The Legend Of Hell House

The Skeletal Spotlight shines this time on:
"The Legend of Hell House" poster
(Click for hi rez)

Synopsis: "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 or 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."

Once again, I am fooled by misleading poster art. Just FYI, there is no scene wherein a woman's bloody hand holds a miniature model of the Hell House, and there is certainly no giant skull with one green eye floating over it. And I waited the whole movie to see that scene! Skunked again.

Seriously, though, that's an awesomely iconic image that really sends a chill down one's spine. Since it's so well-remembered by the public, can you tell me why, oh, why the DVD cover designer turned up his or her nose at using it? And why they substituted a seemingly random screen-grab that (A.) not only tells you nothing of the film and does not make one want to see it, but (B.) is hard to even tell what it is.

Come on, people; use the famous poster art for the DVDs of horror movies like this and stop thinking you know better, 'cause you don't. Your college degree in art and design taught you nothing. Get your nose out of your Starbucks and realise that the movie poster artists of the past put you to shame, and then get over yourself and use their stuff.

On Christmas at Hell House, it's more likely a demon walking on the roof than Santa and his reindeer.

Anyway, the 1973 release by Academy pictures, starring Pamela Franklin and Roddy McDowell, does a good job of walking the tightrope between physical and psychological causes for the haunting versus the supernatural. The near-documentary feel of the film actually adds to the dread and fear, rather then detracting from it as one might suspect.

"How much are they paying us for this again?"

"I've got a bad feeling about this."

And although the events in the film take place over the Christmas holidays, this is not a film to put on in December to cheer one up, but rather at Halloween or days thereabout. The spirit of peace and goodwill usually prevelent during the holidays doesn't penetrate these walls to the slightest degree. The atmospheric photography really bring an aura of foreboding fear that few other haunted house movies can match, much less surpass.

Being perpetually fog-shrouded should have been warning enough.

"Of course I'm not gay, where did you ever hear that rumor? By the way, that is a simply horrid outfit you're sporting. Who dressed you, the dog?"

For a great review of the movie, check out the typically-insightful post at John Morehead's typically-insightful "Theofantastique" site. With stuff like that out there, I won't even embarrass myself with doing one.

"Oh, no... how did the FBI find out about my pirated film collection?"

In case the above reference leaves you stumped, here's the story. It's quite an interesting read! Makes you appreciate the availability and low prices of films for the individual now. Poor Roddy just lived at a bad time for movie collectors.

The cat knows something, but he ain't telling. Cats are notorious for not volunteering information, and for leaping on your back when you are least expecting it.

"I'm sensing something... Flicka? Is that you?"

Below are pictures of the actual location used for filming; Wykehurst Park, near the village of Bolney, East Sussex, in England. Not exactly a place to vacation to recover from depression.

Image source

Wikipedia entry:
Wykehurst Park is an elegant 130 room 150 year old mansion located near the village of Bolney, East Sussex, in England. The house came into prominence in the early seventies when the external shots of the house were used to film the horror film, "The Legend of Hell House," a psychological horror film, where the house lends its image to the horrifying nature of the story. It is a gothic mansion with turrets and arches and conical roofs, and many architectural devices to give it the appearance of a fairytale mansion from bygone days. The large black gates are fashioned in wrought iron. Alongside these gates, massive griffins with spread wings, perch on either side, and guard the entrance to the property which leads through a pebble drive to a grassed patio surrounding it, descending to a garden laid to lawn at the back. If you are able to get right up to the French windows you will just be able to view a grand, wide, polished wood staircase beginning the passage to the numerous rooms and accommodation upstairs.

Wykehurst Place, Bolney, West Sussex, England, UK

Also featured in "Hammer's House of Horrors" TV series, as well as other movies.

P.S. Don't forget to check out my other blog: "Monster Memories!" The latest post recalls those scary "Lost In Space" monsters.

Prey For The Dead

The Skeletal Spotlight shines this time on:

My home-made movie "Prey For The Dead"

Back in the summer of 1991, a friend and I took my single VHS camcorder out on location in several cool places and made our "big 15-minute epic" horror movie. We filmed in two historic cemeteries; the credits were filmed in Rose Hill in Macon, GA and the first stalking scene in Bonaventure in Savannah, GA. That was the same cemetery where later they filmed scenes in "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil." We only had one battery, so we had to film quickly and with as few takes as possible.

