House on Haunted Hill (1959): watch the full film free, legally

A midnight wager in a locked house

Produced and directed by William Castle from a script by Robb White, House on Haunted Hill centres on Frederick Loren, an eccentric millionaire played by Vincent Price. Loren rents an allegedly haunted house for a party for his fourth wife, Annabelle, played by Carol Ohmart. Five strangers receive an unusual invitation: remain inside for one night after the doors are locked at midnight, and each will receive $10,000.

The guests are test pilot Lance Schroeder, newspaper columnist Ruth Bridges, psychiatrist Dr. David Trent, Nora Manning, who works for one of Loren's companies, and house owner Watson Pritchard. Richard Long, Julie Mitchum, Alan Marshal, Carolyn Craig and Elisha Cook Jr. play these visitors. The windows are barred, and the house has neither electricity nor working phones or radios. Everyone is issued a gun for protection.

Frederick and Annabelle's strained marriage gives the party another source of danger. He believes she tried to poison him for his wealth, while she calls his fears paranoia and jealousy. Watson insists that the house is truly haunted by people murdered there, including his brother. During his tour, he points out a basement vat of acid used by a previous resident to kill his wife. Lance is locked in an empty basement room and struck on the head, while Nora faces an apparent ghost.

Annabelle later warns Lance that Frederick may be planning something, and says she suspects him of killing earlier wives. After more apparitions, Nora tries to leave, but the caretakers lock the doors five minutes before midnight. A scream leads Lance and David to Annabelle's body, suspended as though she hanged herself, though the lack of any perch raises doubts. Nora says an unseen attacker strangled her and left her for dead. Lance and David propose that the guests remain in their rooms and shoot anyone who enters.

Price, Castle and the Ennis House

Vincent Price was in talks with Castle in July 1958, and his casting was announced in August. Carol Ohmart's casting was announced the following month. The part was Ohmart's first major screen role in several years, following her publicized divorce from actor Wayde Preston.

Principal photography took place in late summer 1958. Exterior scenes used the historic Ennis House in Los Feliz, California, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and built in 1924. Most interior scenes were made on sound stages. Their house sets combined several styles, including 1890s Victorian details such as gas chandeliers and sconces. Several artworks owned by Price appeared as set decoration.

The poster pictured a different kind of building, a fanciful four-story Romanesque structure. The theatrical trailer called the film The House on Haunted Hill, although the film and other advertising used House on Haunted Hill.

Emergo over the audience

The film had limited openings in Riverside, California, and Hoopeston, Illinois, on December 17, 1958, before opening at San Francisco's Golden Gate Theatre on January 14, 1959. In February 1959, it played as a double bill with The Cosmic Man. By July 1959, it had grossed $3 million in the United States.

Castle promoted the picture with “Emergo,” a gimmick in which a skeleton flew over the audience during screenings to frighten patrons. The device became closely associated with the film. Later revival screenings at venues including the Museum of the Moving Image, the American Cinematheque and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have exhibited the film. The Emergo effect has also been recreated at screenings hosted by the Film Forum, Loew's Jersey Theatre, Alex Theatre and Music Box Theatre.

House on Haunted Hill was remade in 1999 and developed a cult following in the years after its release.

Contemporary and later responses

Paine Knickerbocker of the San Francisco Chronicle said Emergo was “not an important element of the picture” and called the film an old-fashioned mystery suspense film and “a pretty good one.” The Oregonian compared it favourably with The Bat and The Cat and the Canary, calling it a “ghost story of the highest excellence.” Jean Walrath of the Democrat and Chronicle praised its classic approach and the performances of Price, Ohmart and Marshal.

Kate Cameron of the New York Daily News gave the film two and a half out of four stars and praised Price's performance. Howard Thompson of The New York Times called it “a stale spook concoction.” In 2024, Entertainment Weekly placed the film at number 15 on its list of the 22 greatest haunted house films of all time.

Film details from the Wikipedia article “House on Haunted Hill”. Text adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0.