Millionaire Frederick Lauren and his fourth wife Annabell lead a charmed life. When they are not trying to kill each other with poison or weapons, they caress their beloved other with snide remarks. Or invite five strangers into a sinister house to a ghost party. Everyone who survives twelve hours locked in the haunted house will be rewarded with ten thousand dollars plus the gift he or she receives right at the beginning - a loaded gun. What could possibly go wrong?
William Castle, director and producer of House on Haunted Hill, possibly was the greatest exponent of horror films as carnival rides for a youthful matinée audience. What he and his films lacked in subtlety he compensated with bluster and piercing shrieks, what they lacked in depth with a sense of fun. And House is quite a lot of fun, even if you are neither twelve years old nor have the luck to watch the ending in a cinema for which the king of cheap publicity gags himself provided a flying skeleton. There really is so much to love here, from Vincent Price' gleeful performance as Loren to the EC-like dialogue. Some would argue that movies like Castle's are empty and without deeper worth but I can't keep myself from loving their mix of naivety and hucksterism. Having a fun time with a movie is its own worth.
Darling of the Day:
"Do you remember the fun we had when you poisoned me?"
Saturday, April 26, 2008
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