A Haunted House, English-Style

 

The British Horror film, and indeed, Great Britain’s entire film industry, was teetering on the brink of the precipice by 1973, brought on in part by the faltering national economy.  In the words of Sinclair McKay, “By 1973, it was not merely the old British film industry that was in a state of outright crisis; the entire nation was.”  Hammer, with Michael Carreras now firmly in control, was in a steady decline, much like an aging senior citizen, in whom one illness rapidly leads to another, and another.  That year saw the release of only one classic Hammer Horror, possibly the worst of them all; the film that made Christopher Lee hang up the cloak and put away the fangs for good—The Satanic Rites of Dracula.

Fortunately, other companies were in there pitching, and doing a much better job than Hammer’s anemic efforts.  In fact, 1973 would see the release of two very good British Horrors, The Legend of Hell House and The Vault of Horror, and one that is the best British Horror film of the decade; perhaps the best Brit Horror ever—The Wicker Man.  I have discussed that film, and my reverence for it, at length in this column.  For now, we’ll examine John Hough’s excellent Horror film, The Legend of Hell House.

Following his departure from American-International Pictures, the company that he had founded with Samuel Z. Arkoff nearly twenty years before, James H. Nicholson started Academy Pictures Corporation, in partnership with 20th Century Fox, with plans to co-produce five films.  The first would be an adaptation of Richard Matheson’s sexually charged novel, Hell House.  Matheson would write the screenplay, toning down some of the more graphic sexual elements, transforming it into something suitable for the screen, and John Hough was tasked to direct the film.  Hough, who had recently directed Twins of Evil at Hammer Films, was a good choice; he was a solid, competent, and reliable director, the type needed to bring low-budget productions in on-time and on the money.

It is Friday, December 17th, and Dr. Lionel Barrett (Clive Revill), a British physicist and researcher into paranormal phenomena, has been summoned to a meeting with Mr. Deutsch (Roland Culver), an elderly millionaire, who has a proposition for the scientist:  prove or disprove the soul’s survival after death.  Do so, either way, and earn £100,000.  There are two stipulations, however.  He must begin on the following Monday, the 20th, and he has only five days.  Five days to prove or disprove life after death.

Barrett is intrigued, but how can he accomplish that task, one that, on the surface, would seem impossible?  Deutsch’s answer is simple, though unexpected.  He must go to the one place where the possibility of survival has not been refuted.  Belasco House—Hell House.  Two previous teams have investigated the mansion; eight members of the two expeditions died.  There was only one survivor, from the last group twenty years before.  That man, Ben Fischer (Roddy McDowell), will go with Barrett to the house, as will another medium, a young woman named Florence Tanner (Pamela Franklin).  Barrett’s wife Ann (Gayle Hunnicutt) will accompany him as she usually does on his investigations, though he warns her that this will not be like any other “haunted house,” calling Hell House the “Mt. Everest of haunted houses.”

The following Monday, the group arrives at Hell House to begin their investigation.  Florence is immediately affected by the entities present in the house, though the other psychic, Ben, keeps himself closed off.  However, the two mediums aren’t the only ones experiencing unusual reactions.  Ann Barrett, a sexually frustrated woman due to her husband’s inattentiveness, begins walking in her sleep, and behaving most improperly towards Ben.  Everyone seems under some form of attack, though Florence is particularly vulnerable.  The attacks on both women are personal, and sexual, in nature.  Barrett believes that the former owner, Emeric Belasco, was such a vain, cruel, evil man, and the litany of sins he practiced and encouraged steeped the house in so much malevolent energy, that it has become like a massive battery, providing anyone with innate psychic abilities with a surge of uncontrollable power.  There are no ghosts, no surviving spirits, just the untapped potential of the human mind.  Ben is convinced it is the spirit of Belasco himself, and though Florence agrees that it is a spirit, she’s not sure it’s Belasco’s.

As the week wears on, the attacks become more violent and aggressive.  Barrett is nearly killed.  Florence is raped by what she believes is a spirit.  Slowly, however, they uncover the secrets of Belasco House, including the discovery of the chained-up body of Belasco’s son Daniel, concealed behind a brick wall.  As the week draws near its end, Barrett has plans to fight back—a machine of his invention that will counter the energies in the house, clearing the house of its stored ability to cause harm.  If his theory is correct.

Reviews were mixed for the film, though generally not positive.  Mick Martin, writing for the magazine Cinefantastique, seemed to speak for his fellow critics.  “So much that made the book a blockbuster horror story is left out of the film that I find it impossible to view it objectively, especially after experiencing The Exorcist.”  The comparison to the far superior film may be a natural one, one I’m certain many critics couldn’t help but make.  As natural as that comparison may be, however, it did no favors for The Legend of Hell House.  Though the box-office numbers for the film were decent, it was not the success for which 20th Century Fox and Academy Pictures could have hoped.  Appreciation for the film has grown in the intervening years, however.  Andy Boot, in discussing the film, lays its lackluster performance on a lack of promotional spending. 

“The last film of 1973 was one that could—shock for shock—rival The Exorcist.  The only thing letting it down was the budget—not because of the actual production quality, but simply because it could not be hyped ... This is the type of horror movie that is impossible to do justice in print.  Kinetic and visually stunning, it is a superb piece of craft that needs to be seen to be appreciated.”

James Nicholson (R), and Samuel B. Arkoff (L).

A significant difference from contemporaneous reviews, one might safely say.  The Legend of Hell House was the first film produced by Academy; there would be only one more.  In December of 1972 James Nicholson, the creative force behind the birth of Teensploitation and the Drive-In Movie, died of a malignant brain tumor.  His last production, Dirty Mary Crazy Larry, would be released eleven months after The Legend of Hell House.