Ghosts of Hanley House

A home-grown $1.49 shocker that doesn't appear to have been released anywhere until it finally debuted on home video over 30 years after it was filmed. It's slow, repetitious and crudely assembled but it does at least make an honest effort to tell an actual story. It seems to have been partly inspired by THE HAUNTING (1963) and many parts have an authentically creepy dreamlike feel similar to that of CARNIVAL OF SOULS (1962). Much of the original soundtrack seems to have been lost, as many stretches are scored with grating jazz music and the sound effects were obviously added much later. Foley work doesn't get any worse than this, with absurdly loud "ambient" noise thrown in and at least one very strange, loud gasp that doesn't seem to come from any particular character added to the more common print. Most of the (black and white) film is tinted a cold blue, creating an appropriate deathly mood, although a few sequences are dressed up with bright red solarized video effects for no good reason. On a bet, five people spend the night in the haunted mansion of the title. They experience the usual phenomena, including slamming doors, mysterious thumping sounds and isolated patches of freezing cold. Clock hands spin around crazily, a framed painting of a dead woman keeps moving, and an ominous old locked box is found. The haunting evidently causes continuity errors too, like when one girl's necklace keeps knotting and unknotting itself from shot to shot. One of the group is a medium (natch) who sets up an impromptu seance to try to sort things out. A big problem is that none of the main characters have any discernable personalities. There are two completely bland young men, two completely bland young women and one oddly out-of-place middle-aged guy with big ears and a suit and tie. The acting is near catatonic and most of the dialogue reads like it was written for children, but in spite of everything that goes wrong GHOSTS OF HANLEY HOUSE is spooky in a low-key kind of way. It's true that nothing is really happening through most of it, but it's good to see a haunted house story in which the characters are sensible enough to decide to leave when they start to fear for their safety. The plot actually makes sense and tells a good little ghost story, which is another nice bonus. Just don't expect action, stunts, character development or special effects. The crippling technical ineptitude makes it unlikely that GHOSTS OF HANLEY HOUSE will ever become anyone's favorite, but it's off-the-wall and eerie enough to be worth a look.

Note: The current IMBD plot description "Five people are spending the night in a haunted house. Things get dicey when some of them start turning up decapitated" is only half-right--the second sentence is very inaccurate and misleading.

This is a game low-budget regional attempt to do a traditional "haunted house challenge" story a la "The Haunting," et al. But it's undone not so much by the low budget as unimaginative direction and lack of atmosphere. (Admittedly, the soft, probably TV-copied prints this movie can be seen in probably don't help.) You know the handling will be somewhat clunky right off with some poor matching of shots including day-for-night ones. Otherwise the film makes a semi-intelligent decision to keep things relatively dark (hiding production shortcomings) and avoid overt violence, but there just isn't much sense of style or idiosyncrasy to the direction to convey any real sense of threat. Too many of the "scares" are in the form of crude sound effects obviously dubbed in later, and which the adequate (for this kind of movie) actors seldom react to at all. There's so little attempt to ratchet up suspense that when "The End" comes, it's one of those times you think "Wait--that was IT?" Not because things didn't happen, but because their presentation is so flat there's no sense of having reached a story's climax. Anyway, you've certainly seen worse, and this is notable for not being particularly lurid or cheesy in an era when most low-budget horror was exactly that. But it just doesn't really come to life. Compare it to another low-budget film from just a few years later like "Let's Scare Jessica to Death," and you can see how an ability to convey an unsettled atmosphere makes all the difference.

This mediocre ghost story is made viable and creepy by a few subtle touches. The special effects are a mix of dry ice and what appears to be more dry ice, but the lighting is at times interesting. The cast members have stark and/or dark features, and the B&W medium in combination with dramatic lighting for scenes within the haunted mansion make for a very good effect. You usually come to 'like' a character in a movie, and in this movie there isn't anyone to like. It seems that everyone is a dumb creep with some kind of motive. Just how much that works to the film's advantage, however, is difficult to say because it might be lost on a more casual viewer, but I think that it makes the story interesting. There are a few sidelines to the plot which were either never developed or lost to editing, but they are minor enough to not affect the continuity of the film. The screams are great. Hollywood just doesn't have screamers like it used to. I would recommend this movie, if you can find it.

Five people are spending the night in a haunted house. Things get dicey when some of them start turning up decapitated.

Odd film that I had never heard of before watching it on Cult O Rama on my Roku. Filled with unknowns who had very limited film exposure before or after.

One of the actresses was married to Timothy Leary!

Another made a few soft core porns after this film.

The director acting in 2 films but never directed again.

I'm always fascinated about how these movies get made and why the people involved have such a limited career.

The movie is the typical ghost house fare and don't expect great acting. The sound is horrible. Tinny and echoing. Slow exposition. And be prepared for the car key questioning. It seems to go on for 20 minutes!

They all get drunk and play cards and then the record player comes out. Plenty of laffing for no reason and dancing. Then there is what I guess is a wolf only it sure sounds human. Oh, and the black widow spider episode! Hysterical.

It's not a very good film, so maybe I answered my own question about why these people had limited careers. The biggest problem with this film is that it just keeps going with nothing really happening.

As others have said, this film deals with people trying to stay overnight in a house that has a reputation of being extremely haunted. While obviously made on a shoestring budget with unknown actors, this film has does some good points. The house itself is a neat setting with loads of strange pieces of artwork and gothic furniture. The storyline has echoes of other ghost tales, but the plot twists towards the end add some surprises to the story. The actors are not Academy Award contenders, but do an adequate job with the limited roles given to them; the young woman who plays Sheila probably gives the best performance and is quite pretty as well. However, there are also a lot of faults with this film, as the sound is particularly bad in places, there are weird sidelines to the plot that are incomprehensible, and the story as a whole seems implausible from start to finish. Having said that, this may appeal to some viewers who enjoy ghost stories or like to watch obscure films from the past.