The Legend of Hell House (1973) Review

In the history of cinema haunted house movies are a dime a dozen, but this one stands out due to its sober tone and character development. While written by an American, it maintains a very stiff upper lip while following a four person research team looking into the possibility of life after death. To do that, they must visit a mansion that killed most of a previous attempt twenty years before. Welcome to Hell House, where death, mystery, and eerie events take back seat to something far more frightening – sex.

The 1970s were a period of transition in films with a lot of experimentation taking place. In some ways, the decade in filmmaking was a hangover from the changes that took place in the late ‘60s. That was when the old studio model fell apart and directors began to push the bounds of what had been considered acceptable in the name of art. Horror films were not immune to this and the genre started to go toward shock and gore, but not quite to the extremes that culminated in the Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street movies of the ‘80s. So there was yet room for thoughtfully creepy movies and The Legend of Hell House is one of the better examples of that approach.

I have to say, haunted house movies are near the bottom of my list of films to watch. They have never appealed to me, perhaps because I have lived in old farm houses most of my life. Odd sounds and creaks are part of the personality of aged wooden structures, so you get very used to them. So it was with some surprise that this movie gave me the creeps when I was a teenager. In fact, it is the only one that ever has since I hit double digits in age. Puzzled by this and feeling nostalgic, I purchased the DVD last month to figure out why.

The opening is a throwback to bygone years, featuring a statement by a Tom Corbett claiming to be a psychic consultant to royals in Europe. A little research revealed that he was a co-author of a book called The Dreamer’s Dictionary, so he really existed. It helps to remember that the 1970s pop culture saw the birth of the New Age movement as people turned away from organized religion and naval gazing began to dominate Western thought.

So this little placard instantly added bona fides to the movie and was a clever move by the filmmakers to set the mood. Cold and stark, it suggests what you were about to see might be real. Back in the early days of the Web, I found info that it was based on a real incident and there really was a “Hell House.” Of course that was not true and you shouldn’t trust what you read on the Internet, but it is a fact that it was adapted from a Richard Matheson novel by that name.

He also wrote the screenplay for the adaptation and may be a familiar name to Twilight Zone fans since he wrote some of the scarier episodes. Another one of his books, I Am Legend, has been adapted multiple times, with the best being his own version from 1954 starring Vincent Price in a tour de force performance. That is a film I need to review some time in the future and is a terrific character study.

But back to this movie!

Odd camera angles introduce us to the movie and establish a feeling of discomfort as if reality itself is askew. It isn’t long before we see a meeting between Dr. Barrett (Clive Revill) and an impatient man of wealth, Mr. Deutsch (Roland Culver), who dangles an offer that cannot be refused. A significant sum is promised if Barrett can prove conclusively whether life after death exists – or does not. Given his deteriorated appearance, the millionaire has a vested interest in getting results ASAP.

With only a week’s time to come up with evidence and saddled with two psychics he did not choose, Barrett is reluctant to take his lovely wife Ann (Gayle Hunnicutt) along for this experiment. While she normally accompanies him in his work, the Belasco House earned its nickname, Hell House, for good reason. In 1952, a larger group of researchers went into the mansion with only one survivor emerging alive and sane. It is December 17th according to the date and time which are shown to us throughout the movie in a subtle move adding a quasi-documentary feel.

 

In very short order the remaining members of the party are introduced while being picked up by the limousine ferrying them to Hell House. Sole survivor of 1952’s ill fated expedition, Benjamin Fischer (Roddy McDowall) looks as paranoid as he well should. He will be the physical medium for the project. Looking innocent and virtuous while standing outside a church, Florence Tanner (Pamela Franklin) will be the psychic medium.

Confusing terminology? It gets explained in the movie through exposition and events. Expect reams of exposition, for this film could have been turned into a stage play with very little effort. The screenwriter Matheson and director John Hough went to great lengths to make sure the viewer would never get lost, despite the mystery elements heavily used.

