The Haunted House of Horror (1969)

Redundant and unnecessary.

Fresh and Exciting

best movie i've ever seen.

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Weak horror film is mainly interesting because of how closely the plot hews to the teen body count horror film formula long before the formula was firmly established a decade later with the "Halloween" and "Friday the 13th" films. Frankie Avalon and a group of British teens go to an old mansion where they are then killed one by one. Who is the murderer? (SPOILER ALERT!) I was really hoping it would be Frankie of Beach Party fame, but sadly it was not. Writer/director Michael Armstrong, the man who made the notorious (and poorly made in my opinion) "Mark of the Devil," delivers another weak film here. I do think this film could have been better if Armstrong got his original choice of David Bowie as the killer. Unfortunately AIP felt Bowie would clash with Frankie. Too bad. That might have made this a much more memorable of film.

This is one of those films with a pretty poor reputation that means I haven't got around to watching it until now. I wasn't missing much. THE HAUNTED HOUSE OF HORROR – one hell of a title that has little to do with the film itself – is notable as one of the earliest examples of the slasher genre, the sort of film where lots of pretty young folk are offed one by one by an unknown killer. It has assured direction by Michael Armstrong, who afterwards went to the continent to shoot grisly witchcraft horror MARK OF THE DEVIL, and a cast of youthful actors who were once big names in their heyday.Frankie Avalon, a one-time singer, has one of the major roles playing his typical character – young, handsome, popular with the ladies, charismatic to boot. He could almost be said to be playing himself. Then there's an obnoxious Richard O'Sullivan, before he found fame on television, and red herring George Sewell, who lurks around looking shifty a lot but that's about it. Dennis Price pops up as an inspector but he only gets a couple of scenes himself, while Jill Haworth's sole contribution is to sit around and look pretty, which she does well enough.Unfortunately, although the film looks good, it goes nowhere. The script is sub-par and the story plodding. It takes an age for the set-up to get going, and then things look like they're going to pick up with an exceptionally shocking and gory murder sequence about halfway through. Then things kick back to first gear and nothing else happens until the denouement, which itself consists of a couple of people chatting in a room for about ten minutes while suspense builds. There's more gore at the climax, and then everything's left unfinished, so it feels as if they ran out of money.Aside from those two murders, there's nothing to remember about this movie. The characters are trite, self-centred, and rather irritating, particularly in O'Sullivan's case, and the incredibly annoying Veronica Doran is another detraction the film has. There's far too little incident taking place, which would be all right if this was an exercise in atmosphere building, like some of the Italian gothics from the same era, but it's not. I enjoyed looking at the colourful '60s costumes and sets, but that enjoyment only went so far – and in the end I was just sitting, waiting for something – ANYTHING – to happen. It never did, which is why this one's a dud.

Only recently I came across this movie and being an avid slasher movie fan, well I just had to see this British slasher for myself, giving the fact that there aren't that many British slashers out there and especially giving the fact that this movie came out in 1969.After seeing this movie, I can't help but say that I was a little disappointed, I could see so much potential but way too many opportunities are wasted which makes this movie way too uneven. The scenes with the teenagers in the old spooky murder house are full of atmosphere and quite tense, but yet it all falls apart when the police elements are introduced Switching the focus away from the young cast to an old geezer Inspector (Dennis Price) robs the film of its energy and momentum. And another bit of added storyline that doesn't fit in that involves a middle age man having an affair with one of the young teens and then stalking her, which adds no tension whatsoever to the film and really drags this movie down. The main teens as well weren't at all very interesting or likable nor they don't hold my interest for long enough until the murder scenes happen again.All in all not enough death scenes and laughable performances and way too uneven to be up there with some of the early slasher greats that were to follow years after this.

Ham acting, predictable plot and liberal lashings of ketchup make this a classic 60's British horror film made in the 'Hammer Horror' time honoured way when the country was great at everything. It's a very English treatment of a theme dominated since the '70s by the likes of Wes Craven and other horror American film makers who have since thrown quaint charm out with the bath water (see horror classics like 'The Haunting' 1963 and 'The Legend of Hell House' for horror films which play subtly on the mind). The plot is so predictable these days it would be hard to end with a spoiler. Basically the story revolves around not for long fun-loving,swinging 60s teenagers wandering around a creepy, old, reputedly haunted house and getting bumped off by instalments. Umm. Unlike the unsubtle use of chainsaws in Texas what makes this film for me is the imaginative and atmospheric use of the interior and exterior location shots which give 'The Haunted House of Horror' a very creepy feel and a well deserved regard as a cult classic of it's genre.