ON THIS DAY IN HORROR - February 17th
"HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL" released in 1959
A millionaire offers ten thousand dollars to five people who agree to be locked in a large, spooky, rented house overnight with him and his wife, William Castle's cult horror film, House on Haunted Hill!
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Eccentric millionaire Frederick Loren (Vincent Price) invites five people to a party he is throwing for his fourth wife, Annabelle (Carol Ohmart), in an allegedly haunted house he has rented, promising to give them each $10,000 with the stipulation that they must stay the entire night in the house after the doors are locked at midnight. The five guests are test pilot Lance Schroeder (Richard Long); newspaper columnist Ruth Bridges (Julie Mitchum); psychiatrist Dr. David Trent (Alan Marshal), who specializes in hysteria; Nora Manning (Carolyn Craig), who works for one of Loren's companies; and the house's owner Watson Pritchard (Elisha Cook). Pritchard disapproves of Loren's use of the house for his "party," making it unclear how Loren acquired access to the house in the first place.
Arriving late at night in separate funeral cars with a hearse leading the procession, Loren's guests are told the rules of the party, and each is given a .38 ACP caliber pistol for protection. Forced to attend the party, Loren's wife tries to warn the guests that her husband is psychotic, causing them to be very suspicious of him, but later Nora becomes convinced that he's trying to kill her when she keeps seeing frightening ghosts, including the ghost of Annabelle, who had apparently hanged herself some time during the night. As the night progresses, all the guests desicover they are trapped inside the house with ghosts, murderers, and other terrors - so, just who will survive the night in the house on Haunted Hill?
Arriving late at night in separate funeral cars with a hearse leading the procession, Loren's guests are told the rules of the party, and each is given a .38 ACP caliber pistol for protection. Forced to attend the party, Loren's wife tries to warn the guests that her husband is psychotic, causing them to be very suspicious of him, but later Nora becomes convinced that he's trying to kill her when she keeps seeing frightening ghosts, including the ghost of Annabelle, who had apparently hanged herself some time during the night. As the night progresses, all the guests desicover they are trapped inside the house with ghosts, murderers, and other terrors - so, just who will survive the night in the house on Haunted Hill?
Watson Pritchard: [opening lines] The ghosts are moving tonight, restless... hungry. May I introduce myself? I'm Watson Pritchard. In just a moment I'll show you the only really haunted house in the world. Since it was built a century ago, seven people, including my brother, have been murdered in it. Since then, I've owned the house. I only spent one night then and when they found me in the morning, I... I was almost dead.
Top and Above: Eccentric millionaire Frederick Loren (Vincent Price) "entertains" his guests; Ruth Bridges (Julie Mitchum), Dr. David Trent (Alan Marshal), Lance Schroeder (Richard Long), Nora Manning (Carolyn Craig), and the house's owner Watson Pritchard (Elisha Cook).
Arriving in Hollywood in 1941, and, at just 23 years of age, future producer William Castle began working for Harry Cohn at Columbia Pictures. Under Cohen's tutelage, Castle quickly learned the film business, and eventually graduated to directing inexpensive B-movies, the first being the appropriately named The Chance of a Lifetime, released in 1943. Directing another 38 pictures in the next 13 years - including four movies in The Whistler series - Castle gained a reputation for being able to make films under budget and quickly. However, Castle's ambitions to branch out into bigger budget productions were still unsatisfied, and in 1957, Castle struck out on his own, founding the production company Susina Associates with partner/screenwriter Robb White and announced their intention to make five films over the following sixteen months, the first of which would be Macabre (inspired by the 1955 French thriller Les Diaboliques).
Castle mortgaged his Beverly Hills house to raise the $90,000 budget (over $800,000 in 2017 dollars), as well as getting financing from investors Howard Koch and Aubrey Schenck. Production occurred from July 29 through August 12, 1957, and was later picked up by Allied Artists for a reported $125,000. Castle came up with the idea to give every customer a certificate for a $1,000 life insurance policy from Lloyd's of London in case they should die of fright during the film, even stationing nurses in the lobbies with hearses parked outside the theaters. The gimmick was a huge hit and Macabre grossed over $5 million at the US box office. Fresh from the success of Macabre, Castle and White began work on their next project, House on Haunted Hill.
With White finalizing the script, Castle began the casting process, hiring 77 Sunset Strip star Richard Long, Julie Mitchum, Australian-born actor Alan Marshal, Carolyn Craig, and legendary character actor Elisha Cook Jr. as the doomed house-guests. For the part of the manipulative hostess Annabelle Loren, Castle turned to matinee star Carol Ohmart. Castle often related the story of meeting star Vincent Price on a day when Price had learned that he had been passed over for a part in another movie. Over coffee, Castle described the premise of House on Haunted Hill. Price liked the idea and and accepted the part of millionaire Frederick Loren.
Castle mortgaged his Beverly Hills house to raise the $90,000 budget (over $800,000 in 2017 dollars), as well as getting financing from investors Howard Koch and Aubrey Schenck. Production occurred from July 29 through August 12, 1957, and was later picked up by Allied Artists for a reported $125,000. Castle came up with the idea to give every customer a certificate for a $1,000 life insurance policy from Lloyd's of London in case they should die of fright during the film, even stationing nurses in the lobbies with hearses parked outside the theaters. The gimmick was a huge hit and Macabre grossed over $5 million at the US box office. Fresh from the success of Macabre, Castle and White began work on their next project, House on Haunted Hill.
