The Legend of Hell House
The Legend of Hell House | |
---|---|
Directed by | John Hough |
Written by | Richard Matheson |
Based on | Hell House by Richard Matheson |
Produced by | Albert Fennell Norman T. Herman |
Starring | |
Cinematography | 20th Century Fox (US) |
Release date | 15 June 1973 |
Running time | 95 minutes |
Countries | |
Language | English |
Box office | $2.5 million (US/Canada rentals)[2][3] |
The Legend of Hell House is a 1973 gothic supernatural horror film directed by John Hough, and starring Pamela Franklin, Roddy McDowall, Clive Revill, and Gayle Hunnicutt. It follows a group of researchers who spend a week in the former home of a sadist and murderer, where previous paranormal investigators were inexplicably killed. Its screenplay was written by American author Richard Matheson, based upon his 1971 novel Hell House.
Plot
Physicist Dr. Lionel Barrett is enlisted by eccentric millionaire Rudolph Deutsch to undertake an investigation on the afterlife at Belasco House, the "Mount Everest of haunted houses." The house was originally owned by Emeric Belasco, an imposing, perverted millionaire and supposed murderer, who disappeared soon after a massacre occurred at the home. The house is believed to be haunted by the victims of Belasco's twisted and sadistic desires.
Accompanying Barrett are his wife, Ann, as well as two
Ann is subjected to erotic visions late at night, which seem linked to her lackluster sex life. She goes downstairs and, in an apparent trance, disrobes and demands sex from Fischer. He strikes her, snapping her out of the trance, and she returns to herself, horrified and ashamed. A second incident occurs a day or so later after she has become drunk. Her husband arrives a moment later to witness her advances to Fischer. He is resentful, and spurns Fischer's warnings that the house is affecting Ann. Stricken by the accusation, Fischer drops his psychic shields, but he is immediately attacked.
Tanner is convinced that one of the "surviving personalities" in the home is Daniel, Belasco's tormented son, and she is determined to prove it at all costs. She finds a human skeleton chained behind a wall. Believing it to be Daniel, she and Fischer bury the body outside and she performs a funeral. Nevertheless, Daniel's "personality" continues to haunt her; she is scratched violently by a possessed cat. Barrett suspects that Tanner is mutilating herself. In an attempt to put Daniel to rest, she gives herself to the entity sexually, but the entity brutalizes her and possesses her body.
Barrett's machine is assembled. Possessed by the
Fischer decides to confront the house, and Ann accompanies him despite her misgivings. Deciphering Tanner's dying clue, Fischer deduces that Belasco is the sole entity haunting the house, masquerading as many. He taunts Belasco, declaring him a "son of a whore", and that he was no "roaring giant", but instead more likely a "funny little dried-up bastard" who fooled everyone about his alleged height. Even as objects begin to hurl themselves at Fischer, he continues to defy the entity, and insults Belasco's physical stature. At that, all becomes still. Fischer then concentrates, and a stained-glass partition in the chapel shatters, revealing a hidden door.
Fischer and Ann discover a lead-lined room, containing Belasco's preserved body seated in a chair. Pulling out a pocket knife, Fischer rips open Belasco's trouser leg, discovering his final secret: a pair of prosthetic legs. Fischer realises that Belasco had had his own stunted legs amputated, and that he had used the prosthetics with which they were replaced in a grotesque attempt to appear imposing. Belasco also had the specially built room lined with lead, presaging the discovery of the electromagnetic nature of life after death.
With the room now open, Fischer activates Barrett's machine a second time, and he and Ann leave the house, hoping that Barrett and Florence will guide Belasco to the afterlife without fear.
Cast
- Pamela Franklin as Florence Tanner
- Roddy McDowall as Benjamin Franklin Fischer
- Clive Revill as Dr. Lionel Barrett
- Gayle Hunnicutt as Ann Barrett
- Roland Culver as Rudolph Deutsch
- Peter Bowles as Hanley
- Michael Gough as Emeric Belasco (uncredited)
Production
Development
Production began on 23 October 1972. The Legend of Hell House is one of only two productions of
Matheson's screenplay drastically reduced some of the more extreme elements of the novel, particularly its graphic sexuality and BDSM.[4][5] It also changed the location of the events to England, whereas the novel took place at an estate in rural Maine in the United States.[1]
Filming
The external shots of the house were filmed at
The role of Belasco was played by an uncredited Michael Gough. His part consisted of a couple of recorded lines and an on-camera appearance as an embalmed corpse seated upright in a chair.
