Based on the novel by Richard Matheson, The Legend Of Hell House
is about the "Mt. Everest of haunted houses," as the Belasco House, a rambling old
mansion, is known. Clive Revill
stars as Barrett, a physicist who quickly rounds up a team of paranormal
investigators once the house becomes available for them to explore. Two psychics
will be joining Barrett and his wife Ann. They are Florence Tanner, a young
woman with potent powers, and Ben Fischer, a psychic who was part of an earlier
team who investigated Hell House twenty years ago, and who wound up being the
only member of that expedition to emerge from Hell House both alive and sane.
Together this new group of researchers intends to get to the bottom of the
mystery behind Hell House, as long as Hell House doesn't get to them first.
Directed with a sure hand by John Hough, The Legend Of Hell House is a superb
entrée in the haunted house film genre. The scares come slowly at beginning,
building to a crescendo as the horrors that lurk within Hell House begin to prey
on the investigators, focusing primarily at first on young Florence Tanner, who
proves to be gullible enough to try and help the spirits to the point where she
completely opens herself up to them. Pamela Franklin is very good as Florence,
providing just the right balance of innocence and self-confidence that winds up
making her a danger to herself, as well as the others. The late Malcolm McDowell
is superb as the wary Fischer, a walking wounded individual who is
understandably reluctant to expose himself once again to the house that nearly
took his life as a young man all those years ago.
Clive Revill is very sturdy as the pragmatic Barrett, a man who firmly believes
that not only can the horrors that prowl the interior of Hell House be studied,
but also they can be conquered through the effective use of science. And Gayle
Hunnicutt is given a great part to shine in as Ann, the shy, devoted wife with a
dark side filled with yearning. The Legend Of Hell House is still as
successfully scary over thirty years after its original release. The script by
SF/horror/fantasy master Richard Matheson is intelligent and absorbing, with an
intricate mystery--along with a great twist--that holds up very well on repeated
viewings. The film creates its own rules and closely adheres to them very
handsomely. While some of its horrors are more physically jarring than that of
The Haunting, unlike some horror films that try to shock or gross out the
viewer, The Legend Of Hell House builds its scares through mainly mood and by
using the viewer's imagination. Sadly, the DVD doesn't have any special
features, except that it does offer this exemplary movie in its original
widescreen (although the print used doesn't look very clear or sharp). Yet at
least this fine horror film is available on DVD, for repeated viewings around
Halloween or whenever you feel like having the living daylights scared out of
you.
--SF
