House on Haunted Hill (1959)

What a career Vincent Price made for himself as the king of the horror film. From his extraordinary amalgam of an accent to his pristine mustache to that calm, easy grace, it's no wonder directors liked him as the eccentric master of the macabre. Playing one of his usual roles, Price is a millionaire intent on throwing a "haunted house" party for a seemingly random group of strangers on Haunted Hill. Each person will receive $10,000 at the end of the party. The catch? They must survive the night.

A pilot, a typist, a journalist, a psychiatrist, a member of the family and heir to the house, plus Mr. Loren's fourth wife consist of the guest list. They all share one common attribute: besides none of them really knowing their host, they are all in desperate need of the cash. Locked inside of the fortress of a manor, they must not only endure the ghosts of residents past, but must also contend  with their growing hysteria.

There is something so archaically endearing about a good ol' fashioned ghost story, for their is something so primitively frightening about the idea of spirits. All civilizations have their ideas of an afterlife and so many of them center around the thought that our essence--our soul--is something as real and tangible as our flesh. It doesn't take much more than a trick of the mind in a spooky house full of cobwebs and squeaky doors in order to make those apparitions appear.

The film, though mostly a fun little fright fest in an old school kind of way, has a bit more substance to it which I won't go into for fear of spoiling the plot. Watching this, one might think that there really is no story besides the ghost and that this idea of a "party" is nothing more than an impetus to get these random people into one haunted place. Rest assured, there is a plot, though it isn't something that makes a whole lot of sense and as it continues the dots don't really connect. I suppose dots aren't really the issue, however, when we are dealing with giant vats of acid in the wine cellar and blood that drips from an ancient stain.

The film is short, running at barely 75 minutes, but that is still too much time for what we've got. Certain characters don't really play any part of the story, like Julie Mitchum as the columnist and Elisha Cook Jr. as the relation to the dead specters (though he does offer a lot of "spook talk", and even insinuates that the ghosts will come for the audience next! Aaaahhh!). All in all, it's a movie with a lot of screaming and a jab at a story towards the end.

Even still, if you're looking for something to get you into the Halloween spirit and if you're not into gotcha! moments or lots of gore, like I'm not, then maybe this will be something to get you in the mood. There really is nothing like a big, scary house shot in black and white, and who wouldn't be at least a little unnerved by party hosted by Price?

2.5/4