Rent The Haunted House of Horror (1969)

Spoilers follow ... - The Haunted House of Horror review by NP

A haunted house can be very traumatic, but when it is ‘of Horror’ as well – you know you’re in for a bumpy ride. Sadly, that possibility is the scariest thing about this Tigon teen chiller.

Whilst the loose morals and superficial machinations of youthful Sixties’ ‘swinging London’ are engagingly handled, it seems an age before someone suggests going to ‘the old house’ to liven up a tepid evening’s entertainment.

American singing sensation Frankie Avalon is top-billed Chris, but is more of a supporting character to the excellent Richard O’Sullivan’s far more interesting Peter and Mark Wynter’s two-timing Gary – at least for the first two thirds of the 92 minute running time. The girls, who are either predatory or naïve, include Sylvia (Gina Warwick), Dorothy (Carol Dilworth) and Madge (Veronica Doran). George Sewell looks menacing as Kellett, and Dennis Price is wasted as the Inspector – a role originally envisaged for Boris Karloff (although given Karloff’s health during the late 1960s, it is difficult to imagine him in the role).

Director and writer Michael Armstrong fails to inject many scares into this, and typically of Tigon’s output at the time, the results could better be described as a fairly routine mystery than a horror (despite the premise).

Tigon films were prolific at the time. Their horror output occasionally resulted in some excellent productions, including ‘Witchfinder General (1968)’, ‘Blood on Satan’s Claw (1970)’ and ‘The Creeping Flesh (1973)’. Although the cast try their best, this is fairly standard runaround stuff which, instead of getting more intriguing as things roll on, actually becomes less engaging.