House on Haunted Hil (1959)

I have always enjoyed House on Haunted Hill.  Another great black and white Vincent Price movie.  I have have watched it several times.  I am fan of paranormal or ghost story style horror movies more then any other.  Slasher is probably the least fav of all. 

A man and his wife throws a party for five guests who have never met him or each other.  He will pay them each $10,000 if they stay the whole night a haunted house.

Even though the effects are little off by today's standards.  I still get a little chill here and there in the movie.  Not all the events can be explained by the duplicity of the wife and her co-conspirator.  And I must say, even though the caretaker's blind wife is supposedly explained, she still "haunts" better then many ghosts.

This movie was remade in 1999 using a building that once housed an insane asylum but it was not nearly as good.

Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972)

Watched Dr. Phibes Rises Again the other night as a follow up to The Abominable Dr. Phibes.  Production and script quality were not up to the first one.  It was a more outlandish tale, more improbable with much more zany thrown in then the first one.

Still it is Vincent Price and the character is a good one.  So the movie was enjoyable.  Only one real mistake I saw was when the Doctor spoke while not connected to his megaphonagraph. (my word for it).  But exactly where did the giant fan come from?  And the green glowing rocks that were not green at the beginning?

The music wasn't nearly as good and there wasn't any Gothic organ music when he played.  Didn't sound like an organ at all.

Vulnania returns as well.  She wasn't killed or I am guessing that she actually can't be.  Apparently she is some sort of spirit creature that the good Doctor can summon.  She was not played by Virgina North but by Valli Kemp and while nice, didn't have the same presence, beauty and eerie grace as North's Vulnania.

But the ending was wonderful.  Dr Phibes poling his raft across the River of Life (or the River of Styx) singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow.  Which would not have come out at the time the movie was placed in.  But had been out when the movie itself was made.

Anyway.  While not as good as the first, it still was fun.