Table Of Content
He needn’t say much about the life-changing impact of his last visit to the Belasco House for the viewer to know it still haunts him. Ben usually speaks in a near-whisper, with a monotone delivery; giving the impression he’s a hollowed-out shell of his former self. While I’m a huge fan of Matheson’s novel, I had never seen The Legend of Hell House until celebrating its 50th birthday. Now, I’m kicking myself for waiting so long to see such an innovative film and obvious inspiration in the haunted house subgenre.
Facts about the movie Hell or High Water
A dying millionaire offers a huge reward to a group of researchers to provide him with definitive proof that there is life after death. He has bought the Belasco mansion, the "Mount Everest" of haunted houses, as the site of their investigations. A parapsychologist, his wife, a Christian medium, and the only survivor of an earlier failed attempt to investigate the haunting all have one week to determine what, if anything, inhabits the mansion.
Storyline
If you haven’t seen it (or you haven’t read the book), I highly suggest you do the same. This intelligent, creepy and disturbing horror film preys upon the most primal aversions to discomposure and the paranormal that even the most staunch realists among us harbor, but hide. Ann is subjected to erotic visions late at night, which seem linked to her lackluster sex life. She goes downstairs and, in an apparent trance, disrobes and demands sex from Fischer. He strikes her, snapping her out of the trance, and she returns to herself, horrified and ashamed. He is resentful, and spurns Fischer's warnings that the house is affecting Ann.
Psychological Horror
Hell House is a horror thriller novel written in 1971 by Richard Matheson. It was adapted to film as The Legend of Hell House in 1973, starring Pamela Franklin, Roddy McDowall, Clive Revill, and Gayle Hunnicutt. The release included a 30-minute interview with director John Hough, a commentary track by actress Pamela Franklin, stills gallery, original theatrical trailer, radio ads and reversible cover art featuring the theatrical artwork and customized artwork for the Blu-ray release.
Inspiration for Other Films
Immediately after Corbett’s quote fades away, Hough goes to work establishing an atmosphere of unease. When the participants enter the titular Hell House, all the lights are out and the home is eerily quiet. We can hear the sound of footsteps on the stone floors echoing off the walls. In one early shot, the camera looms behind the cast, gradually drawing closer until it almost seems as if it will swallow each participant whole; like some kind of silent, supernatural force.
Nevertheless, Daniel's "personality" continues to haunt her; she is scratched violently by a possessed cat. In an attempt to put Daniel to rest, she gives herself to the entity sexually, but the entity brutalizes her and possesses her body.
Roddy McDowall, who began his long career as a child actor in the late thirties, should need no introduction. McDowall continued his career successfully into adulthood, but it was usually in character roles, notably in heavy makeup as various chimpanzee characters in four of the five original Planet Of The Apes movies (1968 to 1973) and in the 1974 television series that followed. He was frequently a guest star on television shows, appearing in such series as the original Twilight Zone, The Eleventh Hour, Buck Rogers In The 25th Century, Night Gallery, The Invaders, Fantasy Island, Columbo, and Quantum Leap. He played the villain Bookworm in the camp sixties Batman television series and had an acclaimed recurring role as The Mad Hatter in Batman The Animated Series.
There were so many shots and ideas that were reminiscent of William Friedkin’s The Exorcist, which wouldn’t be released for another six months. The creep factor was all brought together with a chilling score by Delia Derbyshire and Brian Hodgson, the duo that created the original theme music for Doctor Who. Fans of "The Legend of Hell House" and haunted house stories in general should have no qualms about picking up a copy. The performances and script of this movie are all top notch, but what really makes this movie one of my favorites in the subgenre is its direction by Hough.
Official Trailer – F’d: Tales from the End Times
(As a result, The Legend of Hell House comes out as a far more intelligent and subtly effective film than The Exorcist). Yes, the movie has gained a cult following over the years and is highly regarded by horror enthusiasts. If you’d like to chat more about under-seen and underrated films, feel free to hit me up with your thoughts on Twitter, Threads, or Instagram. The Legend of Hell House settles on a happy medium (no apologies) as both psychics and science are proven right even as almost everyone is defeated by their ego.
