The Legend of Hell House

One of the best (if not the best) viewing experiences of last October (2014 will go down as one of my most disappointing years of the 2000s regarding Halloween month viewing) was the Legend of Hell House from 1973. In terms of the overall mood, the use of psychic ability and science clashing to discover what thrives within it and “erase it” from the residence, the tortured faces of the small group gathered together to uncover its corruption and cleanse it, the effects and toll on the group, the atmospheric spook show that derives from the way the location is presented (the photography and shrouding fog give the residence a sinister appearance I found pleasing to the eye and thrilling as a horror fan who desires the aesthetics of a haunted location) and what evil lies within its walls, its rooms, its halls, and structure, and the actors congregated for this motion picture, The Legend of Hell House was quite a rewarding late night viewing for me personally during a Turner Classics Haunted House night (I had just watched The Uninvited from 1944 prior to this). I have the dvd, purchasing it some years ago for maybe five dollars. I had watched it once not long after buying it, but that was perhaps ten years back. So I was game for another viewing. Thinking about it, I believe I had only watched it once before this dvd viewing. So the film had a fresh and enlighteningly compelling grip on me. I don’t know what it is about Pamela Franklin but this, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, and a personal favorite of mine that I wish earned her more credit, And Soon the Darkness, have been reasons I can’t help but remain enamored by her. She has this allure, some sexual power I find in her characters. She is “pure” to a point, her character of Florence Tanner, and her fate has always left me rattled. It is a sacrifice McDowell’s “physical medium” capitalizes on towards the end.

As good as this film is, I still wonder why director John Hough didn't become a director of renown. It is hard to believe the same man that directed this was behind the helm for The Howling IV.