Would someone please close that hatch?

The Movie: House on Haunted Hill, directed by William Castle
Recommendation: Dee
Reason: "Vincent Price is a god among men."

William Castle should be familiar to most horror fans as 'that guy that electrocuted his audiences'. He's the man responsible for The Tingler, in which little zappers prodded the audience into responding to the film. When House on Haunted Hill was screened, there were apparently skeletons that would go whipping past over the audience's heads. Oh, to have been around to see _that_. By today's standards, House on Haunted Hill is pretty tame. There's a bit of blood, a bit of hanging of people. Nothing too extreme.

The cast was alright. Very campy, very Vincent Price. Not a lot to be said about the special effects, though the jump scares were okay. They were sort of the variety of 'the camera can't see it, so obviously the characters can't'. There were some...severe logical problems. But if you just played along, it was not a bad way to kill some time.

Inevitably we have to address the question "soooo...was it better than the remake?" Sure. In some ways it was better, in some it wasn't as good. I'm a fan of cheese, as far as horror movies go, and 1999's remake had it in loads. In different flavors, even. I liked the way the house unleashed hell on the partygoers in the remake. I was a big fan of the opening sequence, and I still get shivers thinking of the herky-jerky motion of some of the ghosts. Jeebus...creepy. Anyway, back on track. I wish the remake had a little more to do with the original. It could have fixed a few things, polished the effects...but alas, it'll sit with Thir13en Ghosts as a nice little bit of 90's nostalgia for Mr. Castle's prime. (That's another guilty pleasure of mine. I refuse to apologize for getting a kick out of Matthew Lillard sometimes.)

-27/365 down, 338/365 to go