The plot of both this film and the book on which it is based, both written by Richard Matheson, have several details in common with Shirley Jackson’s 1959 novel The Haunting of Hill House (and subsequent 1963 movie adaptation The Haunting) in which a party of four (some psychic, some skeptical, some British, some Americans) stay in an extremely haunted Gothic mansion house with a terrible history, for the purposes of scientific study, and all are plagued by unseen terrors. It is to both of the films’ credit that they only partially resemble each other.
Soundtrack
The film features a score with an electronic music bassline (with occasional woodwind and brass stabs). The score and electronic sound effects were created by Delia Derbyshire and Brian Hodgson, recorded at Hodgson's Electrophon studio in London. The soundtrack remains unavailable commercially.
Release
Critical response
Critical response to The Legend of Hell House varied. In 1976,
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 65% of 23 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.4/10. The website's consensus reads: "The Legend of Hell House makes up for its disappointing lack of outright scares with a top notch cast and a suitably macabre atmosphere."[10]
Home media
The Legend of Hell House was released on DVD by
On 26 August 2014, the
Related works
Matheson's screenplay was published in the 1997 collection Screamplays[11] and again in 2000 as a stand alone text.[12]
In popular culture
- Dialogue from the film has been sampled in popular songs by the bands Anaal Nathrakh and Skinny Puppy, and in Orbital's "I Don't Know You People" from their 1999 album The Middle of Nowhere.[13]
- It inspired MTV Networks.
- Marvel Comics adapted the story into its Werewolf by Night comic book series in issues #34-37.[14]
- Director Edgar Wright used the film as inspiration for his faux trailer Don't, featured in the movie Grindhouse.
- Part of the opening sequence, featuring a black cat settling on the wall next to a gatepost, was used by Granada in the ident for its Night Time service.[15]
See also
- The Haunting, (1963) an earlier film with a similar premise, based on the 1959 novel, The Haunting of Hill House.
- List of ghost films
References
- ^ a b c "The Legend of Hell House". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. American Film Institute. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
- ^ "Big Rental Films of 1973", Variety, 9 January 1974 p 19
- ^ Solomon 1989, p. 232.
- ^ A. H. Weiler (16 June 1973). "The Legend of Hell House (1973) The Screen: 'Hell House':The Cast". The New York Times.
- ^ Rigby 2000, pp. 241–245.
- ^ Roger Ebert, "Burnt Offerings," RogerEbert.com, 8 October 1976, URL accessed 4 February 2013.
- ^ Leonard Maltin, ed., Leonard Maltin's 2002 Movie & Video Guide. A Signet Book, 2001, p. 53. A Signet Book, 2001, p. 778.
- ^ "The Legend of Hell House," Time Out London, URL accessed 4 February 2013.
- ^ "The Legend Of Hell House: Review," TV Guide's Movie Guide, URL accessed 4 February 2013.
- ^ "The Legend of Hell House". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 23 January 2024.
- ISBN 0345394291.
- ISBN 1929750021.
- ^ Orbital. (1999). I don't know you people. Nowhere to run [CD]. UK: London Records
- ^ Marvunapp.com
- ^ "ITV Nighttime continuity (early 1990s)". Rewind at The TV Room. Retrieved 16 September 2023.
Sources
- Rigby, Jonathan (2000). English Gothic: A Century of Horror Cinema (3rd ed.). Richmond, Surrey: Reynolds & Hearn Ltd. ISBN 978-1-903-11179-6.
- Solomon, Aubrey (1989). Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-4244-1.
External links
- The Legend of Hell House at IMDb
- The Legend of Hell House at AllMovie
- The Legend of Hell House at Rotten Tomatoes