THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE (1973)
With special guest Christopher Shinn
Intro, Math Club, Debate Society, Hot for Teacher (spoiler-free): 00:00-30:32
Honor Roll and Detention (spoiler-heavy): 30:33-1:04:30
Superlatives (spoiler-heavier): 1:04:31-1:20:19
Director John Hough
Screenplay Richard Matheson, based on his novel Hell House
Featuring Peter Bowles, Roland Culver, Pamela Franklin, Michael Gough, Gayle Hunnicutt, Roddy McDowall, Clive Revill
Released June 15, 1973
SPOILER-FREE SYNOPSIS
Eccentric billionaire Rudolph Deutsch wants someone to figure out what (or who's) been haunting the old Belasco mansion, the “Mt Everest of haunted houses.” Apparently the house has something to do with the secret to life after death, so Deutsch enlists a team of potential rivals to get to the bottom of it: physicist and sometime paranormal investigator Barrett and his wife Ann; mental medium Florence Tanner; and physical medium Ben Fischer, the sole survivor of the last attempt to exorcise the old home. Almost from the jump, something’s off – no one trusts each other, science butts heads with pseudoscience, and when the actual haunting comes, no one really wants to discuss it. No one, that is, except for Florence and Ben, who’ve seen enough in their time to recognize the dangers that lie within Belasco House. And by the time the possessions begin, furniture starts shaking, and chandeliers start tumbling, it’s too late to turn back. The team must see this through, and get to the bottom of what’s been driving Hell House’s off-the-charts psychic energy.
SPOILER-FREE GUEST BIO
Christopher Shinn is a playwright and screenwriter who lives in New York. Several of his plays have premiered at the Royal Court Theatre: Four, Other People, Where Do We Live (Obie Award), Dying City (Pulitzer Prize finalist) and Now or Later, which was shortlisted for the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Play. His other plays include The Narcissist (Chichester Festival Theatre), Teddy Ferrara (Goodman Theatre and Donmar Warehouse), An Opening in Time (Hartford Stage), Picked (Vineyard Theatre), What Didn't Happen (Playwrights Horizons), On the Mountain (South Coast Rep), The Coming World (Soho Theatre), and Against (Almeida Theatre). His adaptation of Hedda Gabler premiered on Broadway in 2009 and his adaptation of Judgment Day premiered at Park Avenue Armory in 2019 and was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Adaptation. His awards and grants include a Guggenheim Fellowship in Playwriting, a grant from the NEA/TCG Residency Program, and the Robert Chesley Award. He was a Radcliffe Fellow at Harvard in 2019-2020, a Cullman Fellow at New York Public Library in 2020-2021, and a MacDowell Fellow in 2023. Favorite school-age snack: Combos.
EPISODE NOTE
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TRAILER
SUPERLATIVES
The Gaspar Noe Award for Most Disturbing Scene
Chris: The cat attacks Florence
Eric: Florence’s midnight rendezvous with the spirit of Daniel Belasco
Bradford: Ann Barrett’s seduction of Ben Fischer
The Ellen Ripley Award for Character Who Most Deserves to Live
Chris: Florence
Eric: The cat
Bradford: Florence
The Michael Myers Award for Character Who Most Deserves to Die
Chris: Dr. Barrett
Eric: Dr. Barrett
Bradford: Dr. Barrett
The Ken Russell Award for Most Baroque Screen Moment
Chris: Fischer in the chapel at the end screaming insults at the spirit of Belasco
Eric: The cat attacks Florence
Bradford: The dinner scene, with flying carving boards, fire, and brimstone
The Brad Dourif Award for Character Who Could (or Should) Have Been Played by Brad Dourif
Chris: Belasco (in a rebooted version of this film)
Eric: Ben Fischer, esp in scene referenced by Chris’s Russell Award
Bradford: Ben Fischer
FINAL LETTER GRADE
Chris: B
Eric: C
Bradford: B+