The novel's film version, THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE, inevitably suffers in the comparison to both Jackson's novel and its film version. But while it is not a great film, it is a very good one--and it has a number of assets that ghost story connoisseurs will relish. As in Jackson's story, the plot concerns four individuals sent to investigate a house of very unsavory reputation: two men and two women. Here the expedition is led by a skeptic, Dr. Barrett (Clive Revill), who believes that "hauntings" are manifestations of residual energy rather than of surviving personalities--and who considers the Belasco house an ideal opportunity to put his theory to a practical test.

He is accompanied by his wife Ann (Gayle Hunnicutt) and two mediums: Benjamin Fischer (Roddy McDowall), who has the distinction of being one of the few individuals to have previously visited Belasco House and lived to tell about it, and Christian spiritualist Florence Tanner (Pamela Franklin), who soon clashes with Dr. Barrett over his skepticism. And although Dr. Barrett has meticulously planned this investigation into Belasco House, from the moment the party enters the doors nothing turns out the way any of them expect.

The great thing about the film is Pamela Franklin, who was one of the most interesting actresses of the 1960s and early 1970s, first making her mark as a child in the memorable thriller THE INNOCENTS and then giving a devastating turn as one of her teacher's pets in THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE. While THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE is hardly on the same level as these other films, Franklin herself is--and she is quite extraordinary from start to finish. (It is a tremendous pity her career faltered not long after the release of this film.) McDowell also offers a memorable turn as Mr. Fischer, and Revill and Hunnicutt offer superior performances as well.

The fact that it was filmed on a low budget is actually an asset to the movie, for instead of elaborate set-ups the film emerges as visually lean and clean, relying on its performances to create a very effective mounting sense of unease. Where it falls down--and more than a little--is in the script, which was written by Matheson himself. There are too many loose ends here, and while in some hands this might result in a sense of mystery, here it gives the feeling of sloppiness. Perversely, it also suffers from a determination to explain away everything it can, and the result is often somewhat anti-climatic.

The DVD offers nothing in the way of extras beyond the original trailer, but for the most part the transfer is quite good. Some critics have noted that the soundtrack is slightly out of synch at points, but I myself did not particularly notice this to any great extent; others have commented that the version released to the home market has been slightly edited, but since I have never seen it except in this release I cannot comment. I will say, however, that edited or not, and largely due to Franklin's performance and McDowell's strong support, THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE will likely satisfy viewers who prefer their ghost stories strong on atmosphere and psychology. For all its flaws it is a memorable film, and well worth having.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer


Low-key horror has mood to spare   October 9, 2001
 22 out of 25 found this review helpful

"The Legend of Hell House" (1973) is an odd film in many ways. Scripted by Richard Matheson from his novel 'Hell House', and produced at a time when Hammer's influence on the horror genre was about to be challenged by the new breed of horror emerging from the US and mainland Europe (spearheaded, of course, by "The Exorcist" [1973] and "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" [1974]), John Hough's film employs the familiar trappings of a Gothic thriller - it's set mostly in a fog-shrouded country mansion, the "Mt. Everest of haunted houses" - but it adopts a very modern, scientific approach to its subject. Four people - two psychics (Pamela Franklin, Roddy McDowall), a scientist (Clive Revill) and his wife (Gayle Hunnicutt) - are hired by a wealthy invalid (Roland Culver) to spend time in the legendary Belasco Mansion looking for evidence of life after death, and their subsequent investigation sets them at odds with one another, while the house itself threatens to destroy them with increasingly violent supernatural manifestations.

Long a staple of late night TV, where it frightened generations of kids who refused to sleep with the lights off for days afterward (!), the film's potency has been somewhat diluted by the passage of time. Individual scenes are terrific: The first 'sitting', in which Franklin (deliberately cast as a nod to her appearance in "The Innocents" [1961]) becomes possessed by a former occupant of the house; the all-out supernatural assault on Revill as he sits at the dining-room table; and the unforgettable moment when Franklin pulls the covers from a writhing figure on her bed to reveal...well, I'll leave first time viewers to find out for themselves, and to wonder (as we've all done): "How'd they DO that?!!" But the film is ultimately restricted by its own good intentions: The investigation and the various ghostly phenomena are all scrupulously authentic in scientific terms, but the moody, low-key approach allows few opportunities for crowd-pleasing set-pieces. As such, there's no real plot, just a succession of incidents which seem to propel the narrative forward by accident rather than design, and the climactic pay-off is very feeble indeed. However, these same weaknesses may be perceived as strengths by those who appreciate subtlety over bombast, and while "The Legend of Hell House" may not scale the heights of genuine horror, it captures a mood which gets under your skin and refuses to budge for the duration. For all my reservations, I'd recommend it to anyone, even moreso than its overrated forerunners, "The Haunting" (1963) and the aforementioned "The Innocents".

