Retrospective Film Review

House on Haunted Hill (1959) • 65 Years Later — creaky, creepy, and absolutely camp

A millionaire offers $10,000 to five people who agree to be locked in a large, spooky, rented house overnight with him and his wife.

Piercing, ear-shattering screams and maniacal laughter break the silence. Heavy doors groan against their hinges, and the metallic clang of chains dragged across stone floors by wailing ghouls fills the air. Played over a pitch-black screen, these evocative sounds leave the audience to their darkest imaginings. Even after 65 years, the effect remains chillingly effective.

Up on an infamously haunted hill, there is a house that has supposedly claimed the lives of seven people: four men and three women. Frederick Loren (Vincent Price), a millionaire with questionable motives, invites five people to join him and his wife for a night in the spooky manor. If they stay, they are guaranteed $10,000-of course, their lives are at stake: it seems likely the house will kill again.