When Annabelle is found hanging from the ceiling, everyone suspects each other of the foul deed. Strange things begin happening, as Lance is knocked out in a secret room, and Nora shrieks after seeing a hideous old hag (more on her later!) The house is locked tight at precisely midnight. Trent (Alan Marshal), and columnist Ruth (June Bridges).
The house is owned by Watson Pritchard (Elisha Cook Jr), whose brother and sister-in-law were murdered here, and who claims seven ghosts of murder victims walk the halls. The rest of the guests are pilot Lance (Richard Long), secretary Nora (Carolyn Craig), Dr. His wife Annabelle ( Carol Ohmart at her bitchy best) is at odds with Loren, refusing to divorce him. Vincent Price plays ultra-rich Frederick Loren, host of the party, who offers five strangers $10,000 dollars to stay at the supposed “murder house”. THE HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL is your basic “haunted house” movie, with seven disparate characters forced to spend the night at the gloomy house. Castle made the film MACARBRE in 1958, handing out $1,000 life insurance policies from Lloyd’s of London to patrons “in case they died of fright” while watching the movie. MACARBRE drew money, and for his next flick, THE HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL, Castle had a plastic skeleton wired up to float over moviegoers heads during a crucial scene. By the late 1950s, television dominated the country’s entertainment audiences, and box offices suffered. A natural born showman, Castle got his start grinding out B pictures for companies like Columbia and Monogram. (Wikipedia) Although not my beloved original, I found this remake to be a creepy fun time.William Castle was The King of the Gimmick Films.
#House on haunted hill skeleton movie#
The scratch-off ticket would give each movie patron a chance to win money much like the characters in the film. In keeping with the spirit of William Castle‘s tradition of releasing each of his films with a marketing gimmick, Warner Bros, and Dark Castle supplied movie theatres with scratch-off tickets that would be given to anyone who paid to see the film. Terry Castle (William Castle’s daughter) was also a co-producer on the project. Produced by Robert Zemeckis and Joel Silver, it features special effects by famed make-up artists Gregory Nicotero and Dick Smith. With the remake of the 1963 haunted house classic, “The Haunting”, the 1999 version starring Liam Neeson, and Catherine Zeta-Jones, this updated “House on Haunted Hill” needed to insert a lot more horror and gore. Nothing worse than psycho ghosts trying to make you one of them. at the helm, manifested a disturbing backdrop. Setting the house as a former insane asylum with a totally twisted Dr.
Capitulating to his wife, Price leases the house from the owner, Watson Pritchett ( Chris Kattan). As in the original, his spoiled trophy wife, Evelyn Stockard-Price ( Famke Janssen), in a disintegrating marriage with Steven insists on a haunted house themed birthday party. Geoffrey Rush was fantastic as the sinister Steven Price (I believe the name change is an homage to Vincent), an amusement park mogul with a wicked sense of humor. Didn’t think I’d ever say this because William Castle films are sacred but, the remake is awesome, ratchets up the effects, and is creepy as HELL!! If it weren’t for my kids, I probably wouldn’t have sought out the remake but, when I walked into the family room and caught a glimpse of the action on the big screen, I was immediately drawn into the atmospheric effects. I saw the film at a Halloween special performance and the skeleton floating across overhead was Fantastic! Classic Castle! Once word spread about the skeleton, kids had to get in on the act by trying to knock it down with candy boxes, soda cups, or any other objects at hand. His movie gimmicks are legendary! In my favorite, “House on Haunted Hill”, it was Emergo (A skeleton with red lighted eye sockets that floated over the audience in the final moments of the film). Vincent Price’s disembodied head narrating during the opening credits is (sorry, had to do it) Priceless! 😁 I’m a huge fan of the B-Movie Director because he personifies the “show” in show business. Elisha Cook – Watson Pritchard The owner of the house, Watson Pritchard’s vivid descriptions of all the deaths and heads in the house is awesome! The more he drinks the more colorful the tales become.
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