The House on Skull Mountain

I recently viewed The House on Skull Mountain (1974) on a random streaming service. The plot revolves around a southern voodoo lady's death, prompting her family to gather for the will, only to realize their lives may be in jeopardy.

Directed by Ron Honthaner in his sole directorial venture, the film features Victor French (Highway to Heaven), Mike Evans (The Jeffersons), Lloyd Nelson (The Dead Pool), and Denis LeHane (The Town that Dreaded Sundown).

While the film explores unique family dynamics and presents some suspenseful and unpredictable situations, it falls short overall. The made-for-television vibe is pervasive, and despite entertaining voodoo scenes, the absence of compelling kill scenes, gore, or blood splatter is noticeable. The background music is reminiscent of classic '70s horror and complements the atmospheric elements with storms, thunder, and rain. The surprising conclusion adds some value.

In summary, The House on Skull Mountain is an uneven and below-average entry to the horror genre. I would rate this a 4/10 and suggest skipping it.

Called away to a remote house, a woman and her ancestors gathered together for a will reading find that a powerful voodoo spell has been enacted which begins to kill them off and forces the remaining family members to put a stop to its ancestor's plans.

This here was quite the enjoyable Blaxploitation offering. One of the more enjoyable elements featured here is the fact that the Blaxploitation angle makes for an incredibly fun and enjoyable introduction to the voodoo at play. That's a big part of this one, coming off almost immediately with the opening shots of the tribal ceremony featuring all the dancers in the middle of their ritual while they prepare all the different trinkets and artifacts that start this one off on a great note. The later scenes throughout the house where we get the flashes of the ghostly ancestor raised and warding off the remaining parts of the family offer up some really thrilling moments here as the frequency and unexpectedness of them work and given the inserts showing the the practitioner engaging the ceremonial practices in his room where he has the paraphernalia laid out as he sets about his rituals which offer some fun, cheesy thrills here. It manages to really explore the idea of voodooism quite nicely in really letting the supernatural take-over here, from the need for keeping the objects of power and control around to the matter of the controlled bodies engaging in dangerous activities through the voodoo spell and it really gives this one the kind of building blocks to get a lot of great atmosphere during here which carries over nicely into the finale which features some fantastic voodoo-based action here. Going from the discovery of the ceremonial chamber beneath the house where the dancers are in the middle of their rituals with the entire room lit up using black candles before the fine brawl and leading up into the atmospheric confrontation in the finale, it's got so much to like here. There wasn't much of anything wrong with this one. The main issue here is the fact that the main backstory is given a really large portion of the film which is a little weird to have. The fact that it consists of a long portion of the film is what really hurts it, since it would've been far easier had this done the simple thing and just clumped them all together in one segment without having to jump around with having so many parts in different places as it wasn't that hard to figure out anyway and didn't need the trickery into thinking it was harder to figure out than it really was. The last part here is the scene near the end where they go out on the town. Since it's so close to the end, everything has been figured out and the horror should begin to grow in intensity, as it's after the voodoo ceremony scene, yet this one doesn't do that and it's really hard to understand why it's even there in the first place, serving no purpose for the story and coming across as filler. Beyond these two problems, it's not that bad.

Today's Rating/PG-13: Violence and Language.

The House on Skull Mountain? Sounds like some 60's Hardy-Boy adventure to me. I have to say I caught glimpses of this film a couple weeks ago and it was very strange. Your typical 70's horror flick. I mean it wasn't that bad and Victor French does a good job, but it seemed like it was lacking a few things. Maybe I will have to watch it again some time. All I know is films like the infamous "ALIEN" ('79) changed the view of horror movies for ever and that may or may not be a good thing. Too many imitations these days. Take a look at this movie some time.

This is a movie that I had never heard of until Duncan selected this for Movie Club Challenge over on the Podcast Under the Stairs. All I knew coming in was that it had a pretty interesting title, was blaxploitation and had to do with voodoo. The synopsis here is murders occur at the southern estate of a voodoo priestess when four relatives gather to hear her will.

We start this movie off Pauline Christophe (Mary J. Todd McKenzie). The priest (Don Devendorf) is giving her last rites. She asks Thomas Pettione (Jean Durand) to bring her letter box and wants the priest to mail off the letters inside. We also see that she is into voodoo once he leaves.

This brings together a group of cousins to this house that is located on a mountain with a skull face on the side. Lorena Christophe (Janee Michelle) has to deal with her jerk of a cousin, Phillippe Wilette (Mike Evans) as he almost runs her off the road. It is high up on a cliff and he is spooked by a skull that he sees that causes him to pull off. They both arrive as the funeral for Pauline is coming to an end. We get an odd scene where a raven drops what we will learn later is a voodoo item on the casket. It starts a fire causing Louette (Ella Woods) to panic and want the casket covered by dirt immediately.

Thomas greets the two cousins, where we get an odd scene where Phillippe is hitting on Lorena. They're shown to their rooms and informed they have to wait for the others before the will can be read.

The next is Harriet Johnson (Xernona Clayton). She's on a plane and gets a fright when she sees a hooded figure a few rows up look at her. She screams and draws the attention of everyone. She comes to the house on the mountain. We learn throughout these introductions that despite being cousins, they've never met. Through Thomas they learn that Pauline was a descendant of King Henry of Haiti. He led the revolution against the French. He was also involved with voodoo, much like Pauline.

