For horror movie fans, just knowing that 1959’s House on Haunted Hill stars the “Merchant of Menace” Vincent Price as an eccentric, sadistic millionaire should be enough to head out to Alamo Drafthouse Cinema. In this black and white film, five varied characters are challenged to spend the night in a house rumored to be the site of decapitation murders; if they survive, they each receive $10,000. It’s interesting to note that, in the 1999 remake of the same name, the invited guests are each promised $1 million if they live to see morning.
According to a trivia-poster on Internet Movie Database, the 1959 film did so well at the box office that famed director Alfred Hitchcock took notice and went on to create his own low-budget film, Psycho.
While the movie was still showing in theaters, director William Castle invented a gimmick called “Emergo” in which an illuminated skeleton on a wire careened over the heads of moviegoers in tandem with action on the screen.
Frederick Loren (Price) and his fourth wife throw a “haunted house” party and invite a test pilot, a magazine columnist, a psychiatrist, a secretary/typist and the house’s owner as guests. All are driven to the party in a foreboding funeral procession. Over the course of the evening, it is revealed that several of the characters have ulterior motives and misrepresent circumstances to incite others to perform horrific acts and turn on each other.
A telling quote from the movie reveals the dysfunctional relationship of Price’s character and his on-screen wife’s character, Mr. and Mrs. Loren. Frederick Loren says, “Don’t let the ghosts and the ghouls disturb you, love.” To which she replies, “Darling, the only ghoul in the house is you!”
6 p.m. 114 Vintage Park Boulevard. For information, call 832-559-5959 or visit drafthouse.com/houston/vintage_park. $9.
Sun., March 22, 6 p.m., 2015
This article appears in Mar 19-25, 2015.
