House on Haunted Hill (1959)

Synopsis

Eccentric millionaire Frederick Loren and his wife Annabelle invite five guests — strangers to the Lorens and to one another — to a "haunted house party" in a reputedly haunted mansion. Each is promised $10,000 if they can survive a single night locked inside after the doors are sealed at midnight, with the windows barred and no way to call for help. As ghostly apparitions and grisly surprises mount, it becomes clear that the night's real dangers may be the schemes and suspicions among the living. Murder, double-crosses, and one famous skeletal scare drive the film to its twist-laden climax.

Cast

About the Director

William Castle — William Castle was a showman-director famous for promoting his low-budget horror films with theatrical gimmicks. On 'House on Haunted Hill' he served as both producer and director and devised its signature "Emergo" stunt. A self-described admirer of Alfred Hitchcock, he made the film a hit that cemented his reputation as the "King of the Gimmick."

Why It’s Free: The Public-Domain Story

'House on Haunted Hill' is in the public domain because its copyright was never renewed. Under the copyright law of the era, films required a renewal after their initial term to remain protected; when no renewal was filed, the film passed into the public domain.

Behind the Scenes

The film was shot largely on sound stages, with exteriors filmed at Frank Lloyd Wright's 1924 Ennis House in Los Feliz, even though the interiors were dressed in an entirely different Victorian style. Castle's best-known gimmick, "Emergo," rigged a plastic skeleton on a pulley to fly over the audience during a key late scene in some theaters. Distributed by Allied Artists, it premiered in San Francisco in January 1959, and its strong box office reportedly helped inspire Alfred Hitchcock to make his own low-budget shocker, 'Psycho.'

Did You Know?

• The "Emergo" flying-skeleton gimmick has been recreated at modern revival screenings by repertory cinemas like New York's Film Forum and Chicago's Music Box.
• The mansion's exterior is Frank Lloyd Wright's Ennis House, a building featured in many other films and TV productions.
• The film's own title card and advertising dropped the leading "The" that appears in the trailer.
• It was remade in 1999, which in turn spawned a 2007 direct-to-video sequel, "Return to House on Haunted Hill."

Reception & Legacy

Buoyed by Castle's gimmickry, 'House on Haunted Hill' was a major commercial hit, grossing several times its modest budget. Today it is regarded as a cult classic and one of the definitive Vincent Price horror vehicles, praised as campy and creepy in equal measure — and credited with helping spur the creation of 'Psycho.'

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