[Vincent] Price plays an eccentric millionaire, Frederick Loren, who, along with his wife Annabelle, has invited five people to the house for a “haunted house” party. Whoever stays in the house for one night will earn $10,000. As the night progresses, the guests are trapped within the house with an assortment of terrors.

…

Numerous critics praised House on Haunted Hill for its classical style, likening it to old-fashioned haunted house films.[ii] Paine Knickerbocker of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote… : “The film is far better than one might suspect from its title, and yet it actually pretends to be no more: it is merely an old-fashioned mystery suspense film and a pretty good one.”[30] The Oregonian similarly compared the film favorably to classic horror films such as The Bat (1926) and The Cat and the Canary (1927), heralding it as a “ghost story of the highest excellence” and “pure entertainment from the first reel forward.”[31] Jean Walrath of the Democrat and Chronicle similarly praised the film’s “classic approach” and commended the performances by Price, Carol Ohmart, and Alan Marshal.[32]

Kate Cameron of the New York Daily News awarded the film two and a half out of four stars, praising Price’s performance.[33] Howard Thompson of The New York Times alternately panned the film, deeming it “a stale spook concoction.”[34]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 80% of 44 critics’ reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.2/10. The website’s consensus reads: “Campy by modern standards but spooky and atmospheric, House on Haunted Hill is a fun, well-executed cult classic featuring a memorable performance from genre icon Vincent Price.”[35] AllMovie has praised the film retrospectively, writing, “Campy and creepy in equal measures, House on Haunted Hill deserves its status as a horror classic.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_on_Haunted_Hill

House on Haunted Hill (1959) is the movie for this Sunday’s “monsterdon” watch party over on Mastodon, our fediverse sibling!

  • Just start watching that movie this Sunday, October 4 at 9pm ET / 8pm CT / 6pm PT which is 1am Monday UTC
  • and follow #monsterdon over on mastodon for live text commentary. For example, you can follow that hashtag here: https://mastodon.social/tags/monsterdon
  • I usually open two web browser windows side-by-side on a computer. But you could follow the mastodon commentary on a phone app while watching the movie on TV or something.

How to watch the movie:

BEWARE: we are watching the 1959 version, but there is also a 1999 remake!