Review of House on Haunted Hill (1959) by Kendal K — 24 Oct 2013

I love Vincent Price, but I just couldn't get into this one. Like the remake, a rich tycoon invites a bunch of guests to his house for his wife's birthday party. He tells them of all the crazy things that have happened to the house and gives everyone a gun as a gift to stir the pot.

Things start happening and thigns spiral out of control when people start dying. The B&W version has some excellent use of shadows, the way things and characters emerge out of the shadows just can't be done the same way in color.

The effects though don't stand up that well are are more hillarious than scary. Eventually you find out the wife has plans of her own which start to fall into place, but then a second twist occurs right near the end.

Comparing this to the remake, the new one fleshed out some things more, but I felt the story took a backseat to the action and thrills. However, the original has poor effects and is almost a comedy now, but does have some pacing issues.