House on Haunted Hill

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House on Haunted Hill

1959

1h 15m

Horror

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

80%

Tomatometer

44 Reviews

73%

Popcornmeter

10,000+ Ratings

Rich oddball Frederick Loren has a proposal for five guests at a possibly haunted mansion: show up, survive a night filled with scares and receive $10,000 each. The guest of honor is Loren's estranged wife, Annabelle, who, with her secret lover, Dr. Trent, has concocted her own scheme to scare Loren's associate, Nora Manning, into shooting the potentially crazy millionaire. However, more spooks and shocks throw a wrench into the plan.

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Critics Consensus

Campy by modern standards but spooky and atmospheric, House on Haunted Hill is a fun, well-executed cult classic featuring a memorable performance from genre icon Vincent Price.

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Newsweek Staff

Newsweek

It couldn't cure a child's hiccups.

Sep 20, 2022

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Helen Bower

Detroit Free Press

It moves but jerkily, and with a lot of ridiculous and unexplained "horror" effects.

Sep 20, 2022

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Mildred Martin

Philadelphia Inquirer

Children may cringe, adults will laugh this one off.

Sep 16, 2022

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Cole Smithey

ColeSmithey.com

William Castle's 1959 B-Movie horror classic retains its goofy charm with a litany of gimmicky sight gags that, however tame by today's standards, keep their childish appeal.

Rated: FOUR STARS

Oct 2, 2024

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Kristin Battestella

InSession Film

There are some fun jump scares, skeletons, revolvers, and mini coffin party favors to accent this short seventy-five minutes.

Apr 19, 2024

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

One of William Castle’s most enjoyable flicks.

Rated: 3/4

Oct 14, 2023

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Isaiah Y

Memorable Vincent Price horror film

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

10/22/25

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Robert B

Amazing cast. Vincent Price just overtakes the movie. Each cast member

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

10/07/25

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S M

The good: 1959 b&w classic style, + a haunted house ! Reviews rightly credit Price's performance, but not mentioned is Elisha Cook's, which supported the film at least equally to the former. Also, he and Price do the only funny scene in the movie, though I'm not sure it was intentional (?). ( when Cook gets caught in the bedroom where the wife is reposed, dead ) Warning: spoilers follow The disappointment: at the end, we learn it was not really a haunted house; rather a concocted scheme by one of the characters for a significant purpose. Many unexplained and "leads to nowhere" events take place. Also plenty of "well, why didn't they do this" kinds of plot holes. Example: if it were only 8 hours overnite to completion of their stay to get the payment, and they were all worried about being murdered- why did they all separate to be alone in the bedrooms ? I would have suggested they all stay together in the gathering room downstairs. They could have gotten pillows & blankets from the bedrooms for comfortable passing of the time. Anyway a fun film.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

10/07/25

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Christian K

It's mostly nothing except its fun settings and old style filmmaking. The massive house on haunted hill is confined to about 4 total rooms and at least half the characters have no real impact or purpose. But, it was fun, I loved when the Prime described the skeleton as being played by 'himself'.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

09/15/25

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Ed .

a HILL to DIE on! Make no bones about it, this classic horror film averted a tragedy due to omission: had the Lorens executed a pre-nup, we might not have had a great film to watch.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

08/29/25

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Garry A

I liked this better than the original. The mini coffins with the pistols in them was creative. I was surprised how short it was.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

07/20/25

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William Castle

Director

Vincent Price

Frederick Loren

Carol Ohmart

Annabelle Loren

Richard Long

Lance Schroeder

Alan Marshal

Dr. David Trent

Carolyn Craig

Nora Manning

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Synopsis

Rich oddball Frederick Loren has a proposal for five guests at a possibly haunted mansion: show up, survive a night filled with scares and receive $10,000 each. The guest of honor is Loren's estranged wife, Annabelle, who, with her secret lover, Dr. Trent, has concocted her own scheme to scare Loren's associate, Nora Manning, into shooting the potentially crazy millionaire. However, more spooks and shocks throw a wrench into the plan.

Director: William Castle
Producer: William Castle
Screenwriter: Robb White
Distributor: Allied Artists Pictures
Production Co: William Castle Productions
Genre: Horror
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Feb 17, 1959, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 1, 2007
Box Office (Gross USA): $6.5K
Runtime: 1h 15m

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