A brooding atmosphere laced with foreboding greets the quartet when they arrive at the fog shrouded mansion in the countryside. Keep an eye out for a black cat skulking about, obviously suffering from typecasting and putting in a sullen performance. With everything gloomy and overcast, a claustrophobic tension already pervades the movie and we haven’t even gotten inside the Belasco estate yet.

Rather disturbing is the matter of fact discussion of how the windows of the unoccupied house are all bricked in. It is revealed that it was that way even before Emeric Belasco’s presumed death and disappearance many decades ago. The minimalist synthesized score by Delia Derbyshire and Brian Hodgson nicely underscores the unease felt by the group and is subtly manipulative.

Once in the house, Tanner immediately senses that the house “knows we are here.” That and it is a wicked place. Looking owlish and very tightly wound, Fischer appears to make no effort to sense anything. It does not go unnoticed.

Peculiarly, there is a chapel on the first floor. While not unusual in mansions, it is for this particular residence. Belasco was a hedonist who practiced every imaginable sin possible including cannibalism, bestiality, torture, and a bevy of sexual perversions according to Fischer, who seems irked to be the one relaying the history of the place. So the presence of what appears to be a normal Christian chapel sticks out like a sore thumb.

Strangely, it repels the Christian spiritualist Tanner so much that she cannot enter it. While the others enter the room, a sound of a man’s voice is heard by the young woman. Curious as to where it is coming from, her wandering off alone provides one of the first alarms for the group in the movie. What she finds is a creepy address from beyond the grave achieved in a mundane fashion.

Once settled into their opulent and decadent surroundings, the group gets on with the job they were hired to do. Dr. Barrett asks Florence to conduct a “sitting” involving her contacting deceased spirits, though it is clear he does not believe in life after death. Still, he does believe something is going on that can be scientifically explained.

Going into a trance, Tanner begins to speak of “limits… terminations… extremities…” before she detects an angry spirit and is soon possessed by it. Profane and hostile, the male spirit threatens the group and objects on a side table begin to shake. Then it is over and the real fireworks begin.

Those fireworks consist of the personality conflicts between the individuals in the expedition. Fischer shows concern for the younger psychic while Barrett views them both with deep suspicion, which he confides to his wife. Meanwhile, Tanner is baffled by her manifesting physical phenomenon when she isn’t that type of medium. But Fischer is…

That night, which can only be detected by the date/time stamps in the perpetually dark interior of the house, Tanner receives an uninvited guest. It is Daniel Belasco, the spirit she identifies as the previously unknown of son of Emeric. Drawn by his anguish, she is rewarded with a spiritual temper tantrum complete with a slammed door.

Apparently, teenage behavior does not end with death.

The next day, a second séance is conducted, this time with the spiritualist wired up to all sorts of gadgets to detect anything and everything. Conveying a tone of absolute seriousness, Dr. Barrett dictates into a reel to reel recorder while monitoring the instruments. A genuinely creepy sequence results showing ectoplasm manifesting from Tanner’s fingers all while being lit in red light that gives the setting a hellish cast.

Visually, the scene is arresting and nearly hypnotic, so I have to credit cinematographer Alan Hume along with the director Hough for staging such a memorable scene. It is not rushed or overdone, which is why it works so well.

It is here that the movie got interesting for me, because before it had been just another spook story. The veneer of science versus superstition adds to the suspension of disbelief and what I had thought was a throwaway setup actually becomes a major part of the plot. A good example of that is Barrett’s oh so rational yet excited findings after analyzing the ectoplasm.

I believe I mentioned fireworks earlier. That gets a tad bit more literal during a confrontation between an increasingly obsessed Tanner and a condescending Barrett. Daniel has been flirting with her in a sophomoric and direct fashion that anyone with experience would find off putting. But the very naïve and pious Florence is falling for his bad boy act, bringing her emotions to a boil. Of course this increases the distrust amongst the group and accusations fly… amongst other things.

While all the drama goes on inside, there is that black cat still skulking about outside. It is a good excuse for a very pretty shot of the mansion in the dawning mist. For an uncredited actor, the cat certainly is getting more than his share of the screen time. It isn’t a particularly interesting performance so far. I would go as far as to call it pedestrian.

