Protraph Lack of good storyline.

Lucybespro It is a performances centric movie

Mabel Munoz Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Yash Wade Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

lonchaney20 I'm hardly the first to say it, but memory is a funny thing. I taped this film off of TCM several years ago, and while the film largely struck me as average, the ending haunted me so profoundly that it left a lasting impact on my own work as a writer. I later imported a DVD copy from the UK on the strength of that final scene alone, but I kept putting off re-watching it due to the weaknesses of the story as a whole. Perhaps, too, there was some trepidation at seeing the ending again. I had a built it up so much in my mind that surely the last scene could never live up to my memory. Finally I cast aside my doubts and, having forgotten just about everything except the finale (and the fact that someone gets stabbed in the penis - ouch!), gave it a second shot.So much has happened between my first viewing and my second that the experienced proved to be profoundly different. I've become much more receptive to different kinds of cinema - so receptive, in fact, that people probably don't trust my opinions. That ship usually sails the minute you start recommending Andy Milligan movies. Anyway, I really enjoyed the film this time. Essentially it's the story of some bored twenty-somethings (and Frankie Avalon, for some strange reason) leaving a lame party and going to check out an allegedly haunted house. Over the course of the night, one of their number gets murdered, and with only one possible entrance to the house having been locked, the only explanation is that one of them is the culprit.Writer/director Michael Armstrong initially intended to make a much more psychedelic horror movie starring his pal David Bowie. The producers balked on Bowie (a move they no doubt came to regret) and forced Armstrong to take a more conventional approach. Even in its diluted form its still an impressive piece of work, with witty dialogue delivered by a capable cast (even Avalon seems shockingly at home in Swinging London), moody cinematography, a great location, and some well executed (and surprisingly bloody) murders. If the film makes one potentially fatal mistake, it's in spending too much time outside of the creepy abandoned house. Within the dusty ruin Armstrong and cinematographer Jack Atcheler are able to conjure an atmosphere reminiscent of the Italian Gothics. After the first murder, though, we spend a great deal of time back in the city as our heroes attempt to go on with their lives. Clearly the home is where the heart is with this movie, but Armstrong (or Gerry Levy, who rewrote much of the script at AIP's insistence) can only come up with a flimsy pretext to get the characters back there.As for that ending? Of course it let me down to some extent. My mind had warped it over the years, and in a way my conception of it fused with the stories I myself had been inspired to write after watching it. Looking at it more objectively, though, the sympathy the filmmakers have for their tragic killer still strikes a chord with me, and the final image is still strangely poignant. Perhaps the film isn't an exceptional murder mystery - more than a few clichés are accounted for - but it's nonetheless an entertaining and skillfully directed one. Certainly it's no classic, but it's far better than its 4.5 rating on IMDb would lead you to believe.

BA_Harrison 60s beach movie sensation Frankie Avalon stars as Chris, one of a group of crazy, swinging London 'kids' who decide to split their dullsville house party for a more atmospheric locale, a run-down, supposedly haunted mansion in the countryside. Rather stupidly, the group decide to hold a séance at the stroke of midnight, after which one of their number is brutally killed in a frenzied knife attack. Is the killer the ghost of the maniac who once lived there, or has one of the friends flipped their wig, man?Haunted House of Horror is, for the most part, very tedious viewing thanks to its formulaic plot, bland dialogue and wooden performances from a cast that, with only a couple of exceptions, look too old for their roles (Avalon was pushing thirty!!!). A little fun can be had from the film's groovy sixties fashion—floral shirts, cravats, mini-dresses and go-go boots—but the film's only real selling point as far as I am concerned are a couple of surprisingly bloody deaths, particularly the last one in which the victim gets a kukri (a Nepalese knife with a large curved blade) rammed into his crotch. Nasty!

kim-de-windter i really enjoyed this movie.why?because it is FUN to watch. movies don't have to be deeply meaningful or classy or poetic..more important than all that is that it is fun to watch.i don't mean comedy-funny, i mean a flow, a structure and a story that doesn't make you snooze. (maybe some actors that actually can act, but thats a dying breed)this movie is entertaining and fun, sure the story is thin and the middle drags a little, but it really doesn't matter..you got frankie avalon, a dark old house and some outrageous 6oties hairdos, what more can you want?

Maz Murdoch (asda-man) I recorded "Haunted House Of Horror" because it sounded like a fun 60's slasher that was so bad it was good! It actually turned out to be a dull, messy slasher that left a lot to be desired.So we're introduced to a bunch of sixties past-its acting like kids at a party when they're actually in there 30's by the looks of things and one of the gets bored, so they decide to go to an even more boring old house to go ghost hunting! Are we actually supposed to like these characters? There's about 8 of them so we can't get any character development because we don't recognise who half of the are! In the haunted house someone gets murdered in quite an amusing way, blood flies everywhere (well I say blood, more like a can of Dulex) and instead of getting out to call the police, they decide to bury the body in case it's one of them. What a bunch of idiots! This is a daft story that's a bit of a mess really. We hardly get any action, but more boring talk, personally I think the whole film should've been set in this house, but we get out and then they stupidly go back and it turns into a who's-dunnit when it was bloody obvious who'd done it in the first place! Shock reveal? I don't think so.Uninvolving, uninspiring, unimaginative. I wouldn't bother, it's not even fun, I lost interest very quickly and I usually find these old slashers that are so bad they're good quite entertaining. Not this one though :(