Review of House on Haunted Hill (1959) by Mike E — 27 May 2009

While they're not scary by today's standards, I get a lot of enjoyment out of many of these old fright-night flicks. Of course, even most of today's "horror" films rely too heavily on flashing corpsey images to the sudden sounds of orchestral screeching.

Classic numbers like this focus on using mood and concept to build suspense. It's surprising a lot of the gruesome ideas and images that are conjured from a supposedly more "innocent" age.

I have to admit a bias, though, to the whole haunted house theme.

LOL Moment: Of course the blind housekeeping lady skulks around silently making hideous expressions and clawing the air with her hands.

Watched it on Hulu.