The entrance to Boanventure, seen in the movie.

The above area can be seen in the background as the truck is driving down the cemetery road.

The monument where our hero visits before the stalker appears.

Rose Hill Cemetery in Macon, GA where the credits were filmed. Awesome location!

It was all for fun, and there was no special lighting, costumes or effects. We just made it up as we went along, except for the general idea: a man has been having nightmares of being stalked by a stranger in a skull mask, and he's now in therapy. As he relates the dreams, we see them as he did. Keep in mind that all of the sound was dubbed in later, we didn't use any of the sound from the camera. Since it was made on VHS and dubbed to a tape editor then back to video, the picture is not great, and the Youtube compression makes it ever fuzzier. There are some tape wrinkle artifacts as well. It's very amatuerish, so don't expect too much... but I enjoy watching it, so you might.

The statue that the main title is over in the movie.

Another Rose Hill tombstone you will see used in the credits. Can't get a bad angle here!

The cloth pullover skull mask was a neat item that fit over your head like a stocking, and was a tight fit, giving the impression of makeup more than a rubber mask might. Since there were only two of us, when one was in the shot, the other had to film. I play the stalker and my friend plays the hapless victim, but the names on the credits are nonsense monikers made up to protect the guilty. Hope you enjoy it; we had fun making it!

Here's part one; I had to cut it into two sections for YouTube upload.

Well, of course you noticed the Evil Dead-influenced camera shots... I love doing that "camera on the ground" kind of movement. There's even a quick shot of a building I videotaped while in Miami thrown in there for the location of the psychiatrist's office exterior.

The second half, available below, was filmed in the mountainous terrain and caves at Grandview State Park in West Virginia.

Part two, the shocking conclusion of "Prey For The Dead."

And there you have it, the results of a vacation 17 years ago spent running around filming like mad. I know I could do better today with the digital cameras, PC editing, etc., but I'm not as inclined to don a skull mask in public as I once was. Maybe I'm maturing... maybe even growing up, perhaps?

Nah. Just getting older and more tired, is all. The cemeteries are too hot and the hills are too steep.

The Gates of Hell...Again!

The Skeletal Spotlight shines this time on:
The Gates of Hell video box
(Click images to enlarge.)

Back in the day, the early 80's to be more precise about which day we're talking about, certain video releases came out in oversized boxes. These make good collector's items today. The only example I have of this is of my favorite Fulci film, "The Gates of Hell" as it was known back in the aforementioned day. Sure, we have the DVD now, with the original title "City of the Living Dead," but to us aging gorehounds it's still known as "Gates."

Since yesterday's post was such fun, and so popular, I took out my camera and snapped these images of the front and back of the box, just in case you might like to see it. And I took out the DVD and grabbed some 20 or so frames from it to share some of my favorite images from the movie. In case you haven't yet seen it, I hope these images will pique your interest and cause you to seek it out.. and if you have for the umpteenth time as I have, then I'm sure you'll enjoy seeing them again.

The misty cemetery scene sets the foreboding tone for the film. The music during this scene really enhances the mood as the disturbed priest searches for just the right limb.

The mysterious tombstone that seems to be the center of the brewing trouble. It's never explained, but one gets the impression that the priest is aware of the prophetic nature of the incantation and is fulfilling it. At the very least the headstone engraver made a few extra dollars on all that extra text.

Obviously having missed a lot of sleep, or with the ragweed pollen allergy is kicking in, our poor disillusioned and backslidden priest chooses just the right spot to offer the final unholy sacrifice. His blasphemous act will open the local Gate of Hell and empower him to act as leader of the restless dead.


Amidst the moans and groans of the rising dead, which creepily include a crying baby, the first corpse to rise is the one only covered under leaves in a slight depression. Still, the image is powerful and is the one that most of the international posters were inspired by.


A chilling scene as the prematurely buried and traumatized Mary is first seen through the pickaxe-pried wood. It really give you a horrible feeling as she is revealed and screams!

The Famous Gut-Barfing Scene:

Confronted by the ghost of the undead priest, a necking couple become the first victims.

