Let's face it. A good majority of horror movies are appallingly bad. They thrive on gross visuals and shock value over a genuinely frightening story where the shock of what you don't see is overwhelmingly nightmarish. There are a handful of haunted house movies that are deservedly now considered classics, lacking in camp and shlock, and keeping you gripping your seat to the point that if somebody purposely touched you to frighten you, you assuredly would jump several feet into the air.

"The Legend of Hell House" is well deserving of its place in horror cinema history as an outstanding example of substance over style, done simply yet brilliantly. Four people gather together in a beautiful but sinister rustic house where horrible things have transpired, leading people to commit suicide or go insane. Cynical Clive Revill and wife Gayle Hunnicutt aren't sure it deserves its reputation, but Roddy McDowall is certain that evil exists there and is prepared to confront it. For the innocent Pamela Franklin, however the house begins to possess her, as various spirits seem to inhabit her body, turning her into an unwilling succubus and her lucid moments make you wonder if she is actually in her own mind or the mind of an evil spirit trying to fool the others.

This film is chilling to the bone, and even with such haunted house movie cliches as slamming doors, darkened windows and evil cats, it manages to be unlike any other movie of its kind, perhaps only surpassed by the 1963 classic, "The Haunting". Every move of the camera in this film indicates something horrific around the corner, and certain religious aspects of the story (a chapel within the house is definitely possessed by evil, even with the cross of Jesus very visible) are quite disturbing. This is certainly better than the same year's "The Exorcist", and deserves a classic status much more than that oscar-nominated film. Yes, certainly the ending could have been a little better, but with everything that comes before it, why quibble over one minor flaw?

The eeries music and theme is from Delia Derbyshire and Brian Hodgson, more famous for their work on Doctor Who.

A group of people are promised a small fortune by an eccentric millionaire Mr Deutsch to make an investigation into definite proof of life after death.

Physicist Dr Lionel Barrett (Clive Revill) and his wife Ann (Gayle Hunnicutt.) A mental medium Florence Tanner (Pamela Franklin) physical parapsychologist Benjamin Franklin Fischer (Roddy McDowall) go to Belasco House to investigate.

It is the Mount Everest of haunted houses. It once belonged to the perverted Roaring Giant Emeric Belasco. It was a house of twisted desires and death.

The haunted house supposedly has numerous spirits and Ben Franklin is the only survivor from a previous investigation some 20 years earlier.

Adapted by Richard Matheson from his own novel. The setting has moved to Britain. Very soon things go bump in the night. The film plays with your mind as it strives to be creepy and intelligent. There is always something spooky happening with Florence seemingly at the centre of it all.

The performances are rather fruity which works in the context of this type of horror film. It is hard to fathom how and why Dr Barrett bought his wife into this. Pamela Franklin is too young for her character and should had been substituted by Hunnicutt. The black cat brings an eeriness of its own to the movie.

The final reveal is a little far out but at least it was not a cop out.

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")