The Legend of Hell House (1973)

Director:

John Hough

Writers:

Richard Matheson (novel)
Richard Matheson (screenplay)

Release Date:

15 June 1973 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery

Tagline:

For the sake of your sanity, pray it isn't true!

Plot:

A team consisting of a physicist, his wife, a young female psychic and the only survivor of the previous...

Plot Keywords:

House | Psychic | Physicist | Mansion | Hidden Door

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Pamela Franklin	...	Florence Tanner
Roddy McDowall	...	Benjamin Franklin Fischer
Clive Revill	...	Mr. (Lionel) Barrett
Gayle Hunnicutt	...	Ann Barrett
Roland Culver	...	Mr. (Rudolph) Deutsch
Peter Bowles	...	Hanley

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 | Iceland:16 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 | UK:15 (video rating) | UK:X (original rating) | USA:PG | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England, UK

Company:

Academy Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

While the film was released in the US with a P.G. rating, in the UK it curiously received an X rating at first.

Goofs:

Factual errors: When Emeric Belasco's body was revealed, he had a glass of wine in his left hand. Emeric had been dead for over 20 years; yet the wine in the glass had not evaporated.

Quotes:

Benjamin Franklin Fischer: I know the score: you do not fight this house! Look, Hell House doesn't mind a guest or two. What it doesn't like is people who attack it. Belasco doesn't like it, his people don't like it, and they will fight back and they will kill you. So listen to me...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Ils sont fous ces sorciers (1978)

How to make a good Horror Movie 101

My first scary movie, I was fortunate to see this at age 11 by a fluke...My mother took me, my brothers and a friend to see a double-bill matinee of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and Charlotte's Web to a local 2-plex. The line was long, and by the time we got to the box office that theater was sold out. Luckily, Mom, with complete obliviousness bought tickets for the other theater which featured a double-bill of The Legend of Hell House and The Boston Strangler. Hell House played first, and that is the movie that I remembered (forget The Boston Strangler) and from that day forward, the word "ectoplasm" was a part of my vocabulary! What can I say that hasn't already been said...this movie rocks, in the best minimalist way possible! Small cast, top flight acting, story, direction, music score, photography, atmospherics...a lot of today's filmmakers could learn from this movie on how to do it RIGHT. With any luck, this will never be remade...it would be ruined by some front line hack (backed up by demographic-seeking studio execs) with unnecessary CGI effects, choreographed violence, gore, an unworthy cast, nudity, over production, and a music score featuring several pop, rock or techno songs (or a combo) recorded by artists on the same label as the movie distributor...I am so unamused at most young people's intolerance of anything "old-school" because it doesn't feature the aforementioned "qualities" designed for MTV Brats with pop culture induced A.D.D. that when I get a chance to see something like this with a youngster (under 30) who actually acknowledges its merits, it gives me hope. (God, I sound old! I mean, I'm sure I had the same attitude at that age.)