The Legend Of Hell House (1973)

A team consisting of a physicist, his wife, a young female psychic and the only survivor of the previous visit are sent to the notorious Hell House to prove/disprove survival after death. Previous visitors have either been killed or gone mad, and it is up to the team to survive a full week in isolation, and solve the mystery of the Hell House. 

The Legend of Hell House is a 1973 British horror film directed by John Hough and starring Pamela Franklin, Roddy McDowall, Clive Revill, and Gayle Hunnicutt. The screenplay was written by Richard Matheson based on his own novel Hell House.

Four people with alleged extrasensory powers are called upon to spend a weekend in a supposedly haunted house, to either prove or disprove the presence of ghosts. Roddy McDowall has been in the house before, and refuses to treat the possibility of paranormal activity lightly; scientist Clive Revill believes that he can trace the happenings to rational explanations involving electric current; Pamela Franklin is convinced that, if spirits exists, she will be able to communicate with them.

For the sake of your sanity, pray it isn't true!

 This was a pretty good little film and it has everything a haunted house tale should have. It really serves up some decent scares and maintains a very creepy atmosphere throughout. Creepy sound effects and eerie music help keep up the mood and director John Hough shoots the film from weird angles keeping you off balance.

Is someone in my bed?

We don't need to see the horror up front, it's better when we can just feel or hear it. Little incidents help fuel the fire, a mad cat, a séance, ectoplasm, suspicious noises, eroticism and a little possession.
The interior of the house itself it perfect. The colors are simple and dulled from age, the place is full of dust and cobwebs, and, remarkably, there are plenty of moments where the old house is actually silent.  Silence is good.  The calm before the storm indeed.  Every actor and actress in this film puts in a solid performance, and therefore every character has an appropriate effect on the audience.

You can't solve it. It can not be solved. You're gonna die!

The actors all performed excellently as well.  Their grim visages and soft British accents really fit well with the cold, dark scenery of the film. Roddy McDowall's performance is outstanding. Pamela Franklin's performance was also very good. 

The Film never succumbs to cheesy tactics. " The Legend of Hell House " is an intelligent and very satisfying haunted house thriller. Check it out.

This house... It knows we're here.

Trivia:
Early in the film, in her and her husband's bedroom, Ann Barrett is seen holding the novel "Sentimental Education" by 19th century French author Gustave Flaubert. The novel was no doubt deliberately chosen for her to hold by the filmmakers since much of the novel is about passion, sex, and desire, making it fit in well with the highly sexualized and erotic nature of much of the film. It also foreshadows her later scenes and hints at her repressed sexuality.

The unsettling tales of Emeric Belasco's acts of debauchery and evil at Hell House were loosely based on stories involving occultist Aleister Crowley. 

Writer Richard Matheson toned down the graphic violence and more intense sexual scenes of his novel to give the screenplay for the film a more brooding atmosphere.

The old books that Ann Barrett sees lined up in the cabinet are titled, from left to right; Obsessive Acts And Religious Practices by Sigmund Freud, The Worship of Priapus by Richard Payne Knight, The Psychology of Sex by H. H. Elliot, Sin And Sex, Conation Volition, Sex And Celibacy by T. Long, The Anatomy of Abuses by Phillip Stubs, Phallic Worship and Auto Erotic Phenomena In Adolescence by K. Menzies. 

What did he do to make this house so evil, Mr. Fischer?

While the film was released in the US with a P.G. rating, in the UK it curiously received an X rating at first.

The film was in development at American International Pictures. It was given to James H. Nicholson when he left AIP to become an independent producer. It turned out to be his only post-AIP production, as he was stricken by a brain tumor, and died shortly thereafter. 

The original novel was set in New England, with an American team of psychic investigators. The storyline was changed, to fit the movie's production in England, with British actors playing the investigators.

Actor Michael Gough spent a very brief time on the production, which is why he is uncredited. Aside from his short appearance in the films finale, Gough's only other contributions to the film were a few recorded lines of dialog. 

Richard Matheson wanted Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor to star in this film. 

I get the impression that you know quite a bit about Belasco. Do you mind sharing it with us?