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You wait for the film to finally kick into gear and then suddenly it’s over. The slightly growing mystery turns into a murder plot and the viewer, expecting a scary horror movie, instead gets a crime thriller with a point seen before in television crime series. It’s appropriate for the given setting; there is no spooky gothic castle situated deep in the mountains. Rather, we find ourselves in a white, modern house on a hill above a luminous city. The actors and characters are OK, the screenplay is refined and the film has one great scare, but it also has a few jokes that are hackneyed by today’s standards and a literally ridiculous “would-be terrifying” climax. The House on Haunted Hill is skilfully filmed, but it lacks ideas. And unlike some similar horror movies of its time (The Haunting), it hasn’t aged well. (21.06.2003)

Although William Castle was better known for his ability to attract an audience into cinemas and then play with their nerves in various ways, his films aren’t just money machines. Each one of them has its hidden magic. House on Haunted Hill offers a thrilling experience in an unusual modern gothic gown, a phenomenal Vincent Price and, what’s more, will properly scare you. Castle was clearly a jump scare pioneer at a time when horror films could still do without them. Where did those days go? (06.06.2018)