The house on the haunted hill
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The house on the haunted hill |
| Original title | House on Haunted Hill |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1959 |
| length | 75 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 18 |
| Rod | |
| Director | William Castle |
| script | Robb White |
| production | William Castle Robb White |
| music |
Richard Cane , Richard Loring , Von Dexter |
| camera | Carl E. Guthrie |
| cut | Roy V. Livingston |
| occupation | |
| |
The House on Haunted Hill (English original title: House on Haunted Hill ) is an American horror film shot in black and white from 1959 . The director was William Castle and the screenwriter Robb White .
The film is about a rich couple who, together with five selected guests , want to spend a night in a former mansion , which is said to be haunted . It is in the public domain . In 1999 a remake of the same name was released, directed by William Malone .
content
Frederick Loren is a millionaire and is married for the fourth time. With his current wife, Annabelle, there is only one kind of love-hate relationship between him. Frederick is a possessive and persistently jealous person, and he believes Annabelle is only after his money.
Nevertheless, Frederick agrees when Annabelle wants to hold a birthday party in the former mansion "Hillhouse". She wants a kind of “spooky party” and Frederick complies with the request in his own way: He invites five selected guests who all have one thing in common: financial difficulties. Nora, one of Frederick's employees, is in debt; Ruth, a gossip reporter, is addicted to gambling ; Lance, a test pilot, has to pay additional rent; David, a doctor and scientist, allegedly wants to investigate the alleged supernatural at Hillhouse, but is really keen on the money. And then there is Prichard, the house owner who is addicted to drinking . Frederick Loren exploits all of these financial and personal weaknesses: He promises the guests $ 10,000 each if they stay and survive the night.
The five guests arrive at Hillhouse and are initially confused because they are all meeting for the first time. After the guests have introduced themselves to each other, you go to the property. As soon as she arrives at Hillhouse, young Nora is almost killed by a wooden chandelier . Lance pulls her aside just in time, preventing worse.
After a short champagne reception, the group decides to explore the house. Frederick hands each of the guests a loaded pistol - to heighten the tension, he says. In the wine cellar, he shows visitors a basin filled with acid. According to Prichard, it was said to have been used for a murder. The group, troubled by this, went back to the upper floors. However, Lance and Nora explore the cellar on their own until Nora is startled by ghostly apparitions. In general, Nora seems to magically attract any kind of "horror": In the basement she sees a floating woman, in her room she first finds a severed head, later she is harassed there by a rope that seems to have come alive. The front door has now been hermetically locked and all guests are stuck. A short time later Lance sees Annabelle hanging dead from the ceiling - she has been strangled. David helps him bring the woman who was killed to her room to keep her there. Back in the hallway, Lance meets the desperate Nora.
All members of the group except Nora meet in the drawing room for a meeting. Frederick Loren has been suspected of murder from the start. Lance and Ruth, however, argue that anyone else might as well be an option. It is decided to withdraw and have the pistols ready. In the hallway, Lance finally discovers a secret passage in which he is promptly locked. But Nora escapes from her room into the hallway, where she comes across Annabelle, who has been untied again. When a huge, furry hand reaches for her and starts playing the organ in the parlor by itself, she suffers a nervous breakdown .
In the meantime David goes to Annabelle's room. She is not dead at all, but awake and has been waiting for David. Both have had a love affair for a long time and the whole party was their plan: Nora was to be driven insane in the hope that she would panic and shoot Frederick. David and Annabelle figured that Frederick would not be able to avoid harassing the terrible Nora again. This is exactly what happens when Nora goes into the wine cellar and is surprised by Frederick. She shoots at him and runs away, beside herself. David sneaks out of hiding to maneuver Frederick into the acid pool. But something goes wrong, because when Annabelle enters the basement a little later to meet David, nobody is there. Suddenly the doors close and a skeleton rises from the acid basin and tries to grab Annabelle. When Annabelle tries to evade, she plunges into the acid herself. Thereupon Frederick, believed dead, appears with a device with which he had controlled the skeleton like a puppet . Nora, Ruth, Lance and Pritchard enter the basement and come across Frederick, who explains everything to the group. The film leaves open whether he will ever be punished.
criticism
"Comedically taken to the extreme, horror thriller, for the marketing of which William Castle came up with a skeleton" flying "through the cinema."
background
Filming
The film was shot at Ennis House on Glendower Avenue in Los Feliz , Los Angeles , California . Filming began in August 1958 and the world premiere took place on February 17, 1959 in the USA . The film was first shown in Germany on October 27, 1959.
actor
Actor Vincent Price was best known for The House on Haunted Hill and the movie The Fly . He also starred in films such as The Three Musketeers (as Cardinal Richelieu ) and Ringo (as Dr. Nancy ).
Actress Carol Ohmart ( Annabelle ) also starred in The Third Man and Branded .
Actress Carolyn Craig has also appeared in other horror films and series, such as B. in The gray ghost and The Deputy .
literature
- Robert Zion: The Continuity of Evil. Vincent Price in his films. Belleville, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-933510-21-X , pp. 144-146.
Web links
- House on Haunted Hill in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- House on Haunted Hill at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
- The House on Haunted Hill in the online movie database
- The house on the Geisterhügel in the German synchronous file
- The house on the ghost hill as a complete film in the Internet Archive
- Complete film in German on Youtube.com