Many of the films we dive into during this week o’ horrors will be silent films. Not this one. House on Haunted Hill is an influential B-movie from 1959 starring the legendary Vincent Price. So influential, in fact, it was one of the inspirations for Alfred Hitchcock’s slasher classic, Psycho.
House on Haunted Hill tells the kind of story you’ve probably heard before. Five people are invited to stay in a house overnight. Guests who stay until morning win a boatload of cash. But staying is dangerous, and terrible, terrible things begin to happen.
The film is in the public domain, and that means you can watch it right now:
A few things to note:
* The film was re-made in 1999, starring Geoffrey Rush, Famke Janssen, Chris Kattan, Ali Larter and others.
* That Alfred Hitchcock fellow? You may have heard a rumor that I co-authored a book about his films.