20th Century Fox's region 1 DVD runs 93m 46s and marks the film's first widescreen outing on home video, a finely detailed anamorphic (1.85:1) transfer taken from a slightly dated-looking print. The remastered 4.0 soundtrack adds a little dimension to the electronic music score (an unsettling, tuneless dirge), but little else. Sadly, the original 2.0 mono track suffers from a distracting level of hiss and crackle and, worse still, is slightly out-of-sync during the movie's first third (check out the 'sitting' in chapter 6, especially the close-up of Franklin framed against the fire at 19:00) - the 4.0 track doesn't appear to be affected this way. The anamorphic trailer gives away a little too many of the set-pieces, but it's still a welcome addition to the package, and the disc contains English captions.


Very scary!   July 14, 2000
 20 out of 20 found this review helpful

"The Legend of Hell House" freaked me out as a child. I could barely go to sleep after the first time I saw it on TV. Yet thereafter, everytime it came on, despite the fact that I was scared to death of this movie, I always tried to watch it (under a blanket cover, of course). It is probably one of the most frightening movies, haunted house or not, ever made. It relies on the bare minimal of special effects but rather gets its chills from the eerie cinematography and sound and the uniformly solid performances from the actors. The film has a deadly serious tone to it, which makes it all the more scary, unlike such modern junk like the new "Haunting" or the "Scream" series. In fact, I would consider this film the equal of the original "Haunting" and "The Changeling" in terms of haunted house movies.

The plot is this: a small group of people is hired by an eccentric millionaire to determine if there is indeed life after death. The millionaire assigns them to investigate a notoriously haunted house in order to provide him with an answer within the week. The group consists of a scientist and his wife and two mediums; one guess whether they are all alive by the end of the film. By the way, this is not a slasher movie at all. It is almost a psychological film, which is probably why it may give you nightmares after you see it. But definitely see it, especially if you are in the mood for an honest scare.


On the Short List of Best Haunted House Movies!   February 15, 2000
 16 out of 16 found this review helpful

I'm very gratified, having read the other reviews of this film on Amazon.com, to see THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE getting its due. This is truly one of the best haunted house movies there is. Everyone is "right on" to place this with Robert Wise's THE HAUNTING and Clayton's THE INNOCENTS. Oddly, THE UNINVITED now tends to seem a bit dated while these other three films hold their impact well. For the modern jaded youth, HELL HOUSE has the added "advantage" of being a color film, though in style both INNOCENTS and HAUNTING are visually superior. HELL HOUSE may suffer by virtue of its budget, but not in much else. Richard Matheson's story (the novel IS very good) is mysterious and fascinating and perhaps more fully formed in some ways than that of THE HAUNTING.

The premises of HELL HOUSE and THE HAUNTING are similar enough to make one wonder about cross-pollenation, but the truth is that the stories and their handling are quite different. All 3 films deal in some form with repressed sexuality. Pamela Franklin was a child actor when she (coincidentally) turned in her exceptional performance in THE INNOCENTS. Now as a young woman medium in HELL HOUSE it is her sexuality which plays a key role in the unravelling of the Belasco mystery.

HELL HOUSE has flaws pertaining mainly to a tinge of melodrama in its execution, but overall it sits very comfortably in company with THE HAUNTING (NOT the new version) and THE INNOCENTS, and if these reviews serve any purpose I assume that the overwhelming recommendation of this film will encourage new viewers to see this movie and enjoy what it has to offer.


A truly frightening movie. Puts most modern horror to shame.   November 6, 2006
 15 out of 15 found this review helpful

One of those rare horror flicks that will actually scare the pants off you. I read the book years ago, and it somehow escaped me that this movie even existed. I bought it immediately when I saw that Matheson himself wrote the screenplay, and let me tell you, it all works. The actors really stepped up to the plate on this one and delivered a real bone-chilling performance. I find this doubly impressive given the low budget and economical use of special effects. bravo.