Ailing tycoon Rudolph Deutsch enlists physicist Lionel Barrett to investigate the afterlife at the Belasco House, which is believed to be haunted by the victims of "Roaring Giant" Emeric Belasco, a sadistic millionaire who revelled in acts of violence and debauchery. Barrett is accompanied by his wife, Ann; mental medium and spiritualist minister Florence Tanner; and physical medium Benjamin Fischer, the sole survivor of an investigation conducted 20 years earlier.
During the group's first night at the house, Barrett disagrees with Tanner's assertion that the house is haunted, and Fischer describes some of the house's depraved history, including a 1929 search in which 27 people were found dead, though Belasco was not among them. The group hold a séance, during which objects clatter and fall and Tanner seems to channel a spirit who threatens the group. Tanner believes that the spirit is Emeric's son, Daniel.
During another séance on the following night, Tanner manifests ectoplasm and afterwards confronts Barrett about his scepticism. After objects in the room seem to target Barrett, he accuses Tanner of harnessing the house's energy to attack him, but she insists Daniel is responsible. That night, the sexually frustrated Ann has a brief vision of an erotic statuette becoming sentient. She then drinks and reads from a book about "autoerotic phenomena". In an apparent trance, she tries to seduce Fischer and describes her vision of a drunken orgy among the three investigators and herself. Fischer breaks her trance, and she runs back to her bedroom, aghast. Tanner discovers a corpse in the cellar that she believes was Daniel. She and Fischer perform funerary rites, but her sleep is disturbed by the spirit's cries for help, and she is mauled by a black cat.
Tanner tells Fischer that she believes Emeric Belasco is orchestrating the paranormal attacks and imprisoning Daniel's soul. Barrett later witnesses Ann making further sexual advances towards Fischer. Horrified and confused by her own behavior, Ann apologizes to Barrett, and the couple affirm their mutual love. The next day, Fischer expresses doubt about Tanner's theory and suggests that she guard her mind and wait to collect payment from Deutsch, as he intends to do. Barrett tells Ann that he plans to use a machine to de-energize the house, though Fischer warns him that the house will retaliate. Tanner yields to the spirit's sexual entreaties, believing that her love will allow Daniel to cross over to the afterlife, but she screams upon seeing the spirit. Fischer watches over her as she sleeps to ensure her safety.
The next morning, Tanner is uncharacteristically flirtatious and insolent towards Fischer, but then expresses fear that Daniel is possessing her body. Fischer tells Ann and Barrett that he plans to leave the house with Tanner. Barrett says that the house is not haunted but has accumulated immense residual electromagnetic radiation from its depraved former occupants, which he intends to neutralize. Tanner is possessed by the spirit and tries to destroy the machine, but Barrett knocks her unconscious. As Barrett prepares the machine, Tanner regains consciousness and enters the house's chapel to warn Daniel to leave before the machine dislocates him. She is crushed by a falling crucifix, realizes that the spirit tricked her into believing it was Daniel, and draws a circled B with her blood before dying. Barrett's machine initially seems to clear the house's energy, but he is killed when the spirit causes machinery to explode in his face and drops a chandelier on him.
Convinced that Belasco is the sole entity haunting the house, Fischer confronts him in the chapel alongside Ann. Belasco tries to incapacitate Fischer, but Fischer subdues him with taunts about his illegitimate birth, deviancy, and fraudulent stature, the last of which Fischer deduced from Belasco's history of attacking bodily extremities. A stained-glass partition shatters, revealing a hidden door. Fischer and Ann enter to find Belasco's preserved body in a chair. Fischer discovers that Belasco used prosthetic legs to make himself taller and that he had the hidden room lined with lead to prevent future electromagnetic damage to his spirit. With the room now open, Fischer reactivates Barrett's machine and leaves the house with Ann.
Production began on 23 October 1972. The Legend of Hell House is one of only two productions of James H. Nicholson after his departure from American International Pictures – a company he had run, along with Samuel Z. Arkoff, since 1954. Nicholson died of a brain tumour on 10 December 1972, before the film's release on 15 June 1973. Nicholson's company, Academy Pictures Corporation, also released Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry through Twentieth Century Fox on 17 May 1974.
Matheson's screenplay drastically reduced some of the more extreme elements of the novel, particularly its graphic sexuality and BDSM.[3][4] It also changed the location of the events to England, whereas the novel took place at an estate in rural Maine in the United States.[5] Despite these changes, the film remains fairly close to the novel, with the script often incorporating large sections of dialogue from the original text.
The external shots of the house were filmed at Wykehurst Park, West Sussex. Mr. Deutsch's mansion in the opening sequence is Blenheim Palace in Woodstock, Oxfordshire. The interior shot of the long room is the palace's library.
The role of Belasco was played by an uncredited Michael Gough. His part consisted of a couple of recorded lines and an on-camera appearance as an embalmed corpse seated upright in a chair.
The plot of both this film and the book on which it is based, both written by Richard Matheson, have several details in common with Shirley Jackson's 1959 novel The Haunting of Hill House (and subsequent 1963 movie adaptation The Haunting) in which a party of four (some psychic, some skeptical, some British, some Americans) stay in an extremely haunted Gothic mansion house with a terrible history, for the purposes of scientific study, and all are plagued by unseen terrors.
Soundtrack
The film features a score with an electronic music bassline (with occasional woodwind and brass stabs). The score and electronic sound effects were created by Delia Derbyshire and Brian Hodgson, recorded at Hodgson's Electrophon studio in London. The soundtrack remains unavailable commercially.
Release
Critical response
Critical response to The Legend of Hell House varied. In 1976, Roger Ebert wrote in his review of Burnt Offerings, another movie about a haunted house, that "The Legend of Hell House brought out the fun in this sort of material very well."[6] In his 2002 Movie & Video Guide, Leonard Maltin gave the film three of four stars and called it "Not the usual ghost story, and certain to curl a few hairs."[7] The Time Out Company called the film disappointing, but it approved of Pamela Franklin's performance.[8]TV Guide stated that "While director John Hough does a fine job with the things-that-go-bump-in-the-night aspects of the material, he fails to breathe any life into Richard Matheson's woefully underdeveloped screenplay."[9]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 72% of 25 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.6/10.The website's consensus reads: "The Legend of Hell House makes up for its disappointing lack of outright scares with a top notch cast and a suitably macabre atmosphere."[10]
Home media
The Legend of Hell House was released on VHS cassette by CBS/Fox Video in 1985, on DVD by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment on 4 September 2001. The DVD included the theatrical trailer as a special feature.
On 26 August 2014, the Shout! Factory label Scream Factory released the film on Blu-ray. The release included a 30-minute interview with director John Hough, a commentary track by actress Pamela Franklin, stills gallery, original theatrical trailer, radio ads and reversible cover art featuring the theatrical artwork and customized artwork for the Blu-ray release. It is available online by Amazon, Apple's iTunes Store download app, Google's youtube.com and Vudu.
Related works
Matheson's screenplay was published in the 1997 collection Screamplays[11] and again in 2000 as a stand-alone text.[12]
Part of the opening sequence, featuring a black cat settling on the wall next to a gatepost, was used by Granada in the ident for its Night Time service.[16]
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