This trio briefly meets Mr. Ledoux (Leroy Johnson), the attorney that will read the will. He tells them that he cannot until Dr. Andrew Cunningham arrives. This annoys Phillippe who is a jerk, where the other two want to get back to their lives, but understand. Andrew does show up that night, but to their shock, he is white. Andrew (Victor French) greets his cousins and gives a bit of his back-story. He's a doctor of anthropology and teaches in college. Phillippe doesn't trust him for the color of his skin.

Things take a turn though when we see that someone is doing voodoo rituals. There are skulls throughout the house. There was a warning from the letter read to them that they do have enemies who are now aware of them. The first victim is Phillippe, but none of them are safe. Who is behind this and can they stop it before it is too late?

This movie explores some interesting things for me. The first is that it is combining the older 'Old Dark House' film with voodoo. That works for me since this is a blaxploitation take. Voodoo is culturally a Caribbean thing so if you're going to make this sub-genre into something that is your own, then combing these two is a way to do it. It is something that worked for me.

What I also enjoy here is that this is another more serious take from blaxploitation. I don't recall what Lorena's job was, but she seems pretty successful. Phillippe is in the same vein, but I'll delve more into him shortly. Pauline is descended from royalty and is the most powerful voodoo priestess in the area. She has a butler and maid with Thomas and Louette. The more we learn about Thomas he falls into this. Then finally we have Mr. Ledoux who is an attorney. There is also a black doctor as well.

Something that shocked me was to have the fourth cousin here be Andrew. He is a doctor and the movie is saying that he is a descendant. It feels like they went with the actor French as he had a career already so it could be a name draw. It would make more sense to me to have a black actor who was a bit more lighter skinned for this role in my opinion. I still like French in this movie, but it is a bit of a misstep for me.

Regardless though, I do like the voodoo aspects to this movie. The house is a great setting and even more that there are secret rooms. I think this helps to build the tension. It also works that Andrew is a doctor of anthropology. He was drawn to learning about voodoo for some reason, which we learn is heritage and probably in his DNA. It is even more fitting who the reveal is to be behind things and the reason they are being done.

Since I've already went into this a bit, I'll go into the acting. I've already said my piece with French. I don't necessarily think he fit for what they needed, but his performance was good. I liked Michelle as the damsel in distress that is one of our leads. Durand was good. Evans is interesting as he's a jerk. I like that he embodies that 'jive' type of person, but he's not a good person. I don't necessarily think he deserves what he got. Clayton, Woods, McKenzie and the rest of the cast were fine for what was needed.

Taking this next to the effects of the movie, which we don't get a lot and what we get are cheesy. I'll take it though. It is the 1970s so there is a bit of charm there. The house is either a miniature or it is a matte painting. My problem is that they don't do a great job of showing it where it is dark and gloomy, but the characters are seeing it is bathed in sunlight. This is also taking place in Georgia so it is sunnier and warmer. This doesn't ruin anything, but I noticed. Aside from that, I like what they do with the voodoo. We keep seeing this creepy hooded figure; there are snakes and other things that are associated with voodoo. The house is a great setting on top of this as well.

The last thing I'll delve into was the soundtrack. For the most part it didn't really stand out, but I like the drums for the voodoo rituals. At first I was confused about this and where they were coming from. By the end the movie does explain this so I'm on board there. I do think that the voodoo bit we get at the climax runs a bit long and starts to feel like filler, but not enough to ruin it.

So now with that said, this movie explores some interesting things while also being a bit cheesy. I really like combining the 'Old Dark House' sub-genre, but making it blaxploitation with voodoo. I thought that the acting is good across the board. The effects we get are solid, but I do have some slight issues with things here and there. It is mostly seeing the house on the mountain from afar. There is also an issue with the casting for me, but not enough to ruin this. Aside from that, this is adding a bit of the whimsical of this sub-genre, while still giving us a movie that is solid. I would rate this as above average overall and worth a viewing if what I said ticks any of your boxes.

Perhaps the only, at least to my knowledge, haunted-house movie that also qualifies as a pure-blooded Blaxploitation effort, "The House on Skull Mountain" is an overall worthwhile film but unfortunately not the undiscovered gem I hoped it would be. I was mainly attracted by the luscious title and the accompanied DVD-cover illustration; but luckily enough the film is also reasonably well-scripted – albeit derivative of "The House on Haunted Hill" obviously - and entertaining. It's a tale of voodoo, greed and things that go bump in the night. On her deathbed at the house on Skull Mountain (there actually is a skull-shaped rock in the mountain, which is totally awesome!) an elderly black lady, who looks like a guy and talks like a child, orders to send out four letters to four distant relatives. They all travel up to the house, expecting to inherit a fortune, but in fact get a whole lot more than they bargained for. They each become subjected to eerie voodoo rites and spells inflicted by the bald servant of the dead lady. "The House on Skull Mountain" is stylish and professionally made. It's slow-paced and the low number of death sequences are not very bloody or spectacular, but director Ron Honthaner provides a fair share of frissons and unsettling atmosphere. The filming locations are sublime and the titular house is fantastic. The house and the astonishing lead actress Janee Michelle are definitely the main trumps of the film. The climax sequences are rather dull and clichéd, with a voodoo ceremony that seems to go on forever. Youthful gorehounds beware, but fans of 70's horror and peculiar Blaxploitation will definitely enjoy "The House on Skull Mountain"