The Legend of Hell House (1973)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Lee ?

  
  Atmospheric chiller about a group of paranormal investigators who seek to find out the truth behind the hauntings of a mansion in rural England. Solid haunted house movie, creepy and with an ever-present sinister atmosphere. The major downside was that there were no scares, no jumpy… More
  Atmospheric chiller about a group of paranormal investigators who seek to find out the truth behind the hauntings of a mansion in rural England. Solid haunted house movie, creepy and with an ever-present sinister atmosphere. The major downside was that there were no scares, no jumpy moments and I was never having to watch it through my fingers in fear. It's a worthwhile watch though.

• Randy T

  
  Classic but campy 70's horror with a bit of a twist. Delightfully dated for those seeking something nostalgic, Gothic and British.

• AJ V

  
  A cool horror movie sort of like the Haunting, but 70s style, with more gore. I really liked this movie.

• First L

  
  An old man puts a pair of psychics along with a skeptical scientist and his wife in a haunted house in order to prove that there is an afterlife, or to cleanse the house of evil spirits or something. The house in question is "Hell House", a place where thousands of murders… More
  An old man puts a pair of psychics along with a skeptical scientist and his wife in a haunted house in order to prove that there is an afterlife, or to cleanse the house of evil spirits or something. The house in question is "Hell House", a place where thousands of murders have occurred as well as countless acts of bestiality and "vampirism", among other horrors. The film attempts to employ the same techniques used in 1963's "The Haunting" (The Haunting used atmosphere to generate a fear of the unknown), but unlike that film, Hell House fails to generate any suspense. It does, however generate a few laughs, especially when a possessed black cat attacks a woman, leaping at her throat repeatedly, and she slaps an obviously stuffed cat to the floor. Roddy McDowall commits to some serious over-acting in his role as a psychic who's previous experiences in the house have left him mentally unbalanced. The house itself isn't much of a terror: some doors slam shut, some winds kick up and blow things over, and one of the psychics speaks in a funny possessed voice before she's attacked by the scary house cat. The director tries some experimental camera angles, but far from creating terror, these camera angles seem to make the movie even less scary. At one point, I wanted to shut the movie off, not out of fear, but out of sheer boredom. The challenge of Hell House is making it all the way through the picture.

• Dr Blood  

  
  For those of you who are familiar with Robert Wise's "The Haunting", it will be no surprise for you to learn that "The Legend of Hell House" was little more than a 70s remake of the same story. Even the title was similar to Shirley Jackson's "The… More
  For those of you who are familiar with Robert Wise's "The Haunting", it will be no surprise for you to learn that "The Legend of Hell House" was little more than a 70s remake of the same story. Even the title was similar to Shirley Jackson's "The Haunting of Hill House" (which of course was the novel that "The Haunting" was based on). Some might call it plagiarism but I'd rather think of "The Legend of Hell House" as writer Richard Matheson's homage to a work of fiction which has inspired every director of a ghostie film ever since. In this case, director John Hough, who is better known for his TV work and Hammer's "Twins of Evil" (1971), set the story during the week before Christmas in a fog enshrouded Blenheim Palace. No New England "Hill House" here but the birthplace of former Prime Minister Winston Churchill no less. Changing the location was largely due to APC moving the whole production to England hence also the cast of British actors rather than Americans. Yes, Roddy McDowell, who plays psychic Benjamin Fischer, was British in spite of being a staple of American TV for over three decades. Interestingly, the other psychic played by the gorgeous Pamela Franklin was actually born in Japan, Clive Revill was a New Zealander and Gayle Hunnicutt was born in Texas. Even Michael Gough who goes uncredited as Ernest Balasco was born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It's funny what you find from a bit of Googling when writing a review. Perhaps this movie isn't quite so full of British actors after all. One thing "The Legend of Hell House" is full of, though, is atmosphere. It's so intense that you could almost cut it with a knife although at just over an hour and a half long the claustrophobia of the apparent five room set does tend to get a little bit wearying after a while. Every ghost story cliché is used but this was before we even started to think of them as clichés. For the most part, it's all very original in spite of the aforementioned homage to "The Haunting". There's hardly any gore in this apart from one important scene featuring Pamela Franklin but there are a couple of sexy moments. Gayle Hunnicutt's attempted seduction of Roddy McDowell is the most memorable for me but, without spoiling it for anyone, Pamela Franklin is the real star of the naughty bits here. Just think along the same lines as "The Entity" and you'll figure out exactly what happens to her in this film. Possession and psychic abilities play a much bigger part in the story than I would have liked especially if you try to think of this as a true haunted house genre movie. The ending really felt like a bit of a letdown considering Roddy's speech about all the horrors (including rape, torture, and even cannibalism) which supposedly occurred in the house during its former occupancy. Like most films of this time a lot more is implied than actually occurs on screen so you just have to use your imagination and dig Roddy McDowell's performance instead. All the acting is first class in fact with the characters being a lot less annoying and dated than the ones in "The Haunting". Clive Revill as scientist Lionel Barrett was overly stubborn to the extent that he almost became another Dr Frankenstein with his ardour to prove his techniques correct (with similarly disastrous consequences). The use of his machine to rid the house of ghosts, of course, became an important part of "Ghostbusters" later on and the science versus the supernatural theme is always an important part of any haunted house movie anyway. There'll always be a sceptic, a psychic, a control and a scientist in any of these stories. You can almost, but not quite, swap any of the characters for the ones in Stephen King's "Rose Red" too to see how much "The Legend of Hell House" has had an influence. I expect you all want to know if it's actually scary or not. Well, depending on the age at which you first see it, it is definitely scary. Only "The Others" comes any way close to the same scariness for a modern audience although really that movie has more in common with "The Innocents" than anything here. Some scenes work better than others including the jump scares and twists. The ones which don't work usually involve Gayle Hunnicutt to some extent but it's more the fault of the dialogue than anything else. I also found Roddy McDowell to be a rather odd choice for a hero but I really couldn't see anyone else capable of filling that role either. "The Legend of Hell House" is all very tense more than anything else (and a little bit too wordy rather than graphic) but it's still one of the best haunted house movies ever made.

