Review of The Legend of Hell House (1973) by Sanjid P — 20 Sep 2010

After Robert Wise directed 1963 horror masterpiece THE HAUNTING, undoubtedly this is the 2nd best ultimate haunted house film ever made, IMO. Both the films have everything a haunted house tale should have -- an eerie Gothic mansion with a dark and brooding atmosphere all over and full of different interesting characters. Like The Haunting (1963), John Hough's Hell House has those brilliant set ups to gets the engine of the story going on a perfect pace. The credits specially goes to John Hough's excellent direction, up to the mark performance by the small cast and the odd and unsettling background scores they maintained throughout the movie. And also what makes The Legend of Hell House work so remarkably is what makes most good ghost/haunted house stories work on film -- the restraint it uses in what it shows.

Imagine a group of people lost at sea. All of their personality differences, skills and talents all come to play to determine if the group will survive. A haunted house flick is no different. The haunted house is that sea. The setting of a haunted house is a great canvass for human drama. In many ways, haunted houses are like any tale where it is "man versus nature". Only in this case, nature surrounds you in supernatural proportions. An old & prime sub genre of horror. Based on a novel (as well as the screenplay) of horror/sci-fi maestro Richard Matheson, this one hell House of horror can easily be regard as the Holy guide book (like Wise's The Haunting) for today's filmmakers in the genre. But the sad fact is it seems they don't like/dare to make this kind of films anymore. Really...can anyone tell me when they last made or last time you saw an original haunted house film in the theater?

I wish I could see it on a theater at its midnight screening.