Barrett is absolutely sure he is on to something big involving trapped energy fields and does not notice his beautiful wife’s behavior growing odder. Hallucinating shadows on the ceiling trying their best to get past the PG rating leads to drinking to calm her nerves. A short while later Ann tries to seduce a very confused Fischer, first by caressing a naked bust of a woman, then demanding an orgy, before finally disrobing. I do believe she is barking up the wrong tree here, so the end result is not surprising.

It looks like Tanner isn’t the only one being possessed in Hell House. At this point, whatever force is in the house is targeting the women and exploiting their individual weaknesses to sow trouble. Ann is the stereotypical repressed and somewhat ignored younger wife looking for sexual attention. Florence is the classic repressed church girl who thinks she knows everything and can control everything. Both are slowly seduced and manipulated without realizing it.

Predatory and misogynistic is how I would describe whatever it is haunting the house. Also, the men are treated simply as threats, rather than playthings. Might there be a clue there?

 

A very short time later, the willful young psychic goes prowling the house and finds a secret chamber in the basement. There she finds a corpse and exclaims, “Daniel, I’ve found you!” After burying his body, she is sure his soul is put to rest.

That’s a mistake. Instead, his voice is heard pleading with her to make love to him. Nothing predatory or manipulative about that, is there? When she refuses, the black cat from outside shows up and attacks her. Yep, it is that old trope from many a horror movie, the random cat attack.

Thrill while you watch an actress wrestle with a stuffed cat!

Okay, it isn’t quite that bad and the cuts between the fake and the real feline are actually well handled. The bites and scratches are convincing looking as is Tanner’s breaking down from the attack. We also finally get a lively performance out of the black cat.

The aftermath exposes the divisions within the group. Both Fischer and Barrett ask the pretty young woman to leave because it is clear she is in serious physical jeopardy. Tanner refuses and claims that the house is uniquely suffering from multiple hauntings. In other words, one force is controlling the spirits of all who died there. That idea goes over like a lead balloon, leading to more strife.

Fallout continues the next day, when a truck arrives with a strange device in it. It is rather large and Dr. Barrett can’t wait to get it working. If he is correct, he can purge the energy he believes Tanner is tapping into and making all these things happen with. The power of science will triumph over superstition.

So the stage is set for a duel between science and spiritualism, faith and disbelief, and the house and the team. Which side will win the theological argument? Will anyone survive to report the findings? Or will it all end like the disaster twenty years before?

Thoughts

The Legend of Hell House was something I first saw many years ago when a teenager. It aired on a cable network late at night, which is the only proper time to watch it. This is the kind of movie that requires darkness and and solitude to be fully effective. Earlier, I mentioned that it is the only film to give me the creeps and it did that night. Repeat viewings haven’t had the same effect, but that is to be expected.

So it has a special place in my personal film history. To my surprise, I hadn’t looked for it on DVD. Why? No clue, it simply slipped my mind to do so. That was cheap to rectify and it was an interesting experience to see the fright flick again after many years.

The first thing that struck me is that this is an adult film with adult situations. This can be said about the content as well as the intellectual level it aimed at. In my opinion, this was an attempt to do a literate haunted house movie and to a certain degree it succeeded.

The movie uses almost every haunted house stereotype possible. Black cats behaving badly, fog, fireplaces acting up, hidden rooms, corpses, strange shadows, and anything else you could expect from the subgenre. Yet there is no feeling that it was done for cheap scares or thrills due to the deadly serious tone set throughout. If you look for camp, you will not find it.

Director John Hough (Escape from Witch Mountain, The Watcher in the Woods) did a very good job with interesting camera angles, shots, and pacing. He definitely got the best out of his cast, who were all quite good in their roles and never once hammed it up or phoned a performance in.

Roddy McDowall gave the best performance of his long and prolific career in this movie. While the beginning of the movie focused on the other characters, his portrayal of the closed off Fischer slowly grew until it dominated the final act. It is a masterful performance, with most of it being subtly conveyed through body language and facial expressions. Fischer is bird like in his movements, very precise and restrained, as if he were in a cage. In many ways, the character was trapped by his past experiences and the house itself.