• moon r

  
  another spookfest...or is it? horror, tense anxiety and bloodlust, it's almost like sex. there's something alive in hell house, something's that's dead, and it's not happy either, it won't be...not until you're dead, too. welcome to the legend of… More
  another spookfest...or is it? horror, tense anxiety and bloodlust, it's almost like sex. there's something alive in hell house, something's that's dead, and it's not happy either, it won't be...not until you're dead, too. welcome to the legend of hell house. go on in. it's alright. we'll be out here if you get into any trouble. promise.

• Lafe F

  
  A group of scientists and psychics try to break the evil of Hell House (supposedly the most-haunted in the world), which has killed or driven-insane many others. It's a scary place. Very British, with dark secrets. Not everything that happens is explained. The evil forces either… More
  A group of scientists and psychics try to break the evil of Hell House (supposedly the most-haunted in the world), which has killed or driven-insane many others. It's a scary place. Very British, with dark secrets. Not everything that happens is explained. The evil forces either try to kill or possess those on the research team. There's a nice cat attack. When the mystery is revealed, I wondered how all of the energy could be generated by a single entity. The ghost-science is a bit iffy. I remember in 1973, seeing a commercial for this movie when I was five years old and wanting to see it badly.

• Lady D

  
  I've finally found a film that's worse than Bridget Jones Diary. Such a dull film.

• Adam M

  
  Classic British horror. A rich owner of a mansion nicknamed Hell House sends a team of investigators into the manion to see if its as haunted as its reputation suggests. Previous visitors to the house haven't even survived or have become fucked in the head after the experience so… More
  Classic British horror. A rich owner of a mansion nicknamed Hell House sends a team of investigators into the manion to see if its as haunted as its reputation suggests. Previous visitors to the house haven't even survived or have become fucked in the head after the experience so the team have an idea what they could be in for. Back in 1973 this was probably seen as very creepy as the ghostly goings on get worse for the team as the film goes on. As the film makers didn't have access to millions of pounds and CGI they had to make do with a decent script and good performances and this definately has that. The haunted house movie has hit a peak with the Paranormal Activity films but this shows you could still do Creepy As Fuck in the 70's!

• John M

  
  Stylish and frightening horror movie that features a good cast, and acting. The story is simple but nice, excellent cinematography and interesting use of light.

• Patrick D

  
  The skepticism that is presented in this film is interesting. Two characters are mediums that are sent to check out a haunted house. Another fellow (the "skeptic") and his wife are with them. When haunty type things occur, the skeptic does not believe it is ghosts, but… More
  The skepticism that is presented in this film is interesting. Two characters are mediums that are sent to check out a haunted house. Another fellow (the "skeptic") and his wife are with them. When haunty type things occur, the skeptic does not believe it is ghosts, but instead thinks it is one of the mediums causing objects to move and levitate... It's fuzzy logic, and a strange way to show "both sides" of the argument concerning the existence of ghosts. Claiming that hauntings are simply causes by mediums with special powers, I guess is one way to disprove them... Of course the skeptic finds another reason for the movement, or so he thinks... but you'll have to see that for yourself. A great little kick-start to this film is addition to all this is a quote at the beginning by a psychic type, who I assume is notable, stating that the story is fictitious but that the occurrences are not only possible but do happen. Apart from all this, it's an entertaining enough britishly paced, and presented ghost story of the 70s. Sort of slow but well and interestingly shot, containing a lot of exposition, but a definite creeping mood throughout.

• Robert F

  
  I enjoyed this one. It got straight to the point, and didn't bore us with long character introductions, which was excellent. The characters themselves evolved to be both interesting and likable. It wasn't scary, but the house's attacks on the people were entertaining -… More
  I enjoyed this one. It got straight to the point, and didn't bore us with long character introductions, which was excellent. The characters themselves evolved to be both interesting and likable. It wasn't scary, but the house's attacks on the people were entertaining - particularly the black cat mauling (which I'm pretty sure was parodied in Scary Movie 2) and the subsequent shower scene. Also, watch for when the characters get possessed by the ghost - possessed people that use profanities are hilarious.

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