One of the best haunted house films, sure its a bit dated but so are many of the classic horror films, it also manages to get good few scares in as well considering when it was made. The acting is great, especially Roddy McDowall as Fischer. John Hough seemed to have a clear vision and direction and you can really see this through the shots he uses, they really help in creating the creepy atmosphere that he managed to conjure. This film also came out the same year as The Exorcist and The Wicker Man, maybe its not as well known or as acclaimed as them but I believe it can stand amongst them as one of the best horror films, it has definitely become one of my favourite horror films.

If you see this after you see "The Haunting" (1963), you'll recognize this to be a somewhat flaky adaptation of the original brilliant work. While the photography is stunning, everything else falls short. Character development is deplorable, the plot is at times overdressed and at others simplified to the point of stupidity, and the scares are by modern AND classic standards, not that scary.Dr. Barrett and Ann Barrett, the two lead investigators are uninteresting characters, offering little to no wisdom or insight and deliver dull insipid performances much like their supposed sex life in the movie. By the end I sympathized with Tanner for throwing that paranormal tantrum at Dr. Barrett, and Tanner, well she's a whole new class of two-dimensional. She remains entrenched in her own convictions while making one stupid decision after another, to the point where you actually want to believe she's on to something to allow the movie more depth than it actually has. Fischer is the only interesting one of the bunch, and that's because he remains aloof and observant throughout the movie. By the end he does deliver a commendable performance, but the plot by then has devolved into something absurd. Still he makes the best of what he is left to work with.There are no explanations to the REAL questions. Who is the corpse tied in the dungeon, what bearing does Bolesco's colorful crimes have on the story, what in Tanner's history enables her to fall in love with a spirit, why was Dr Barrett attacked in the living room when all spirit influence had been removed from there, and why does the knowledge of Bolesco's height complex allow them to find him?IF you want to experience the REAL horrors of Hell House, watch the Haunting.

Okay so the main guy is an annoying brute who really doesn't care if anyone else dies as long as he can keep preaching his all mighty opinion. The other guy is an annoying constant "philosophy of the matter" spouting idiot who shouldn't even be there because everyone died during his last visit and the other medium knows she could be killed in this house but insists on slowly accepting and naively succumbing to its evil... even going so low as to have sex with a demon in her guest bedroom. The smartest person in this movie is the wife and she is just in the house supporting her husband with no knowledge of the supernatural at all like the others.. yet and still with all of that being said they just do not make many good, original haunted house films so the setting and unique sequences in the movie alone make it a must watch and an unforgettable experience... the question is was it really a good one.

The wealthy Mr. Rudolph Deutsch (Roland Culver) promises a small fortune to the physicist Dr. Lionel Barrett (Clive Revill); to the mental medium Florence Tanner (Pamela Franklin); and to the physical parapsychologist Benjamin Franklin Fischer (Roddy McDowall) to investigate survival after death in the notorious Belasco House, a.k.a. Hell House. The house belonged to "Roaring Giant" Emeric Belasco that promoted orgies in the house and had mysteriously disappeared after a massacre. Fischer is the only survival of a previous investigation and the Dr. Barrett goes with his wife Ann Barrett (Gayle Hunnicutt). Along the days, Florence believes that there are entities in the house, including Belasco's son Daniel; Fischer keeps his mind closed expecting only to earn the promised money, and the skeptical Dr. Barrett brings a machine to drain the energy in the house. Will they be successful in their intent? "The Legend of Hell House" is a creepy and atmospheric horror movie with a good story of haunted house. The ghost story is supported in lighting, make-up and camera work and only few special effects and is effective. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "A Casa da Noite Eterna" ("The House of the Eternal Night")