House on Haunted Hill (1959)

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In April of last year, the guys sat down to watch the 1999 remake of The House on Haunted Hill. Their responses to it were mixed. So for this year's Halloween marathon (dubbed as The Price is Right Halloween Marathon by Jake), it seemed appropriate that they should watch the original 1959 William Castle version, starring Vincent Price and an ensemble cast of vaguely familiar faces, some of which are very punchable.

And booze. Lots of booze.

Frederick Loren (Price) is throwing a birthday party for his wife, Annabelle (Carol Ohmart), at an Andrew Lloyd Wright-designed house he rented for the occasion. It's a pretty unconventional party, in that the five guests Frederick invited do not know him or his wife, and also his wife hates him and has tried at least once in the past to poison him to death. Oh, and the house is supposedly haunted. So you know a good time is going to be had!

Among the guests is Watson Pritchard (Elisha Cook), who owns the house, and he takes everyone around for a tour, taking special care to show them the pool of acid under the floor of the basement. Apparently, it was installed so a previous renter who made wine could shove people into it who didn't care for his product. Pritchard tells everyone that the house is haunted, prompting two of the guest--Lance (Richard Long) and Nora (Carolyn Craig)--to hang back after the group leaves the basement so the two of them can investigate further. Immediately, Lance locks himself in a closet and gets knocked out, and Nora screams bloody murder when she sees what she believed to be a ghost.

Marty! We've got to go back...to the FUTURE!

Back upstairs, Frederick explains to everyone why he invited them and how he will give anybody who stays the entire night ten thousand dollars. He also passes out guns as party favors. He really wants someone to die, apparently.

Nora comes running in and tells everyone that Lance is missing in the basement. She also tells them about the "ghost" she saw. They all follow her back down there and find Lance in the closet he went into, unconscious on  the floor. when they wake him up, he explains that he didn't see who hit him, and Nora starts freaking out, so everyone goes back upstairs, where Dr. Trent (Alan Marshal) treats the bump on Lance's head and Nora's breakdown continues as she demands to go home,and everyone else freshens their drinks.

Booze: It's what's for dinner!

Frederick attempts to allay Nora's fears by explaining that the "ghost"she saw was actually the caretaker's (Howard Hoffman) blind wife (Leona Anderson), just as they both appear at the room's entrance. Their appearance doesn't help their case,and Nora continues to say she wants to leave. The decision is taken away from her, however, when the caretakers leave before Frederick can explain to everyone that they can leave with the caretakers before midnight if they don't want to stay. Whoops.

From there, things start going downhill immediately. Nora tells Lance something tried to strangle her and leave her for dead. Lance thinks this is great, because whatever it was--the both believe it may be Frederick--will think she's dead and leave her alone. In the meantime, Lance and Dr. Trent start poking around, trying to find clues, when they hear a scream. They find Annabelle hanging from a noose in the hallway upstairs, but they don't think it was suicide; instead, they suspect Frederick, which is not really a reach, as they had all seen and heard the two of them arguing.

For his part, Pritchard decides to guard all the booze by keeping it safe in his belly.

Determined to make sure no more people die, Lance and Dr. Trent tell everyone to stay in their rooms with their guns at the ready, should the killer decide to visit. In her room, Nora sees the ghost of Annabelle outside her window, and a rope comes through it and tries to strangle her. However, she yells "NO!" at it until it goes away. Then she turns around and immediately runs out the door, eventually making her way to the basement.

Dr. Trent and Frederick split up and search the house. Lance, for his part, leaves his room and finds a secret room where,once again, he gets trapped. This guy is about useless. Dr. Trent meets up with Annabelle, who is not only not dead, but is also plotting with him to kill Frederick because Dr. Trent is diddling her pooter. Their plan involves getting Nora so worked up that she shoots anybody who comes near her, and then making sure that the one person who comes hear her is Frederick. It's foolproof!

And get this: It actually works! Frederick works his way to the basement, where Nora has run from the "ghost" of Annabelle. As he walks in, she turns and shoots him. She runs out, and Trent comes in to get rid of the body by dropping it in the acid pit. Annabelle comes in shortly after to make sure the deed was done, and she is confronted by a skeleton waling toward her!

Say, baby...Come her often?

Is it the ghost of Frederick? Is it one of the other people who have died there? And what happened to Lance? Will Pritchard run out of booze and tear a hole through the wall to get outside so he can find more? And is Nora nuts or what? Also, what the hell? You'll have to tune in to find out!

Jake liked Vincent Price better in this than in the last movie because he was more...Vincent Price-y. He was also deeply impressed by the skeleton special effects. They are SO realistic! His one complaint is the lack of actual haunting in this haunted house movie. Not a lot of ghosts happening.

Derek is really worried about Pritchard's liver. This dude is constantly knocking back the booze. A few times, he even grabs for the bottle as Frederick is waving it around while he explains the rules of the evening. It's a little unnerving.

So get boozed up, lock all the doors, and check out this week's episode!