When I was a kid, I vaguely remember
seeing THE HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL and it scared the dickens out of me.
I mean, a pool of acid?
The film Is standard haunted house
fare, though I wonder if this was one of the movies that might have
created the rules of the genre.
A group of random strangers are invited
to a random dinner party by a mysterious couple with a taste for the
macabre. The rules are simple: stay the night, stay alive and get
10 grand. Quickly we learn that there are many horrors: ghosts,
trap doors, the afore mentioned acid, ect.
Leading the group is the Vincent Price,
an eccentric millionaire whose wives have a habit of shuffling off
the mortal coil rather...early. He is the star of the show, the
creepy demeanor, the accept, just his overall screen presence carries
the film. After all, if he's creepy enough for Thriller.
The film definitely has its freaky
moments. For the most part, I cannot help but look at the movie as a
bit of a cliché, but one wonders what it would have been like to see
the movie in theaters without that jaded cynicism that accompanies
the modern audience.
Going into this movie, I was kind of weary since my grandmother was still a teenager when it came out. I always feel weird watching older movies because I know that I can't really appreciate them as they were back in the time they were made.
ReplyDeleteAt first, I thought I was going to hate it. The beginning with floating heads and weird transitions, ect…
But then I realized Vincent Price was in it! Love. That. Man. And once the movie began to play out, I actually found myself getting really into it.
While I wouldn't consider it a horror movie, since I wasn't ever really scared, I was kept in suspense. It had a good story, and I loved the dialogue, especially between Price and his wife.
There weren't crazy weird effects, just a lot of play with shadows, music, and overall editing, which wasn't as distracting as some present day movies.
Watching this makes me more apt to watch more movies from back in the day. MOVIE NIGHTS WITH GRANDMA!!!