This was Director William Castle's haunted house movie, and it may be the ultimate of that genre. Everything including the kitchen sink makes it in, as a group of people are offered a large sum of money if they can spend the entire night in the reportedly haunted estate on Haunted Hill. Guests find themselves contending with blood that drips from the ceiling, a severed head, murder and suicide attempts, lurking phantoms, and so on. Vincent Price is the host. Castle was the gimmick king (viewers of MACABRE were insured against death by fright, theater seats were wired to shock audience members who came to see THE TINGLER, etc), and HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL was presented in "Emergo" where a giant skeleton would hover out over the audience at the climax of the picture! Unfortunately, after the first few shows, the balloon skeleton became a target for popcorn missiles. Castle apparently wasn't content with one haunted house picture, so 13 GHOSTS would follow shortly. Both films were remade at the turn of the century, but minus the carny sense of fun Castle was known for. Infamously, Castle (and fellow B producer Sam Arkoff) were given delightful tribute by John Goodman and director Joe Dante in MATINEE in 1992.
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