The sequences feature suggested or silhouetted nudity, and when paired with earlier descriptions of Belasco’s carnally-focused parties we’re left feeling the foul atmosphere without needing to experience it firsthand. Barrett agrees, brings along his wife Ann (Gayle Hunnicutt), and is teamed up with two psychics – Florence Tanner (Pamela Franklin, The Innocents) is a mental medium, young but highly regarded, and Benjamin Fischer (Roddy McDowall, Fright Night) is her physical medium counterpart. He’s also the only one to have survived previous attempts to confront the house’s spirited reputation that left eight others either dead or insane. It’s October, so as is mandated by the universally accepted movie blog charter this month’s Essentials are going to focus on the horror genre. This week we’re starting with that most traditional of horror films… the ghost story. Despite the fact that it was released over 40 years ago, John Hough's The Legend of Hell House still remains one of the greatest and most effective haunted house films ever committed to celluloid.
He has left haunting mementos behind and seems to have substantial posthumous influence over the participants of the study. I will, however, say that the finale is mind-melting in the best possible way. The film’s foundation lies in the frightening novel by Richard Matheson, one of the best science fiction writers to ever exist. A vivid and powerful opening paragraph to Shirley Jackson’s 1959 updating of the classic ghost story, The Haunting Of Hill House, regarded by many, including Stephen King, as one of the most important horror novels of the Twentieth Century. The novel has been filmed twice, both times under the title The Haunting (1963 and 1999), and was also inspiration for William Castle’s House On Haunted Hill (1959 and 1999). In 1971, prolific horror author and screenwriter Richard Matheson successfully created his own take on Shirley Jackson’s tale, adapted his own novel to the big screen and introduced us to The Legend Of Hell House (1973).
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Works based on his novels and stories are The Omega Man (1971) from his I Am Legend, the afterlife fantasy What Dreams May Come (1998), the fine ghost story Stir of Echoes (1999), I Am Legend (2007), The Box (2009) and Real Steel (2011). Granted, while the movie didn’t go nearly as hard as similarly-themed films in decades to come, it was quite a bit more graphic and disturbing than other haunted house films around the time, including House on Haunted Hill or Burnt Offerings. For 1973, there were plenty of glass shards going into faces, murderous cats, and late-night, sexually frustrated, ghost-chomped bite marks to satisfy even today’s horror fans. These words open up quite possibly one of the most soul-stirring haunted house movies ever made; a PG-rated classic from 1973 that never seems to get its due when discussing horror films in the subgenre, and one that nails the atmospheric requirements flawlessly. It’s been five decades since the release of The Legend of Hell House, and it deserves celebration.
Clive Revill, the physicist, who attempts to clear the house of its evil, Pamela Franklin, the mental medium and Roddy McDowall the survivor of the previous incursion, are all first-rate. The last-act revelation is a let-down and even somewhat silly, but this remains a top-tier ghost movie, thanks mostly to director John Hough, who privileges atmosphere over logic. This journey into a terrifying haunted house is one of metaphysics, exploring how disbelief, in many forms, can work against oneself.
Flourishes like that establish a profound level of unease long before the first sign of paranormal activity appears. All organisms emit Electro Magnetic Radiation, and when a living thing dies the energy typically spreads out into the world with neither purpose nor personality. Barrett believes the Belasco house somehow retained that energy instead of releasing it and is acting like a large battery capable of fueling physical manifestations like moving objects, unexplained noises, etc. He’s created a machine that he claims will dissipate the mindless energy through reverse polarity thereby emptying the house of so-called paranormal activity.
The group experience multiple instances of unexplained activity from moving objects – some shifting innocently while others launch with murderous intent – to what remains my favorite scene involving ectoplasm. Ghostbusters is great and all, but watching smoky tendrils slowly form from Florence’s fingers while Barrett’s staid British voice intones “Leave a sample in the jar please” is my plasm jam. Hough stages the sequences with chilling execution leaving us fearful through sound design, perspective, and character reactions. Practical effects bring it all to life with a surprising effectiveness – the shape beneath the bed sheets remains a very cool and simple effect.
Fischer then concentrates, and a stained-glass partition in the chapel shatters, revealing a hidden door. The palatial home of the obviously stinkingly rich Mr Deutsch (Roland Culver), who commissions the investigation, is Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire. Considering writer Richard Matheson was responsible for the excellent adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe for Roger Corman in the Sixties, as well as the the scripts for the much-filmed I Am Legend and for Steven Spielberg’s first feature Duel, this film of his own novel is sadly disappointing.
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