I've watched this movie five times since I got it on DVD, and I still don't know what it's about. Now, you'd think a horror movie called "The Haunting of Hell House" would center on a haunted house, but this movie doesn't focus on any one person or location like a good haunted house movie would. Based on a story by playwright Henry James, the movie stars actor Andrew Bowen as New England college student James Farrow whose wife, maybe girlfriend, dies due to a botched abortion, and he begins to see her in dreams and hallucinations. He is soon drawn to the empty house they once explored in their youth, but now, it turns out that it belongs to a Professor Ambrose, played by the talented Michael York from the British stage. Farrow pursues York's help to rid himself of the ghost he believes is haunting him and scratching him up, but whether it's in his mind or just his guilt is never explained. Meanwhile, Ambrose is similarly being haunted by the ghost of his dead wife who refuses to let him sell the house. Neither man believes the ghost of the other one exists. Meanwhile, Farrow is being hunted by the police for his dead girlfriend found in his apartment. He escapes to Ambrose for protection, but the old man is dying and can't help him. Farrow flees to the house to ask for forgiveness from his girlfriend's ghost, but discovers Ambrose's ghost isn't real after all. It turns out he's being systemically poisoned by his angry daughter and Farrow drinks the poisoned wine from her for her father to be with his bride. In the end, Farrow dies in jail next to the phony doctor who botched his girlfriend's abortion. Is this a good movie? Uh, no. It's long, it drags on, it's confusing and the name of the movie is misleading. This is not a haunted house movie. This isn't even a horror movie, and trying to make it look like one may be its worse trait. However, it does have some beautiful scenery for what I speculate is supposed to be Turn-of-the-Century New England. Overall, it's not exactly a movie that can live up to the hype of its name.

Great idea, fascinating plot line but the end was such a let down.SPOILER/ USER RANTright near the end Ghost was saying drink the wine, actual lady don't drink the wine. Then he drinks the drinks the wine and suffers a horrible death. HEY STUPID SLAP THE WINE OUT OF HIS HANDWhat is wrong with the writers. They make a character who is smart enough and determined enough to fake her own death, then haunt her own father, and then to slowly poison him. Not have enough "balls (metaphorically speaking)" when James is about to drink the poison wine, which was meant for her father. Does she not stop him.BAD WRITING.I would have loved for the dirty doctor to get charged with miss Sarah's murder, because it was his incompetence which killed her not James's fault. James might have been guilty of getting her pregnant and not taking responsibility and owning up to it being his. But not Sarah's death.

This dreadful movie suffered more than anything from poor production work and the slip-shod work of the extras.It's hard to imagine that a hand to act badly but at one stage a hand appeared on screen (deliberately) and managed it. It was like watching a hand shaped Madonna appear on screen and ruin the movie.I would never watch this movie again, I watched it and another couple of turkeys, The unlucky leprechaun, warlock 3 and knocking on death's door. All of which suffered a similar affliction, whether it be an implausible scream and wooden man in crowd or obvious stunt double i am sure there is a common theme.Whoever is behind this would do well to give it up, take a job in sales and hope to one day hit the heady heights of their own car parking space rather than director chair.Good riddance

Roger Corman produced, but not really typical of Corman, yet there's a bit of the style of the old Corman/Poe/Vincent Price series from the 60s here. I'd say that the title would be about the only thing "Cormanesque" about this in regards to making it interesting commercially, to kind of cash in on the same-time remakes of "Haunting" and "House on Haunted Hill". Other than that, it's a nice, yet small, psychological thriller, with some plot elements influenced by The Tell-Tale Heart. York gives a nice and slightly hammy performance as the tortured old professor, and the others are more than adequate. It will keep the interest of those who don't mind a gradual build and don't care for the lack of real terror and/or gruesome displays of killing. There's some violence and slight gore, but nothing gratuitous. Nothing here ever gets beyond being just a grade more than mediocre, say about B-, EXCEPT the really nice use of the Irish countryside as a substitute for old New England, which is an A grade. Nothing grand, but better than average.