It starts with blood coming from her eyes, a terrific effect. I don't know how she kept from blinking the whole time! I'm assuming that the "blood" is being pumped in from the sides, the tubes covered by her hair. The same effect happens at the end of the movie again, and it's even more convincing.


After some bloody foam, the first batch of intestines begins to slowly exit her mouth. Actress Daniele Doria's own intestinal fortitude is stronger than mine, having stuffed the sheep guts in there for the scene. The long-suffered actress was "killed" in interesting ways by Fulci in three of his other movies. What a trooper!


The guts continue to slowly unfold and drop out as the gagging and squelching sounds enhance the effect. If you aren't making some of your own gagging sounds by this point, you've either got a stomach of steel or you've seen it too many times.


Once the backup is cleared, the larger intestines and organs slide out rapidly. They are accompanied by your last meal as you watch and listen. Accomplished by using a dummy head, the final exodus of what appears to be the stomach is usually what sends my first-time guest viewers running to the bathroom.


Her aghast and sickened boyfriend gets a brain squeeze applied. Below is a YouTube video of the scene, for your viewing enjoyment! WARNING: if you have never seen it, have a vomit bag nearby! Not for the squeamish, as they say.

This right here is one of the most disturbing zombie images on film. The same girl that lost her innards has come back to haunt her little brother. Talk about cold!

Besides the obvious New York locations, some of the movie exteriors were also filmed in Savannah, GA during July and August of 1980. What really, really irks me is that I was actually living in Savannah at the time! If only I had known. I mentioned this on the last post, but this time I have pictures from the movie scene and closer location pics to match, so it's not a repeat of the same info.

This scene was filmed on the lower level of Factor's Walk in Savannah. It's between the bluff and the River Street buildings. Notice the archways to the right which lead to underground storage areas, now used for parking. Compare to the picture below...

This postcard shows almost the exact angle of the first scene!

The photo above of the same location shows where the boy first ran onto the street under the bridges after coming down the steps, which are on the right around the corner of the building, which is actually the Courthouse. He ran up the street under the bridges. You can see the same archways on the right that were visible in the first photo.

Above is a reverse angle after coming down the stairs, and starting the run up the street. The bottom of the Courthouse building in the last photo can be seen in the background.

The second bridge in the above photo is where the zombie pictured below leaps down from.

After athletically leaping from the bridge (these zombies are in excellent shape), the former boyfriend of Miss Oral Evisceration accosts the innocent boy. Michele Soavi played the character, and he went on later to direct and star in other horror movies.


A maggot storm, completely unforeseen by the Weather Service, blows in through a window, prompting more puking. The noisy larvae stick in clumps to our heroes, as if glued on... which they were. I'm just wondering where they got that many live maggots! I'm betting they were meal worms or something, bought at a local wholesale bait supply company.


There's that girl again. She scares me.


A brain tissue sample is painlessly extracted by Sandra, one of our former heroines. Painless for her, that is. It seems quite excruciating to our reporter, however. And who knew rats dig brain food?


"And when they got home, there, on the passenger-side door handle... there hung... a BLOODY HOOK!!!" The undead priest always illuminated his face from below with his flashlight for spooky effect.


Setting the department store manniquins on fire didn't require massive amounts of very visible protective clothing as the stuntmen did.


The entire world is destroyed. The End. At least, that's what is inferred... reality fractures and breaks down as the membrane between Earth and the Beyond is ruptured by the passage of the priest. Ri-i-i-ight. In reality, Fulci credits the unfathomable ending to editor Vincenzo Tomassi, who came up with the reality-cracking scene after the original footage was accidentally destroyed. I'd just be happy knowing what the last scene was supposed to be! What was so horrifying? As with how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Pop, the world may never know.

Look out, "Dunwich!" Here I come!

Newsflash: I have only recently learned where the opening cemetery scene was filmed in Savannah. As soon as I get there and take some photos, I will post them on this blog and I'll report every goosebump I get. I'll try to also take some video and post it as well. It should be very soon!

Well, that's it. I enjoyed scanning through the movie collecting these images, and it made me want to sit down some dark night soon and watch it again. Hope it did the same for you!