HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL (1959) Blu-ray Review

House on Haunted Hill (1959) d. William Castle (USA) (75 min)

This classic fright-fest frivolity from producer/director Castle stars Vincent Price as eccentric millionaire Frederick Loren, offering $10,000 to five diverse guests if they can spend the entire night in the titular haunted house; thrills and chills ensue.

Castle has never been more adept at creating straight-faced spooky atmosphere, and Robb White’s snaky screenplay provides characters and mystery adequate to hold our attention through the film’s zippy running time. Doors creak open and slam shut, decapitated heads appear and disappear, and vats of acid bubble deliciously in the cellar, with a wonderfully cheesy skeleton topping off the delightful buffet.

THE RED HOUSE (1947) Blu-ray Review

The Red House (1947) d. Delmer Daves (USA) (100 min)

Pete Morgan (Edward G. Robinson), a struggling one-legged farmer who dotes on his adopted daughter Meg (Allene Roberts) to the point of smothering her, and while he grants her wish to have a schoolmate Nath (Lon McCallister) come over and help out with chores, it’s clear that he’s aware of her more-than-friendly feelings toward the lad. Luckily, he’s dating the local hottie Tibby (Julie London), so there’s less to fear, but when Nath insists on taking a shortcut through Pete’s backwoods property, we realize that the patriarch has some serious hangups about the woods and the secrets hidden therein. (No surprise, they include a certain red house.)

BEAST FROM HAUNTED CAVE, GIANT GILA MONSTER, and KILLER SHREWS (1959)

THE BEAST FROM HAUNTED CAVE (1959) d. Monte Hellman
THE GIANT GILA MONSTER (1959) d. Ray Kellogg
THE KILLER SHREWS (1959) d. Ray Kellogg

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The good folks at Film Masters have taken it upon themselves to rescue oodles of public domain titles, some of which they've even gone through the time and effort to give the stand-up, high-def presentations these orphaned films deserve. Or do they?