The Legend of Hell House (1973)

Physicist Lionel Barrett and his wife lead a team of mediums into the Belasco House, which is supposedly haunted by the victims of its late owner, a six-foot-five serial killer.

Director:

John Hough

Writers:

Richard Matheson (novel), Richard Matheson (screenplay)

Stars:

Roddy McDowall, Gayle Hunnicutt, Pamela Franklin

1 nomination.

Cast

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

Storyline

A team consisting of a physicist, his wife, a young female psychic and the only survivor of the previous visit are sent to the notorious Hell House to prove/disprove survival after death. Previous visitors have either been killed or gone mad, and it is up to the team to survive a full week in isolation, and solve the mystery of the Hell House.

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Plot Keywords:

house | physicist | medium | visit | isolation | 

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Taglines:

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

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Genres:

Horror

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 June 1973 (USA)

Also Known As:

La leyenda de la casa infernal

Filming Locations:

Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Academy Pictures Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Once James H. Nicholson left AIP to become an independent producer, this and Dirty Mary Crazy Larry (1974) turned out to be his only post-AIP productions, as he was stricken by a brain tumor and died shortly thereafter.

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Goofs

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.

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Quotes

Florence Tanner: [speaking to Benjamin Fischer while temporarily possessed by Belasco] Who the hell do you think you are, you bastard? You might have been hot stuff when you were fifteen, but now you're shit!

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Connections

Referenced in The Others (2001)

User Reviews

The haunting mood and setting is exceptional--the ending isn't.

"The Legend of Hell House" does an exceptional job of setting a scary and haunting mood. However, while it is worth watching, the ending did very little for me--as if they'd created this wonderful mood but weren't exactly sure what to do about it.

The film begins with a very old rich guy meeting with a physicist and amateur parapsychologist. He offers the man 100,000 pounds to investigate the most haunted house in the world--a death house nicknamed 'Hell House'. It seems that of the last 9 people who investigated this place, only one came out alive! Now, the physicist/parapsychologist will take a team into the bricked out house to determine the secret of this god-forsaken house. Once inside, weird things start happening--and the malevolent spirits in the house begin to possess various members of the group. What happens next? Tune in and see.

Overall, this is worth seeing, as it's creepy as can be. The ending you might like--I wasn't all that impresses--especially since I don't know how lead would cause the least bit of difference. I would, however, say that this is among Michael Gough's best performances--far more subtle and less shrill than most.