The Legend of Hell House
John Hough, 1973
Two psychics and a scientist journey into a legendary haunted house to try to prove the existence of life after death.
A fair to middling haunted house movie, The Legend of Hell House has some promising ideas (the intersection of science and superstition) and a solid cast that seem game for anything, but it all just kind of dies on the screen, largely due to a staid and uninspired look, including the least frightening haunted house I've ever seen (from the inside, anyway. The few location shots of the exterior look pretty good). It's based on a novel by Richard Matheson, and I understand that he toned down the sex and violence considerably when turning it into a script. That was probably the point at which the project went awry, as a little bit of lurid sensationalism might have done wonders for waking everyone up. At least the final reveal of the villain was suitably creepy, but it doesn't alleviate the sense that the movie is just kind of. . . there.
4/10
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