La Maison des damnés

Now that it's spooky time again, one should plug this in at night and watch during windy weather, eventho' the timeline of the story unwinds around Christmas. Was this intentional? Imagine spending the holidays in this place!

Yes, the highlight is the possessed stuffed black cat but the real big scene that will leave you breathless is the haunted sequence at the dinner table, with the table itself going nuts and the dishes slamming about, the chair tipping backwards, the fireplace burping out a huge fireball, etc. I always look forward to that moment everytime I re-view this, since it is a great movie to watch again.

Probably Mcdowall's best role, until he camped it up in Fright Night. And Pamela Franlkin? Well, she's just ducky. ... wait until that ghost machine explodes. Dynamite stuff.

For one or two reasons, this film (despite the flaws others have pointed out) stands as a perfect example of what is scary as opposed to what ... just isn't. At least for me, of course. Here's what I mean ...

When I first saw this film, I was working as a Security Dispatcher at a small college in Northeastern Ohio, making a few dollars over the very long (6 week) winter break. Because I worked for Security, I was allowed to remain in my single room in my usual dormitory rather than be herded into another dorm along with the foreign students and others who stayed on campus over the long break. So there I was, all alone in a very big building during a long, dark and very snowy winter ...

I saw THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE at a friend's place in town, and enjoyed it greatly. I found the brief scene where Florence sees the awful shadow of, well, something _dead_ sort of ... dancing in the shower stall particularly creepy. But then I went back uphill to the silent dorm ...

Since it was winter and there was no one (but me!) in the building, the Security guards would sort of wander through on autopilot and make sure all the lights were out. So I was returning, night after night, to a _dark_, deserted dormitory.

In a nutshell, let's just say that after seeing this film, I found committing to showering very, VERY difficult ... and I tried to do it very QUICKLY, all winter long! I was 20 years old, by the way. You may argue that this is all due to my peculiar living situation -- but it is THIS, for me, that is the essence of effective horror. This is what good horror DOES to you: it comes back into your head, makes you look over your shoulder and causes the hairs on the back of your neck to stand up when you remember it ... whether you remember it because of where you are, because it comes up in conversation, or what have you. No amount of liquid plastics, animated goo or CGI can replace -- or increase -- the shudder-power of one blasting, ghostly image. And THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE has at least one of those.

Haunted house movies generally don't deliver the goods. There are a few exceptions; the original The Haunting (1963) is the best example. That was a truly terrifying film. The Legend of Hell House is one these exceptions 'cause it really serves up some decent scares and maintains a very creepy atmosphere throughout.

The plot is similar to The Haunting. Various people spend time in a supposedly haunted house, each of them with different background and experience, one of whom has already spent time there and was the only one to come out alive. Needless to say the house is indeed very haunted and pretty soon these people are fighting for their lives.

Featuring excellent performances by all, first rate direction and production values, a solid script; The Legend of Hell House is really a first rate horror film in most respects.

You've just got to love this 70's classic. It has everything a haunted house tale should have. Unlike most of the haunted house tales, this one manages to keep things a little bit more believable. The time and date stamps are particularly effective here.

All the players do a great job with their roles, especially Roddy McDowall. I love Mrs. Barrett's erotic fixations. Unfortunately, they'll probably get the bright idea of remaking this into a horrible piece of crap.

This movie relies mostly on atmosphere, not on gore or other special effects. If thats what you are looking for, you'd better try somewhere else.

9 out of 10

A very creepy tale of a haunted house. Not only was the film creepy and scary it was also a mystery. You sit there and try to pay attention so you don't miss any clues, but then something creepy comes up and you get side tracked. This made the film a really good horror flick. The cast was pretty good. I am not too sure if I liked Gayle Hunnicutt in the film though. My favorite character was played by Roddy McDowall. He really brought out the feeling in his character. There were some interesting camera shots in this film which I think brought it more to life. The film was not that gory at all. It focuses on scaring the viewer mentally and I believe it does a pretty decent job. So see if you can figure out the mystery of Hell House.