Gänsehaut

London "hepcats" grow bored at a party one night and decide to go explore an old nearby estate that's supposedly haunted. Once there one of the gang is brutally knifed to death and the group is left to wonder if one of their own is a killer.

The Haunted House of Horror (also known simply as Horror House) is a swinging 60's British chiller that's a bit of a mixed-bag for horror fans. On the good side there's a couple of effectively shocking (and bloody) murder scenes, a nicely moody music score by Reg Tilsley, and the climax of the film is pleasingly intense. Unfortunately the rest of the film is hampered by a sluggish pacing and a fairly routine setup. The uneven performances from the cast don't help things either.

Still, overall Haunted House of Horror has enough going for it to make it an interesting watch - particularly for fans of British horror from this era or maybe for people who just hate Frankie Avalon.

** out of ****

England's Tigon films the people behind Witchfinder General produced this boring 1969 effort, an early slasher movie, and Michael Armstrong who directed the entertaining Witchfinder rip off Mark Of The Devil directed. In swinging London, a group of friends are attending Frankie Avalon's dull house party and decide to go to a haunted mansion to hold a seance instead. When one of their group is brutally murdered the others abandon his body and flee the scene knowing that one of them is the killer. Boris Karloff was originally supposed to play the detective investigating the goings but was too ill to appear, so Dennis Price took the role instead. Armstrong wanted Ian Ogilvy to play the lead role, but American backers AIP insisted that the part go to Frankie Avalon (who was nearly 30 at the time and under contract to them). There are a few decent shock sequences and a liberal flow of blood, but this supposedly haunted house is more likely to induce sleep than give you nightmares.

This film is available on disc in the UK from Anchor Bay as part of their Tigon box-set, along with 'The Beast in the cellar', 'Witchfinder General', 'Virgin Witch', and 'The Body Stealers'.

'Haunted House' was available on the late lamented Vampix video label in the early 1980's in the UK. That release was notable mostly for the dark, drabness of the print. It looks considerably improved here, with lustrous, bright colors and correct aspect ratio. The film itself is not up to much, but remains watchable for its late 60's period frills and a couple of effectively nasty murders.

What makes this incarnation of the film interesting is the director's commentary supplied as an audio extra. Michael Armstrong's career had unfortunate beginnings: He shot this flick, his first, when he was 24 and the experience was painful, with the film taken away from him and his original cut undone by studio re-writes and re-shoots. The following year he went to Germany to make 'Mark of the Devil' and suffered exactly the same fate. The financial success of both titles (especially 'Mark', which was a huge exploitation hit) was little consolation to the tyro film-maker and he vowed to stay away from movies until he was guaranteed complete creative control.

Armstrong here explains the changes made to his original concept in great detail, pointing out exactly which scenes he shot and how they would/should have fitted into his scheme of things. The film he wanted to make - 'The Dark' - certainly sounds pretty interesting the way he tells it, and the most frustrating thing about the whole episode is that it seemed to boil down to a personality clash between him and Louis 'Deke' Hayward, AIP'S man-in-London at the time.

Hayward tried to shoehorn Boris Karloff (who owed AIP one film as part of a contract) into the plot at various junctures, a ploy which Armstrong vigorously resisted, resulting in a war of wills that Hayward was destined to win. Hayward went on to extensively re-write the script, inserting Dennis Price as a policeman and George Sewell as a lurking spurned suitor, and employed a technician called Gerry Levy to shoot the necessary patch-up sequences. It's fascinating to watch the film whilst Armstrong indicates continuity errors in the insert sequences and identifies the various loose ends that commemorate the residue of his original script.

Its no surprise, then, that 'The Haunted House of Horror' is a bit of a mess. Its perhaps remarkable that it plays as well as it does. But I recommend this release for the commentary, yet another that uncovers machinations and interference undreamed of by the casual viewer. As an education in the unseen political wranglings of film-making it is most enlightening.

It's interesting noting some of the comments of displeasure about this film -- "boring", "dull", "uneventful". What's funny is that this is an early prototype of what became known as the Mad Slasher film where a scarred, dysfunctional wretch goes on a killing spree in some secluded locale, using a flashy means of disposing his victims who more often than not are just getting what they had coming. What is amusing is seeing the fans of the modern day versions of the basic story reacting with a certain amount of glib indifference. I felt the same way about French Impressionism when taking art history; "BOR-RING." Boy, was I wrong.

THE PLOT; A group of perpetually drink-clutching and cigarette puffing modly dressed hipsters who have obviously seen BLOW-UP decide to go have a smashing party at the local supposedly haunted manor out in the middle of nowhere. Some of them have more than one story to tell as far as why they are drawn to their circle of friends, who seem to regard each other with scorn when gathered together & more friendly-like when off on their own. A scruffy Scotland Yard detective (priceless Freddie Jones) and a scruffy, pock-marked, sinister private investigator are both caught unprepared when someone starts slaughtering the kids both during and after their party, and the clues seem to hint that it's either a vengeful poltergeist ... or one of their own.

DON'T ANYBODY GIVE AWAY THE ENDING!! It's not much of a surprise but it then again that's half the fun of these things. What makes this one kind of tick are the hipster trappings which seem unaware that it wasn't 1967 anymore, and how it seems to pattern itself after the "Giallo" films coming out of Italy at about the same time. I wish the supernatural angle had been played up more but found the three rather grisly killings to be quite over-the-top, had fun remembering what it was like to poke around inside of old houses with a candle with your knucklehead buddies on a dare, and it's always great to see Kim Haworth back in her leggy, sexy fox days. If you're looking for shocks this probably isn't a good suggestion but it's a finely made very British film that just banks more on style instead of flying body parts.

It's also kind of too bad that as the "Trivia" section hints at, the then just starting to heat up David Bowie was suggested and then rejected for a key role. If he'd gotten the part this might have retained a certain cult status beyond the sum of it's parts like Roeg's PERFORMANCE ... Frankie Avalon does not a Thin White Duke make. What a lousy decision.

5/10; Neutral. Neither good nor bad, but then again how very British.

When I was about 10 years old me and my friend saw this on TV and the ending really freaked us out! We had never seen so much blood and gore on television before and it stunned us. Well, 30 years later I've finally seen this film again. I've been searching for it ever since. I didn't know the title but I never miss a horror film so I was bound to run into it again. It took 30 years! The film starts slowly with Frankie Avalon playing a rare serious role. The film has two very bloody scenes that you don't expect from an Avalon film during this time. The ending is strange and inconclusive. One of the things that I did enjoy are the real 60's London mod style of clothing. Very interesting to see the style during these times. But the film does have a fatal flaw. There just is to much talking and not enough time spent in the horror house. So after all these years the two bloody scenes still pack a wallop but its still a tedious film. A curio, though.