A mysterious, morbid professor (Michael York) who has suffered a number of horrid events in his life tries to help a young troubled man (Andrew Bowen), whose girl friend was killed during an illegal abortion.I had some issues with this, particularly that the age looks all wrong, despite the costumes and mustaches.
THE HAUNTING OF HELL HOUSE is a cheap and disappointing peroid haunted house film, shot in Galway and supposedly based on a tale by Henry James. It feels like a cheap rip-off of THE HAUNTING and THE HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL, both released around the same time, but this is entirely unexceptional.
Michael York is good as the mysterious professor and Andrew Bowen gives a nice performance in the lead. In the end, you are left wondering if the ghosts were real or simply manifestations of extremely guilty, troubled minds.
Great idea, fascinating plot line but the end was such a let down.SPOILER/ USER RANTright near the end Ghost was saying drink the wine, actual lady don't drink the wine.
I've watched this movie five times since I got it on DVD, and I still don't know what it's about. Now, you'd think a horror movie called "The Haunting of Hell House" would center on a haunted house, but this movie doesn't focus on any one person or location like a good haunted house movie would.
Loosely based on Henry James' literary works, "The Haunting of Hell House" is a ghost story directed by newcomer Mitch Marcus and produced by the legendary Roger Corman. While without a doubt this is a low-budget B-movie, surprisingly it captures the feeling of old Corman movies and manages to be very entertaining and way different than what could be expected.
This dreadful movie suffered more than anything from poor production work and the slip-shod work of the extras.It's hard to imagine that a hand to act badly but at one stage a hand appeared on screen (deliberately) and managed it.
Roger Corman produced, but not really typical of Corman, yet there's a bit of the style of the old Corman/Poe/Vincent Price series from the 60s here. I'd say that the title would be about the only thing "Cormanesque" about this in regards to making it interesting commercially, to kind of cash in on the same-time remakes of "Haunting" and "House on Haunted Hill".
I expected more from a story by the author of "Turn of the Screw," but didn't get it here. Unrelieved by any humor whatever the narrative unrolls at a lugubrious pace with interspersed quick cuts of blood dripping from tables, walls, portraits, wherever -- and even more blood rolling in rippling overly crimson waves down a hallway (thank you, Stanley Kubrick).
