LegendofHellHouse

The Legend of Hell House (1973)

A wealthy old man assembles a team of investigators to prove to him once and for all if there is an afterlife. Because he is pressed for time (sort of implied he isn’t in good health) he sends them to the one place that seems truly haunted, Hell House. The team consists of a physicist that is approaching hauntings as a scientific problem, a medium, and the only survivor of an earlier attempt to investigate the house. They get to the house and we the audience get the history of it, including it’s rather nasty owner, Emeric Belascoe. Before you know it there is ectoplasm everywhere, plates are flying, and much other nastier stuff is about. Who lives and who dies? Will they solve the mystery of Hell House? Watch and see, because my friends this movie is a blast.

Before I begin my review I must say one thing. Roddy McDowall is freaking awesome! Not only in this movie, but in general as well. The Legend of Hell House is a well written and paced movie based on an even cooler book (which I’ve obviously read). That shouldn’t be surprising because the screenplay and the book that it is based on are both from the genius that is Richard Matheson. The movie quickly introduces the characters and gets to the meat of the story. Matheson also populates the story with strong and engaging characters. This makes for an interesting and entertaining 90 or so minutes. For me what is normally the downfall of so many haunted house stories is that they have a few creepy moments, but don’t know what to do the rest of the time. Here we are given some great characters that are then played off of each other. That interaction is what makes the movie work so well for me.

Of course the characters are nothing without the cast to portray them. I’ve already mentioned the great Roddy Mcdowall. For much of the movie his character is rather quiet. But it is he that goes head to head with the ghost of Belascoe in the big finale. His performance throughout the movie, but especially at the end is the real pay off. The other cast members, Pamela Franklin, Clive Revill, and Gayle Hunnicutt are also all very good in their roles.

There isn’t much in the way of special effects in this movie. You do have some ectoplasm and the furniture dances about a bit. There are also the standard chandelier falling (a couple of times actually!) and towards the end Roddy gets tossed around. But this is mostly just old school movie magic. I mean you can actually see the wires now and then. Most of the ghosts are created thru sound effects and the musical cues. To me this is actually much more effective then all the CGI in the world. This is especially true when the female medium is attacked while trying to help a ghost out.

Other then The Haunting and perhaps The Uninvited this is my favorite haunted house movie. And even then it is very close. If you haven’t taken the chance to check out The Legend of Hell House then you must do so. I highly recommend it.

3 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer