7.1 | / 10 |
Users | 5.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.6 |
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.
Starring: Pamela Franklin, Roddy McDowall, Gayle Hunnicutt, Clive Revill, Roland CulverHorror | 100% |
Supernatural | 13% |
Mystery | 5% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
The dialectic between rationalists—skeptics who aren’t about to jump at things that go bump in the night, and supernaturalists—those who are all too ready to believe in some unseen force (or forces) guiding inexplicable events—has informed many a horror film, and in fact two recent Blu-ray releases, The Quiet Ones and Oculus, exploited that very interaction. I made the point in my reviews of both of those films that I felt things might have been better had the filmmakers taken an at least somewhat ambiguous approach toward what they were portraying, leaving a question in the viewers’ minds as to whether or not true paranormal phenomena were being manifested. That very ambiguity was mined quite successfully in a film which can be seen as something of a forerunner of The Legend of Hell House, 1963’s Robert Wise adaptation of a great little Shirley Jackson chiller, The Haunting. Both The Haunting and The Legend of Hell House posit a team of researchers, including both scientists and psychics, investigating a home with a history and, just perhaps, ghosts. But where The Haunting merely hints, The Legend of Hell House out and out depicts. But you know what? When taken on its own terms, The Legend of Hell House is actually a rather enjoyable thriller, with a number of neat scares and an overall mood of oppression and angst that’s almost palpable at times. Which only goes to prove (and please don’t let anyone know I told you this) — critics’ opinions about what tends to work and not work can be easily disproven by individual examples like this. Now, films that leave no doubt in the viewer’s mind about what happened can often seem flat and uninteresting (case in point, the 1999 remake of The Haunting), but The Legend of Hell House really only pretends to be interested in the age old debate between religion and science. This is for all intents and purposes a good, old fashioned haunted house story, and on that level it works rather well most of the time.
The Legend of Hell House is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Scream Factory (an imprint of Shout! Factory) with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. In terms of damage, the elements here are in quite good condition. Unfortunately, a bit of fade and browning is evident from the 20th Century Fox logo onward, with yellows looking a bit dirty and reds looking rust colored. That said, colors are very nicely saturated if not completely accurate looking. Hough employs a number of extreme close-ups throughout the film, and fine detail is rather surprisingly strong in these moments (I've included several representative screenshots with this review). A lot of The Legend of Hell House looks soft, something that's exacerbated by soft focus and diffusion filters in some scenes. Shadow detail is negligible in some scenes, but blacks are quite convincing. Grain is quite thick at times but natural looking. Once again there's a smattering of noise in some of the darker sequences.
The Legend of Hell House is notable for its rather interesting electronic music score by Delia Derbyshire and Brian Hodgson, and it sounds nicely vibrant on the DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track included on this release. Dialogue is also very cleanly presented. There are no issues to report, and fidelity is very good to excellent throughout.
The Legend of Hell House begins with one of my all time favorite text cards which reads:
Although the story of this film is fictitious, the events depicted involving psychic phenomena are not only very much within the bounds of possibility, but could well be true.Since I never try to top Clairvoyants and Psychic Consultants to European Royalty, I'll merely add that it really doesn't matter whether or not things could "possibly" be true in The Legend of Hell House. Like any good ghost story, the proof is in the presentation, and with nice performances, moody production design and brisk direction, this film, while certainly derivative and occasionally even silly, is a lot of fun and has the requisite amount of chills. Technical merits here are generally very good, and the supplements are fine. Recommended.—Tom Corbett, Clairvoyant and Psychic Consultant to European Royalty
2011
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