Clive Revill is very good as the driven scientist engrossed in his work. His slow unraveling is believably portrayed as is his obliviousness to how condescending he is. Like many a nerd, his people skills desperately need work. Yet he does have a heart and eventually gets to show it.

Pamela Franklin is superb, with her luminous eyes reflecting everything going on inside Tanner’s head. A former child actress, it looks like she wanted to prove herself and she does well. Hers is a complicated character to play and she catches the woman-child alternating between bratty confidence and uncertainty perfectly. I would say she is the star of the film for most of it.

Gayle Hunnicutt  is another matter. With what she is given, she does well. But Ann is the least developed character, so her main job is to look gorgeous, be confused, oversexed, and cry a lot. It isn’t a memorable performance.

The film is very violent and can be bloody, especially toward the end. While it is PG rated, it is a PG rating of the 1970s when things were more permissive. One surprise for me after getting the DVD is seeing how much was cut for television. There is full side nudity, though partially silhouetted, of Tanner, reproductions of classic art nudes in the background, and a fairly explicit sex scene with the camera exclusively focused on a face but with the noises leaving nothing to the imagination. It would probably be considered tame compared to television shows these days.

Between all that and the subject matter, this is not a film for children or early teens. A major theme of the movie is sex, specifically the destructive dark side, aka sexual sins. In my opinion, it is not glorified and is actually never shown in any kind of positive light. That is downright unusual for the time and I have to wonder if it was intentional though it is more likely accidental.  If anything, it is a cautionary tale, but I can’t get into it without spoilers. More will be discussed in the spoilers section below. Maturity is required to watch this film.

Horror movie buffs will like this one, as will people who like well crafted scary movies. Those unfortunates into what I call “torture porn” which is currently prevalent will find it too restrained due to a lack of gore and a small body count, not to mention a great deal of dialogue. Hammer Films aficionados will particularly enjoy the movie, since it looks and feels like something from that studio.

Just remember to turn off the lights and watch this at night if you choose to rent it.

Technical

Fox Entertainment’s 2001 & 2007 DVD release is nearly bare bones with the only extras being the American theatrical trailer and trailers for various other movies not even in the genre. At least it is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen in a sharp transfer. Colors are vivid and the contrast is very good, but this is not a restored copy. As a result, you will see some dirt and scratches.

Sound fairs better, with the original English mono being remixed to Dolby Digital 4.0 Surround and being very clear. Oddly, the original mono is included along with French mono. To add to the weirdness, the subtitles are English and Spanish! I suppose somebody could watch it in French with Spanish subtitles if the need arose…

Run time is 95 minutes and the film never drags.

The theatrical trailer is presented in anamorphic widescreen, but has a great deal more dirt and scratches present. Otherwise it is in good shape. It uses all the dramatic moments in the movie in a bid to get people to see it. This was typical sensationalism of the time, so no surprise there.

Oh and I have to say something about the case design. The cover image is a massive spoiler from the film and they really should have gone with something else. I’m not too impressed with the rear cover either.

BEWARE! HERE BE SPOILERS!!!

 

 

 

 

The second seduction attempt by a drunken Ann leads to one of the few moments in the movie that contains any warmth. Her miserable apology to her husband reveals him to be a far more understanding man that expected. Exhibiting gentleness and kindness despite his shock, he puts his arm around the inconsolable woman and the director makes a great decision to cut to an angle behind them to linger for a beat. It made me like Barrett a great deal and turned him into a sympathetic character.

A direct confrontation with Fischer follows with the medium revealing the prior attempt to seduce him. While Barrett is stunned by this, Fischer pushes for getting the women out of the house before it is too late. Arguing continues with a sharply delivered comment by Barrett goading the psychic to try to earn his keep. It doesn’t go well.

By opening up his defenses, more opens up than he planned. The scene where he explains to Tanner what happened to the first expedition in 1952 is an important one giving hints toward parts of the final mystery. It is also a rare bonding moment between the two mediums with his concern for the girl becoming more obvious.