With White finalizing the script, Castle began the casting process, hiring 77 Sunset Strip star Richard Long, Julie Mitchum, Australian-born actor Alan Marshal, Carolyn Craig, and legendary character actor Elisha Cook Jr. as the doomed house-guests. For the part of the manipulative hostess Annabelle Loren, Castle turned to matinee star Carol Ohmart. Castle often related the story of meeting star Vincent Price on a day when Price had learned that he had been passed over for a part in another movie. Over coffee, Castle described the premise of House on Haunted Hill. Price liked the idea and and accepted the part of millionaire Frederick Loren.
[last lines]
Watson Pritchard: They're coming for me now...
[looks at camera]
Watson Pritchard: ...and then they'll come for you.
Top: Producer/director William Castle on set;
Above: The now famous marketing gimmick, the "Emergo" experience.
With principal photography beginning on September 22nd, 1958, the exterior shots of the house were filmed at the historic Frank Lloyd Wright-designed 1924 Ennis House in Los Feliz, California; although the bulk of the film was shot on sound stages, depicting the interior of the house in a combination of styles, including 1890s Victorian, with gas chandeliers and sconces. But House on Haunted Hill is perhaps best known for its famous promotional gimmick used in the film's original theatrical release called "Emergo" - in some theaters that showed the film, Castle placed an elaborate pulley system in the theater itself, which allowed a plastic skeleton to be flown over the audience at the appropriate time. But it wasn't long before many theaters soon stopped using this "effect" because when the local boys heard about it, they would bring slingshots to the theater; when the skeleton started its journey, they would pull out their slingshots and fire at it with stones, BBs, ball bearings and whatever else they could find!
Released by Allied Artists, House on Haunted Hill was another huge success at the box office, grossing $1.5 million. Later that year, star Price would reunite with Castle and White to film the horror film The Tingler - this time using the "Percepto" gimmick of attaching small vibtaring motors under select seats in a number of theaters; in the finale, one of the creatures supposedly gets loose in the movie theater itself. The buzzers were activated as the film's star, Vincent Price, warned the audience to "scream – scream for your lives!". In fact, Castle's early marketing gimmicks (and its related box office success) inspired the Master of Suspense himself, Alfred Hitchcock, and set out to make his own low-budget horror film, which became the critically acclaimed hit Psycho (1960). Castle was himself a Hitchcock fan, and would try to imitate Hitchcock's work in Homicidal released in 1961, but was not nearly as successful.
In an endearing homage to William Castle, filmmakers Joel Silver, Robert Zemeckis, and Gilbert Adler - who famously produced the HBO TV series Tales From the Crypt - formed Dark Castle Entertainment in 1999. When first formed, the goal was to remake Castle's horror films (very similar to another production company Platinum Dunes), beginning with the updated House on Haunted Hill, with Geoffrey Rush playing eccentric amusement park mogul, Steven H. Price. Joining the cast were Famke Janssen, Taye Diggs, Peter Gallagher, Bridgette Wilson-Sampras, Ali Larter, and Jeffrey Combs as an added character, the evil Dr. Richard Benjamin Vannacutt. Co-produced by Castle's daughter Terry Castle, House on Haunted Hill was a success at the box office, grossing over $40 million. But while the original House on Haunted Hill received overwhelmingly positive reviews, the remake did not fare quite as well.
Released by Allied Artists, House on Haunted Hill was another huge success at the box office, grossing $1.5 million. Later that year, star Price would reunite with Castle and White to film the horror film The Tingler - this time using the "Percepto" gimmick of attaching small vibtaring motors under select seats in a number of theaters; in the finale, one of the creatures supposedly gets loose in the movie theater itself. The buzzers were activated as the film's star, Vincent Price, warned the audience to "scream – scream for your lives!". In fact, Castle's early marketing gimmicks (and its related box office success) inspired the Master of Suspense himself, Alfred Hitchcock, and set out to make his own low-budget horror film, which became the critically acclaimed hit Psycho (1960). Castle was himself a Hitchcock fan, and would try to imitate Hitchcock's work in Homicidal released in 1961, but was not nearly as successful.
In an endearing homage to William Castle, filmmakers Joel Silver, Robert Zemeckis, and Gilbert Adler - who famously produced the HBO TV series Tales From the Crypt - formed Dark Castle Entertainment in 1999. When first formed, the goal was to remake Castle's horror films (very similar to another production company Platinum Dunes), beginning with the updated House on Haunted Hill, with Geoffrey Rush playing eccentric amusement park mogul, Steven H. Price. Joining the cast were Famke Janssen, Taye Diggs, Peter Gallagher, Bridgette Wilson-Sampras, Ali Larter, and Jeffrey Combs as an added character, the evil Dr. Richard Benjamin Vannacutt. Co-produced by Castle's daughter Terry Castle, House on Haunted Hill was a success at the box office, grossing over $40 million. But while the original House on Haunted Hill received overwhelmingly positive reviews, the remake did not fare quite as well.
ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE: 95%
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