busy character actor Elisha Cook, and TV dad Richard Long) and director William Castle, recently embarked on a gleefully gimmicky series of films, keeps things moving nicely. (Plus you can watch it for free, right now, on YouTube, below.)

Fast forward/freeze frame: Nothing too confusing while it's happening, although some of the story doesn't quite hold up if you think about it too much.

Fun trivia: Castle's trick for this film was "Emergo" — basically a skeleton on wires which theater owners would send skimming over the audience's heads during a climactic moment in the movie. (Programmers at the Film Forum and the Loew's Jersey have occasionally revived this practice during screenings, bless them.) And while the film was shot on sets, the exteriors were filmed at the Ennis mansion — a Frank Lloyd Wright "Mayan" classic which has been featured in everything from "Blade Runner" to TV's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

Teachable moments: Young readers with an interest in things that go bump in the night will eventually discover Stephen King on their own — so why not point them towards some classic horror? The short stories of H.P Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe and M.R. James are a great place to start — and are even better read aloud by candlelight.

Double features: (other similar films) If you're still in the spirit try the terrific "The Uninvited" — not the recent film by that name, but the classic Ray Milland chiller which (rare for a Hollywood film) played its ghosts for real.



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