What is a haunted house without blood flowing from something? In this case it is a shower, but it isn’t a plumbing problem. I guess that is one way to get rid of a black cat. So Daniel kills the cat to show he is protecting Florence, eh? No death scene for the feline, he must have been disappointed.

Meanwhile, Barrett is frantically working on getting the large machine working. He is sure that there is a pocket of mindless undirected energy being tapped into by the psychics. If he can dispel the energy, he will prove there is no life after death and cleanse the house in the process. He is nearly frantic to meet the deadline. Heh… deadline…

Ahem.

Daniel’s pleadings cause Tanner to fall from grace, thinking if she allows the ghost to have that which he didn’t have in life, he will move on. That’s the kind of logic that has gotten more than a few teenage girls pregnant in the backseat of a car. Some have called this a rape scene, but that isn’t completely correct. For one, Florence actively decides to participate and prays that it will succeed. This isn’t forced, but coerced.

It also shows how far the virginal young woman has fallen. Seduced by lies, she finds the act itself painful and horrific, with her seeing something we do not. Having failed her faith in God, she shatters completely and is revealed to be hysterically giggling when the others find her.

The attempts by Fischer to comfort her are touching, but she is now fighting being possessed by Daniel, who of course has not moved on. I want to point out that the only profanity used in the movie comes out of her mouth when Daniel is speaking. Once again, for a ‘70s film it is odd.

Watch for Tanner’s body language and listen for her tone of voice when she finds out about the machine. It is subtle at first, but it is Daniel in control of the body pretending to be Florence until knocked unconscious.

Tanner’s death is nasty and the bloodiest part of the film. The method used to kill is crushing her under the large crucifix in the chapel, which was obviously done to mock her faith. At the last moment, she realizes she had been fooled the entire time and writes something in her own blood before expiring. So where did all the blood come from? If you look closely, it appears that she slit her wrist on the large nail point to do so. Very nasty, that.

The others eventually find her and decide it is time to try Barrett’s machine, though Fischer is sure it won’t work and that they should just leave. While they wait outside, we get to see the electronic exorcism, which is suitably eerie. Upon entering, Fischer is shocked to find all signs of paranormal forces gone and is very impressed with the machine. It is one of the better moments in the science versus mysticism subplot. It is a short lived victory for the power of science.

Barrett’s death happens off screen, though we do see one of his machines explode in his face. I seem to remember it being more dramatic and lengthy when I watched it years ago, but memory can be a tricky thing. Found in the chapel by his wife, he has been crushed by a chandelier. Daniel tried to kill him the same way earlier in the film, so it turns out that scene was foreshadowing.

It is at this point that Fischer steps up to the task at hand, first helping Ann and then deciding to take on whatever being is committing all these acts. While sure he will die, Ann follows him meekly. There is an impression that she has to have a man to follow to even function.

The only place where the psychic energy remains is the chapel, so Fischer goes there and engages in a lengthy confrontation with the sole spirit of the house, Emeric Belasco. There never was a “Daniel Belasco” or any other spirits in the mansion. All of it was him.

I enjoyed how Fischer finally put all the pieces of the puzzle together to psychologically dissect and disarm Belasco’s ghost. It is one of the meaner verbal take downs I’ve seen in a movie and illustrates what a petty and little man the millionaire was.

Michael Gough did not receive any billing for playing the part and given his reputation as a notorious womanizer in real life it was perfect casting.  No explanation is given for why his body and everything else in the lead lined hidden chamber was so perfectly preserved.

The two survivors turn on the machine to finally rid the house of Belasco and end the horror. They leave with Fischer’s hope that Tanner and Dr. Barrett’s souls lead Belasco to a better place. Surprising forgiveness is shown toward the evil spirit and the film ends on that note.

It wasn’t until I paid attention to the final date shown that I understood what it was about. Christmas Eve has arrived and all has been made right in the world. The last thing I expected was the movie to show a sentimental side, but there it is.

However, this is still a horror movie, so the black cat shows up alive at the end. He looks more annoyed than scary if you ask me.