Review by: Jonny T
Posted by: Root Rot
The Legend of Hell House (1973)
Directed by: John Hough
Starring: Roddy McDowall, Clive Revill, Pamela Franklin and Gayle Hunnicutt as Ann
Based on the novel”Hell House” by Richard Mattheson.
This great Film i feel has been overlooked quite a lot within the horror genre and it is a film you need to see!
The basic premise of the story revolves around the super creepy”Hell house”and is a bout a group of psychic investigators finally trying to put to rest the disruptive spirits that plague the hell that is indeed hell house.
There had already been a previous attempt to rid the house of such evil which in result ended up with the death of one of the team,So they decide to have a final go with the help of the brilliant Roddy McDowall who was in on the previous mission and whom himself was nearly driven insane by the house’s evil.
The film starts with the house shrouded in fog and darkness silhouetted against the early morning mist and fog,with a scene of a black cat slowly and menacingly creeping along a wall,this sets the scene for the rest of the movie and the creepiness does not let up one bit.
When they enter the house they discover that every single window in the house has been bricked up so weather its night or day it is permanently dark,The plan is that they stay in there for 1 week and this sets the scene brilliantly as you get the time and day occasionally appearing that fits in brilliantly with the films timescale,the end of the week approaches and the foreboding intensifies very dramatically indeed.
They do a seance,which really does not please the spirits at all and results in one of the party becoming possessed during the said sequence and it is real creep,i would say its up there with the Linda Blair exorcist possession albeit a year or so earlier than The Exorcist.
I really don’t want to say what happens to the characters as this will spoil it and you always have that sense of impending doom and when things to start to kick off they REALLY kick off,
Will they all survive?will they all go insane?is it a ghost or a hoax?
All i can say is seek this out and watch it whilst you can,it really is a great film for these dark cold winter months,
The legend of hell house will thrill and delight all horror fans from the very first creaking door to the very last slithering shadow!
Jonny T.
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This has to be one of my fav haunted House movies. Def. underrated and overlooked. [Thumbs up!]
You would think that I would have seen this movie being a Rodney McDowel fan. Im looking into it now