The Legend of Hell House (1973)

This film is an outstanding example of what you can achieve in a horror film without resorting to special effects trickery. "Legend Of Hell House" is everything that turkeys like "The Haunting" tried to be.

Kudos to everyone in the cast, especially Roddy McDowall as Fisher, the only man to survive a previous expedition.

There is also some interesting dialogue regarding combatting the supernatural with science, a topic that popped up in later films such as "Ghostbusters."

MANY horror movies have been made on much larger budgets than Legend Of Hell House, but very few can match it for pure psychological terror. I give this film a 10.

Fmovies: A very creepy tale of a haunted house. Not only was the film creepy and scary it was also a mystery. You sit there and try to pay attention so you don't miss any clues, but then something creepy comes up and you get side tracked. This made the film a really good horror flick. The cast was pretty good. I am not too sure if I liked Gayle Hunnicutt in the film though. My favorite character was played by Roddy McDowall. He really brought out the feeling in his character. There were some interesting camera shots in this film which I think brought it more to life. The film was not that gory at all. It focuses on scaring the viewer mentally and I believe it does a pretty decent job. So see if you can figure out the mystery of Hell House.

I had the pleasure of seeing this film in the theater 40 years ago this summer, and I must say that it still packs a wallop! I won't go into the storyline much, but I will say this;" The Legend of Hell House " is a classic film of the genre, thats been rarely matched to date. The performances by Roddy McDowell, Clive Revill, Gayle Hunnicut and Pamela Franklin were flawless, and therefore a key to this films success.

The film drips with atmosphere and a sense of foreboding dread. The special effects, considered archaic by todays standards, hold up surprisingly well. It has everything a movie fan could ask for: sexually provocative scenes, an eerie setting, a thrilling séance sequence and lots of scary surprises along the way! The film is impeccably directed by John Hough, with a very mature perspective. It never succumbs to cheesy tactics. " The Legend of Hell House " is an intelligent and very satisfying haunted house thriller.

The Legend of Hell House fmovies. The Legend of Hell House was released the same year as the grand-daddy of horror films, The Exorcist, so it quietly slipped through the cracks. But it should not be overlooked as a most effective and entertaining movie that combines suspense, bumps in the night and eroticism without overdoing the gore. It also features fine performances, especially that of Pamela Franklin, and an above-average haunted-house story line. Hell House will keep you guessing all the way to the end. Something interesting to note is that apparently the MPAA hasn't reviewed the film since its release when it was given a PG rating. By today's standards, Hell House would definitely be rated PG-13.

Four psychic investigators (Roddy McDowall, Pamela Franklin, Clive Revill, Gayle Hunnicutt) are to spend a week in the Mount Everest of haunted houses to see if life does exist after death. They are given only a week and, in that time, have all the ghosts attack full force.

Next to the 1962 version of "The Haunting" this is the best haunted house flick ever made. It starts up and never stops. There's no humor and it's beautifully atmospheric. Also creepy sound effects and eerie music help keep up the mood and director John Hough shoots the film from weird angles keeping you off balance. Good performances help especially by Franklin and there's one harrowing sequence in which she "offers" herself to the spirits of the house. Not for the blood and guts crowd (this is PG rated). A very scary movie.

The book is much better and a LOT more graphic but there was no way they could have shot the book faithfully--it would have had an X rating! For instance when Franklin has sex with a ghost--in the movie she looks into the camera and screams. In the book she finds a rotting corpse forcing itself on her!

This seems to have disappeared off the radar--even the 2003 DVD release is pretty bad. The colors are faded, there's only a trailer as an extra and there was no big publicity campaign for it. Still you should seek it out if you haven't seen in--it's worth it. I give it a rare 10!

The wealthy Mr. Rudolph Deutsch (Roland Culver) promises a small fortune to the physicist Dr. Lionel Barrett (Clive Revill); to the mental medium Florence Tanner (Pamela Franklin); and to the physical parapsychologist Benjamin Franklin Fischer (Roddy McDowall) to investigate survival after death in the notorious Belasco House, a.k.a. Hell House. The house belonged to "Roaring Giant" Emeric Belasco that promoted orgies in the house and had mysteriously disappeared after a massacre. Fischer is the only survival of a previous investigation and the Dr. Barrett goes with his wife Ann Barrett (Gayle Hunnicutt). Along the days, Florence believes that there are entities in the house, including Belasco's son Daniel; Fischer keeps his mind closed expecting only to earn the promised money, and the skeptical Dr. Barrett brings a machine to drain the energy in the house. Will they be successful in their intent?

"The Legend of Hell House" is a creepy and atmospheric horror movie with a good story of haunted house. The ghost story is supported in lighting, make-up and camera work and only few special effects and is effective. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "A Casa da Noite Eterna" ("The House of the Eternal Night")