With Vincent Price narrating the origins of the party (“She’s so amusing,” he says, chuckling) and introducing the main characters, to Cook Jr. I loved the opening and closing of this film. And let’s give it up for the Skeleton, who, as the credits say, played himself. Julie Mitchum didn’t do that much here, but she was fun too, and Leona Anderson provided us with one of my favorite pre-1960’s scares. as a drunken doomsayer, and Carolyn Craig as the innocent, wide-eyed younger woman (it’s tragic that Craig killed herself about ten years after this came out). If Richard Long is a bit on the generic side, you still have Carol Ohmart in her fantastic role as Price’s wife, Alan Marshal in a more cerebral role, Elisha Cook Jr.
Pretty much everyone in the movie does admirably. His performance here alone warrants a strong rating for the film (especially toward the conclusion), but he’s far from the only solid performance. In House on Haunted Hill, his character’s fantastic throughout, and pretty much every line of his is one I’ve loved since I was younger. Vincent Price is a legend, and is, in fact, my favorite actor in the genre. In my opinion, though, it was this film that fully brought him into a long career in the genre, going on to star in many fantastic films (such as The Tingler, The Bat, Pit and the Pendulum, The Haunted Palace, The Last Man on Earth, The Oblong Box, and Theater of Blood, not to mention the many I’ve not seen yet, such as House of Usher and Diary of a Madman).
Before this film, he appeared in a few horror films, such as The Invisible Man Returns (1940), House of Wax (1953), The Mad Magician (1954), The Fly (1958), and if you’ve a broader view of the genre, Tower of London (1939).
Of course, Vincent Price being the star has a lot to do with it. It has a great cast, a fantastic vibe, a fun story, enjoyable conclusion, and it’s an all-around solid film with virtually no flaws (which is somewhat amazing, but it stands true – I can’t think of a single problem with this film). This is a movie I’ve loved since I was a kid, and everything I liked about it then still stands to today. It’s opens on a hokey note, it ends on a hokey note, and it’s just an entirely fun ride throughout. I can nary think of a more charming movie than this late 50’s feature starring Vincent Price.