Movie review - "House on Haunted Hill" (1959) **1/2

One of the most famous of the spend-a-night-in-a-haunted-house-in-exchange-for-money films - sometimes referred to as the original one in the genre, but variations on this theme have appeared for years beforehand (eg Fog Island, And Then There Were None). Vincent Price is perfectly cast as the millionaire who's arranged the night, and the rest of the cast is strong, inc Richard Long and Elisha Cook Jnr. There's nasty wives and people with gambling problems, skeletons in the closet (literally - one not very convincing), and a tub of acid out the back. William Castle is better known for his gimmicks than his visual flair but there are some very effective moments here - the opening sequences where we just hear screams (all the screaming work is top notch, incidentally), people jumping out of corridors. Main problem for me plot wise is the last third or so just concentrates on three characters and ignores the others, even though they're still around.