Murder as a Party Game

In this episode of The Introverted Obelisk, we descend into William Castle’s gothic funhouse of greed, ghosts, and marital loathing: House on Haunted Hill (1959). Vincent Price stars as the ever-smiling Frederick Loren, a millionaire who invites five strangers to spend the night in a supposedly haunted mansion with the promise of $10,000 each—provided they survive until morning. The house is less “haunted” and more “booby-trapped death trap,” complete with severed heads, ghostly apparitions, and, of course, the famous skeleton that gets more screen time than some of the human cast.

We walk through the deliciously petty war between Loren and his wife Annabelle, a couple so toxic that murder is basically their form of flirting. Castle’s gimmickry is in full swing here too—originally releasing the film with Emergo, a plastic skeleton that would swoop over the theater audience during the climax. It’s both ridiculous and perfect, because much like the film itself, it’s cheap, over-the-top, and absolutely unforgettable.

So join us for a night in a mansion where the ghosts may or may not be real, the guests are definitely unstable, and the Price is—well—always right.