Haunted Houses

[someoldguy]

The Haunting of Hell House (1999)

Not to be confused with any other movies with the words Haunting, Hell, Hill (!) or House in any combination. This movie is based more or less on the Henry James short story The Ghostly Rental, with another story melded on that is only vaguely related. Admittedly, the short story is too short to sustain a movie and the add-on is interesting.

A late 19th century (?) New England period piece, it is stylish with decent production values, dialog and acting. Fairly atmospheric and spooky (pun intended), it is also slow moving and for those not in tune with it, it could even be boring. Major twists on the way, including the big one from the James story. The ending would be very confusing for anyone who has not read the short story and I cannot imagine why they left out the supporting details. They also left out the punchline of the James tale or at least only hinted at it in a very confusing way.

Bottom line: A worthwhile watch if one has patience but do not expect your typical horror story. It is not anywhere near what the lurid title might suggest. And if you have not read the short story, be prepared to be confused at the end.

[someoldguy]

House in Marsh Road (1960)

Low budget British B+W about a woman who inherits a house with a poltergeist named Patrick. Patrick apparently likes her and protects her against her unsuccessful writer husband. He wants her dead so he can inherit the house and money and marry his lover. Slow moving, low key, not very spooky. Patrick moves furniture and indicates his dislike of the husband in various ways. When the husband tries several times to kill his wife, Patrick intervenes.

Mildly entertaining in the fashion of low budget British B+W movies of the mid-century time period. (Although there were some really good ones too.)

SPOILER: Click to show

The ending does not make sense to me. The wife loved the house, yet when she is away and the husband has his lover in bed, Patrick chooses to kill them by burning the house down. The house was pretty much all the wife had. Dramatic ending but not logical.

[someoldguy]

Dead Birds (2004)

Confederate deserters steal gold and hide in abandoned mansion. Spooky things start happening and people start disappearing or dying. Visions, ghost child appearances, demonic looking things, possessions. Scary back story. Good amount of gore.

Slow mover and the scares IMO do not always come off quite as scary as one might want or expect. And the end is a bit confusing. But overall, not bad.

[someoldguy]

Haunt (2014)

New family moves into a house where mysterious deaths took place. It is haunted. Not a lot of new ideas here but enough new spin to be interesting. Dialog, acting, camera work, production values etc. all decent. Not that much FX, mostly glimpses of ghosts here and there.

Unhappy with the ending. Not only does it go against the grain (IMO) but it seems to contradict or at least render senseless some prior events. No spoilers, it would take too long to explain.

Aside: In looking for some production info, I checked out the Wiki entry. (BTW the Plot section gives too much away so do not read it if you are going to watch the movie.) The article refers to an EVP box being used in the movie. It is in fact a Spirit Box. (This is introduced and used in the first few minutes so no real spoiler here.) There is no such thing as an EVP box. EVP is Electronic Voice Phenomena. It refers to voices of ghosts or demons not immediately noticed but later found deep in the background of ordinary tape recordings made in parapsychogical settings. This has been used in numerous movies and TV programs. EVP could show up in any form of audio recording. In contrast, a Spirit Box is a special device intended to hear these voices in real time by tuning between radio stations, usually AM. Various bells and whistles can be applied to enhance reception. (The Spirit Box in the movie is nicely exotic.) AFAIK this is the only use of a Spirit Box in a movie although I think Ghost Hunters uses them on TV. Since even AM radios use digitally generated fixed frequencies these days, you would need to buy a Spirit Box commercially or find an old radio. [/OCD episode]

[someoldguy]

I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House (2016)

Hospice worker lives in house with old woman horror story writer who is not all there and is slowly dying. This is a slow moving ghost story filled with long slow shots of slow moving people. Some spooky stuff here and there including a couple of really spooky scenes. Dialog consists mainly of the narrator talking to herself. Acting is non-offensive, even good at times. But mostly there is not enough going on to support any proper acting efforts.

The film is apparently supposed to be 'artsy' and succeeds in that to some extent. It does at times create serious moodiness and even suspense but that is hard to sustain in the absence of any significant action. Cinematography is very good with shots of the interior of the house sometimes more interesting than anything that happens. But in the end, the reason for the low activity level seems to be that there is simply not enough story to fill an hour and a half. And what story there is does not in the end make a whole lot of sense.

[someoldguy]

Crimson Peak (2015)

All the traditional Gothic elements: the young girl, mysterious man with secrets, the cold woman with secrets (the man's sister in this case), hidden motives, the big mansion with even more secrets (this one crumbling and sinking - Holy Usher, Batman!), the slow discovery of what is going on, and for additional chills ghosts. These are pretty spooky

SPOILER: Click to show

even if they do not do a lot

No real gore until near the end. Although the fact that the house is sinking into a field of wet red clay makes for good visuals, especially in the snow. No jump scares. Even the appearances of the ghosts, although creepy, are not sudden. The entire movie moves along rather slowly. There is enough going on but it is not hurried. Plot, development, acting and dialog are all quite good. Cinematography is great! FX, mostly ghostly, is effective. But it is rather slow going for the film's almost two hours.

I love the line near the end at the peak of the climax "I heard you the first time." But it can only be understood in context.

SPOILER: Click to show

The dog gets killed.

[someoldguy]

The Witch in the Window (2018)

Woman sends 12 year old son off with estranged husband who is doing house flipping. Not sure why, something to do with the kid using the internet. IMO the woman is a wack case and I do not see why he wants to get back with her. Anyway, the house is haunted by the old woman who died there, possibly having murdered her husband and son rather gruesomely. Mostly decent acting and dialog, although mostly about the guy and his relationship with his son and wife. Some pretty good jump scares here and there and near the end some very weird stuff. But in some places it is like 'Umm, what is supposed to be going on here?" Often slow and sometimes confusing, with a definitely confusing ending. It looks to me like the movie was trying to say something or other about how life can suck and the horror part did not have all that much to do with that.

[someoldguy]

Night of the Demons (1987)

Spooky abandoned funeral parlor and crematory. Great place for teens to have a Halloween party and score a little, right? Shoulda skipped that séance that went bad and freed the demons.

Above average 80s teen horror flick. Good gore, big body count. Of course they get up again, possessed. Good 80s style cheesy demon makeup. Lots of action. Lots of creepy, spooky, scary stuff very nicely done.

And the ‘teenagers’ are all pretty young, just about all of the actors being under 25 and not 35 as in usual 80s teen horror movies.

SPOILER: Click to show

The blonde and the black guy live. The nasty old guy gets his.