Ghosts of Hanley House (1968)

Touches You

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

A modernist, minimalist chiller, by someone with advanced cinema thinking, with an authentic art-house feel; a very enjoyable movie, exquisitely crafted, and also good-natured, the suspense is played straight, and this is one of the few horrors leaving the impression of having a director. 'They were evil in life, so they're evil in death.' 'Hanley' makes the impression of a movie that was actually thought out carefully, reasoned, crafted; and it's also a beautiful and heartfelt movie, much unlike anything else in the genre. The plot achieves a kind of reasonable quiet. The director has a very clear idea about the economy of the movie. The cast deserves our praise, they give likable performances, I enjoyed most the parapsychologist's, her character is knowledgeable and knows enough, but is nonetheless surprised by the turn of the events; the movie has an actual plot, and the use of the mundane and the casual is one of the strengths. To acknowledge that Louise Sherrill's movie is one of the best ever, is to be able to tell art from rubbish.

The folks who make "The Ghosts of Hanley House" obviously had little idea of what they were doing. The acting, at times, is abominable. The direction and camera-work are not a lot better than a home movie. And, the sound is really, really bad--with goofy music and sound effects as well as voices that seem to have been stuck on haphazardly after the fact--and they are often out of synchronization. Plus the sound quality is just awful--making it tough, at times, to understand the actors. All this is readily apparent--which makes me wonder why I bothered sticking with this film. In hindsight, I am still not 100% sure--I must have assumed it could only get better.The film plays like a long version of an urban legend. Some rich guy promises to give another guy a brand-new Ferrari if he'll just stay overnight in the Hanley House and prove that there are no ghosts. It's obvious why he's going to the house--he'll get a great new car. But why four others agree to go as well confused me a bit--what's in it for them? And, when folks started dying, you aren't exactly surprised.So what's the verdict? Well, the movie is very badly made. But, if you are crazy enough to stick with it, you'll see that for a crappy film it's not all that bad. It does offer a few frights and they seemed to make the most of their $74 budget. However, it's not bad enough to make it a must-see for bad film fanatics--it's just somewhat bad! By the way, pay attention at about 33 minutes into the film. Be sure to look for the strings pulling the picture off the wall!

This is a bad movie. Badly made, that is, and not 'so bad that it's good' bad. That being said, I did keep returning to it until I had seen the end. It appears to be made by someone who had been around movie sets but really didn't know what they were doing. As another reviewer mentioned, the camera lingers on face shots for a painfully long time for no apparent reason. Sound doesn't always sync up with the picture, and it's difficult to figure whether the sounds you're hearing are soundtrack or are being heard by the characters. A woman character screams bloody murder, and no one comes out of their rooms until a minute later.For all that, it does have a perverse charm that kept me coming back 20 minutes at a time until the end. It's like watching the first student film of someone who later became a famous director. There's something there under the poor camera technique, editing and wooden acting. The total lack of humor - intended or otherwise - keeps this one out of the midnight movie/so bad that it's good genre, but if low budget haunted house movies appeal to you, this one might be worth a look. Don't pay for it - I downloaded it from the Internet Archive.

I make it a point to be kind to films such as this one, but truth be told Ghosts of Hanley House is really not very good. Poor production values and at times downright bad acting make it so. Still, the quality of this film is not what makes it interesting to film buffs such as myself. I purchased my video copy from Sinister Cinema and one wonders where (Sinister's owner) Greg Luce obtained a print. Ghosts of Hanley House is perhaps the most obscure film I have ever been able to add to my library and I have many. It is not catalogued in any of my reference books. Sinister Cinema says this film was shot in Texas but does not say where.Shot in 1968 with unknown players, Ghosts of Hanley House intrigues in it's own way. I tried in vain to recognize the town where the beginning scenes were filmed and I would love to know where the house was/is located and it's history. Were it not for the capable Mr. Luce this may have become one of the truly lost films. The plot is standard enough but does have an interesting twist and it is sad this could not have been produced on a bigger budget. Mood music is totally inappropriate in many places and the use of lingering, isolated head shots are overdone, to where it is obvious they are what they are: fill to pad out the running time. Several people spend the night in Hanley House, said to be haunted. We have the usual standard chills and unexplained noises until we are about 3/4 the way into the story, then the story turns to whatever uniqueness it possesses. We learn that the ghosts are murdered victims of one of the persons who are spending the night in Hanley House and have been trying all along to lure him there. Of course, he meets with the stock bad ending and the ghosts depart the house, supposedly never to return. As I said, production values were not good. Lighting was poor, camera angles seemed cramped, and the day for night shots were painfully obvious. Still, one has to view a film such as this within it's own context and by those standards, this flick is interesting. If you, as I, are interested in the obscure, particularly the obscure ghost story, then this is for you. (In fairness I've commented before that it is hard for anybody to do a good ghost story). This is exactly the kind of film that persons such as we spend many happy hours searching for. This would not be a good film to recommend to the general viewer. So . . . having said all this, what are you waiting for? Order your copy today and watch it late after everyone else is asleep. If you are interested enough to do that after reading this review, you won't be disappointed