House of Mystery | |
---|---|
Directed by | Vernon Sewell |
Screenplay by | Vernon Sewell |
Based on | play L'Angoisse by Celia de Vilyars and Pierre Mills |
Produced by | Leslie Parkyn Julian Wintle |
Starring | Nanette Newman |
Cinematography | Ernest Steward |
Edited by | John Trumper |
Music by | Stanley Black |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Anglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors (UK) |
Release date |
|
Running time | 56 minutes |
Country | UK |
Language | English |
House of Mystery is a 1961 British supernatural mystery film. It was based on a play director Vernon Sewell had filmed three times before The Medium. [1] [2] It was known in Germany as Das Landhaus des Dr. Lemming ("The Country House of Dr. Lemming"), and because of its compact running time, aired in the U.S. as an episode of the TV series "Kraft Mystery Theatre". [3]
A pair of newlyweds visit an old cottage for sale in the country, and hear the housekeeper's account of its macabre history. The previous owners had been disturbed by paranormal activity, and on calling in a medium, the ghost was identified as an eccentric and vengeful scientist, once resident in the cottage. The scientist was obsessed with electricity, and when his unfaithful wife and her lover attempted to murder him, he responded by electrifying the living room floor and fixtures, and challenging the couple to escape. [4]
Barbara Shelley was an English film and television actress. She appeared in more than a hundred films and television series. She was particularly known for her work in horror films, notably Village of the Damned; Dracula, Prince of Darkness; Rasputin, the Mad Monk and Quatermass and the Pit.
The Blood Beast Terror is a 1968 British horror film directed by Vernon Sewell and starring Peter Cushing, Robert Flemyng and Wanda Ventham. It was released in the UK by Tigon in February 1968, and in the United States by Pacemaker Pictures on a double-bill with Slaughter of the Vampires (1962).
Bloodbath at the House of Death is a 1984 British comedy horror film directed by Ray Cameron and starring the comedian Kenny Everett, Pamela Stephenson and Vincent Price. It is an over-the-top spoof loosely inspired by The Amityville Horror and other horror films from the same period.
The Reptile is a 1966 British horror film made by Hammer Film Productions. It was directed by John Gilling, and starred Noel Willman, Jacqueline Pearce, Ray Barrett, Jennifer Daniel, and Michael Ripper.
The Pit and the Pendulum is a 1961 horror film directed by Roger Corman, starring Vincent Price, Barbara Steele, John Kerr, and Luana Anders. The screenplay by Richard Matheson was loosely inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's 1842 short story of the same name. Set in sixteenth-century Spain, the story is about a young Englishman who visits a forbidding castle to investigate his sister's mysterious death. After a series of horrific revelations, apparently ghostly appearances and violent deaths, the young man becomes strapped to the titular torture device by his lunatic brother-in-law during the film's climactic sequence.
The Screaming Skull is a 1958 independently made American black-and-white horror film, produced by John Kneubuhl and directed by Alex Nicol, starring John Hudson, Peggy Webber, Russ Conway, Tony Johnson, and Nicol. The Screaming Skull marked Nicol's directorial debut; he decided to try it because he felt that he was not acting in the roles which he wanted. The film was distributed by American International Pictures as a double feature in different markets with either Earth vs. the Spider or Terror from the Year 5000.
Horror films in Mexico form part of cinema of the country.
A Place of One's Own is a 1945 British film directed by Bernard Knowles. An atmospheric ghost story based on the 1940 novel of the same title by Osbert Sitwell, it stars James Mason, Barbara Mullen, Margaret Lockwood, Dennis Price and Dulcie Gray. Mason and Mullen are artificially aged to play the old couple. It was one of the cycle of Gainsborough Melodramas.
Ghost Ship is a 1952 British second feature thriller film directed by Vernon Sewell and starring Dermot Walsh and Hazel Court. It was written by Vernon Sewell and Philip Thornton. This was one of four attempts by Vernon Sewell to adapt and film the Pierre Mills and Celia de Vilyars Grand Guignol stage play L'Angoisse.
Jigsaw is a 1962 British black and white crime film directed by Val Guest and starring Jack Warner and Ronald Lewis. The screenplay was by Guest based on the 1959 police procedural novel Sleep Long, My Love by Hillary Waugh, with the setting changed from the fictional small town of Stockford, Connecticut, to Brighton, Sussex, while retaining the names and basic natures of its two police protagonists and most of the other characters.
Vernon Campbell Sewell was a British film director, writer, producer and, briefly, an actor.
Burke & Hare is a 1972 horror film directed by Vernon Sewell and starring Derren Nesbitt, Harry Andrews, and Glynn Edwards. It is based on the true story of the Burke and Hare murders, and was the last film to be directed by Sewell.
The Snake Woman is a low budget black-and-white 1961 British horror film directed by Sidney J. Furie and starring Susan Travers and John McCarthy. It was produced by George Fowler. The film is set in a small English village at the turn of the 20th century. It tells the story of Atheris, a young woman who has the power to transform from human to cobra, and the Scotland Yard detective sent to investigate a series of deaths, unusual because all the victims died after being bitten by snakes that are not native to the UK.
The House in Marsh Road, known on American television as Invisible Creature, is a 1960 British horror suspense film produced by Maurice J. Wilson, directed by Montgomery Tully and starring Tony Wright, Patricia Dainton and Sandra Dorne. The plot centres on a benevolent poltergeist in a country home which protects a woman from her homicidal husband. It may be one of the first films to use the word 'poltergeist' in reference to a spirit or ghost. The film was never released to theatres in the US, and instead went straight to television.
The Man in the Back Seat is a 1961 British second feature crime film, directed by Vernon Sewell and starring Derren Nesbitt and Keith Faulkner. The film is based on an Edgar Wallace story.
Martin Miller, born Johann Rudolph Müller, was a Czech-Austrian character actor. He played many small roles in British films and television series from the early 1940s until his death. He was best known for playing eccentric doctors, scientists and professors, although he played a wide range of small, obscure roles—including photographers, waiters, a pet store dealer, rabbis, a Dutch sailor and a Swiss tailor. On stage he was noted in particular for his parodies of Adolf Hitler and roles as Dr. Einstein in Arsenic and Old Lace and Mr. Paravicini in The Mousetrap.
L'Angoisse is a French play by Pierre Mills and Celia de Vilyars. The film rights to it were bought by Vernon Sewell who filmed it four times: The Medium (1934), Latin Quarter (1945), Ghost Ship (1952) and House of Mystery (1961).
The Perfect Husband is a 2014 independent Italian horror film written and directed by Lucas Pavetto. It stars Bret Roberts, Gabriella Wright, Carl Wharton, Tania Bambaci, Philippe Reinhardt, and Daniel Vivian.
Midnight ghost shows were traveling stage shows that originated in the United States during the Great Depression. The shows were influenced by the stage magic traditions that preceded them, and typically incorporated illusions; simulated séances; interactivity between a host—often called a "ghostmaster"—or performers and the audience; a "blackout" sequence in which the theater would go completely dark; and horror film screenings before or after the show.