Review of The Legend of Hell House (1973) by Sean F — 28 Oct 2004

Haunted house and ghost stories are the most difficult horror stories to put on film. It's easy to film a monster attacking at a key moment, but by their very nature haunted house stories usually have to rely on atmosphere and suspense to achieve the right chills.

The directors who are best at them realize it's what we see fluttering out of the corner of our eye that's scariest. "The Legend of Hell House" is the typical story about a group of people spending some time in a haunted house.

Two previous excursions in the same house had ended in disaster. This time around we have: Lionel Barrett (Clive Revill), physicist and skeptic; Ann Barrett (Gayle Hunnicutt), Lionel's wife; Florence Tanner (Pamela Franklin), a psychic; Benjamin Franklin Fischer (Roddy McDowall), another psychic and the only unharmed survivor from the last outing in Hell House twenty years prior.

The whole key to how well the movie is put together comes in an early speech given by Benjamin. He explains that the house is masterful at manipulating direction, and the occupants will be focused on whatever the house wants them to focus on.

As an example he points to a phonograph that has mysteriously come on, and has occupied their time for several minutes. How do they know, he wonders, that the haunter of the house didn't walk right behind them? The entire movie is smartly built around the manipulation of the audience's direction.

Important character and plot developments grab our attention, then provide us with the frights at just the right moment once we're absorbed in the actual story. Florence throws a temper tantrum at dinner, which is chillingly one-upped by a temper tantrum of the house's own.

Ann experiences a possession overshadowed by her own sexuality. Benjamin, who has been keeping his mind closed to the house, decides to open it a crack with devastating results. Roddy McDowall plays Benjamin with a heavy dose of hysteria, but he hits all the right notes.

And, dammit, nobody will listen to him! The clever direction makes for a fun and suspenseful time, but credit must also go to Richard Matheson, who adapted his novel, [i]Hell House[/i]. The veteran horror writer provided Hough with the right notes to play.

Too often the haunted house subgenre turns into a gore-fest, or lately a special effects extravaganza. This one is out for only one thing: It wants to scare you. It succeeds.