Hired to determine if there is life after death, Lionel Barrett (Clive Revill), a physicist and psychic researcher, Ann (Gayle Hunnicutt), his wife, and two mediums, Florence Tanner (Pamela Franklin) and Benjamin Franklin Fischer (Roddy McDowall), investigate the extremely haunted “Hell House.”
A by-the-numbers retread of the standard ghost story, The Legend of Hell House is a dumbed-down version of The Haunting, which isn’t exactly rocket science to begin with. As in that film, four people, one being a scientist, and two being psychics, go into a haunted house to see what will happen. This has the same split of genders, and even has one woman as “the sexual” one. Where they differ is in the discernable effects of the ghosts. In The Legend of Hell House, voices mumble and plates are flying off tables from the beginning. There is so much activity, and it is taken so lightly, that I was expecting Florence would start asking spirits to turn off the lights at bedtime.
While the story shows no variation from the basic ghost story, that alone isn’t a huge problem since it is a good story. What is a problem is how incredibly dim these four people are, and how the plot can only progress as long as they keep acting stupidly. Three of the four don’t bother to get basic information on the house and the hauntings before showing up, and have to quiz Benjamin to get the details. Before venturing into a possibly deadly situation, I’d at least spend a few hours at the library. Benjamin’s slow exposition (oh, so slow) exists to spoon-feed the background to the viewer, but there are better ways to convey information. All of the characters speak in short, cryptic phrases, just to sound cool and make it more difficult to understand what they mean. Again, this is a dangerous place; would you really want to be unclear? They also split up as often as possible, choosing to sleep apart and wander into the basement alone. Some films can pull that off because the dangerous nature of the house is still uncertain, but there’s no such vagueness here. There’s been eight victims before our “heroes” even show up. Hey, it’s the ’70s; time to overcome that shyness and sleep in one room. But then, these are people that find it normal for physical object to fly about, but are shocked when it becomes dangerous. Whenever anything threatening happens, or someone acts strangely, the others panic, get angry, and blame each other. It’s obvious that the ghost is at work and they are being possessed, but no one takes that into account. Perhaps the worst case is when Lionel gets upset and his wife feels guilty after she propositions Benjamin while possessed. Ummmm, she’s possessed. Doesn’t that mean she isn’t responsible? But the stupidity goes on, such as when no one tries to restrain Florence when she is known to be psychologically deranged and deeply opposed to Lionel using his cheap-looking machine pulled from a bad ’50s space opera. Might she try and break the machine? No one else seems to think so.
I am curious about the local law. When they find a dead body, they simply bury it on the grounds. Hmmmmm. Shouldn’t they call the police? Or the coroner? Or somebody? It’s not as if they attempt to report any of the other events that would require the law to show up. Sure, they are way out in the middle of nowhere, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t time to start hiking.
It all ends in one of the least satisfying ghostly secrets on record. Not only does the mystery inspire more giggles than shrieks, but the manner of combating the ghost with the information makes the entire film a bad joke. I suppose the ending, and much of the rest of the film, could be forgiven if the whole affair was light and fun, but the filmmakers took it very seriously. The Legend of Hell House is presented as deep and horrific drama, even down to putting a note up at the beginning of the film from respected clairvoyant and psychic, Tom Crobett, that the events in the movie could happen. Is there such a thing as a respected clairvoyant and psychic? For a film that proclaims itself to be “realistic,” perhaps a bit less Hammer-type fog might have been clever.
While the cast overacts at every opportunity, Roddy McDowall is always a kick to watch and almost saves the film. Director John Hough went on to make Howling IV: The Original Nightmare, which explains a great deal about this production.