I AIN'T 'FRAID OF NO GHOST!!! By: SASHA SLAUGHTER

BOOO!!! Hey there fellow weirdos. Thanks for stopping by Dead End Horror and checking out my final movie review for haunted house week!! You thought I went old school on you yesterday with a flick from the early 70's?? Today I'll be practically shoving old school down your throats (you know you like it) with a movie from the late 1950's. The movie I'm talking about is, “House on Haunted Hill.”

 Sound familiar? Of course it does because there was another movie of the same title that came out in 1999. But we aren't talking about that one today. And besides, it's a remake of the one I'll be reviewing today. “House on Haunted Hill” was released on February 17, 1959 and was written by Robb White and directed by William Castle. And of course it stars the man, the myth, the legend...Vincent Price.

Oh yeahh! And here's something you might not know...Alfred Hitchcock was said have taken a notice of how well the low budget film “House on Haunted Hill” did at the box office, that he set out to make his own low budget horror film, which became the critically acclaimed hit Psycho (1960). Awesome!

Vincent Price stars in this B horror film as an eccentric millionaire named Frederick Loren . Frederick and his fourth wife Annabelle have invited five people to a haunted house for a "haunted house" party. The rules are that the house will be locked down at midnight and no one can leave. And anyone who makes it through the night alive will be given $10,00. Shortly after the five invited guests arrive, strange things start happening and they are trapped inside with ghosts, murderers and other terrors.

The five guests ( Nora Manning, Lance Schroder, Watson Pritchard, Dr. David Trent, and Ruth Bridges) arrive at the house in funeral cars being lead by a hearse. Vincent is talking while the guests arrive and say that the hearse may be empty now, but by the end of the night, you never know. When the guests enter the house and introduce themselves, the front door slams shut and a chandelier almost crushes one of the guests.

Mr. Loren appears shortly after and explains the rules of the party and gives everyone a .45 caliber pistol for their own protection. Mrs. Loren hints to the guests that her husband is psychotic and this causes the guests to be extremely suspicious of Mr. Loren, especially Nora Manning. Nora becomes paranoid and is convinced that Mr. Loren is trying to kill her when she sees mysterious ghouls throughout the house, including the ghost of Loren's wife Annabelle who had presumably hung herself after being forced to attend the party.

Almost as frightened as Nora is Watson Pritchard, who barely survived a night in that same house not long ago. He bought the house after he spent the night and was found almost dead the following day. He told the guests that while he was at the house before, another woman killed her own sister and his brother and hacked them into pieces and the parts were scattered all over the house. He goes on to tell them that all of the parts were found except the two heads.

He is fully convinced that the house is truly haunted and believes that the ghosts have the power to kill anyone in the house that they wish. After the supposed suicide of Annabelle, everyone is suspicious of everyone else and they all decide to go to their rooms with their pistols and stay there until morning. It is then that Dr. Trent goes into the room where Annabelle's body was laid on a bed. He tells her that it's almost over and they reveal the plan they've had all along to frighten Nora so badly that she would be spooked enough to shoot Mr. Loren. Dr. Trent tells Annabelle when she hears the gunshot to come into the basement.

After being frightened all evening, Nora runs into the basement when the lights suddenly go out. Mr. Loren appears in the basement next to her and Nora is so scared that she shoots him and then runs out of the basement. Dr. Trent comes out of a room in the basement and drags Loren's body to a vat of acid in the floor. The lights go out again and there are sounds of a struggle and the distinct sound of splashing.

The lights come back on and both men disappear. After hearing the gunshot, Annabelle enters the basement to confirm that her husband is dead and her and Dr. Trent's plan worked. All of the doors start slamming shut and a skeleton appears out of the acid, accompanied by Frederick's voice telling her that at last she's got everything he has, but she won't live to enjoy it. The skeleton approaches Annabelle and she recoils in terror and as she does she trips and falls into the vat of acid.

Frederick Loren steps out of the shadows with a contraption he was using to control the skeleton and in absolute triumph he watches Annabelle disintegrate. The other guests rush into the basement to find that Loren is alive. He tells Nora that her gun was loaded with blanks and that.....

If you're curious about the rest, I highly recommend going to Netflix and peeping out “House on Haunted Hill”  the 1959 version that is. I didn't really know what to expect from this movie. Obviously no stellar CGI or special effects, it was 1959 ya know. But I was a little surprised at the fact that some parts actually gave me the chills.

I wasn't scared...no sir...horror movies rarely scare me, but this one did creep me out just a little. Vincent Price is amazing...seriously. Zane turned me on to him and I'm so glad he did. There is just something about him (I mean Vincent Price, not Zane...although...ehh we'll get into that some other time).

I don't know if it's his smooth as silk voice or what, but he is definitely intriguing. The remake that came out in 1999 was very similar to the 1959 version, which surprised me. I thought that remake would totally suck, because most do. But the remake was almost exactly like the one from 59, but it had a bit more blood and death.

Although I will say I probably like the remake better...I know!! I can't help it y'all!! I'm a new school girl and while I appreciate the oldies, I'm all for the new stuff. There's more blood, guts, death...I love it!

Overall I'd give House on Haunted Hill a 4 out o 5. I was really impressed by this movie. The acting was great, especially Vincent Price's, he definitely stole the show. I think my favorite part was when Price was controlling that skeleton, it was super cheesy and not very believable, but it was the 50's, so they were working with what they had. I would recommend this movie to everyone and I would for sure watch it again. While you're here, how about you drop by and see what Zane is up to? And thanks for stopping by Dead End Horror. Check back next week!!

Sasha Slaughter