GHOSTS
OF HANLEY HOUSE (1968)
Directed by Louise Sherrill
Alpha DVD
Reviewed 06.08.04
Review by Joseph A. Ziemba
THE FILM
Step ‘em on up. Grab your
sole admittance ticket for the haunted
house. The haunted Hanley house,
that is. Notice that I used the
word “sole.” There’s
a reason for that.
Ghosts Of Hanley House is a completely obscure, no-budget
haunted house movie, apparently
shot in Texas. That’s all
I know. Now, outside of the film’s
history, I know something else:
if you’re into this film,
you’ll most likely be alone.
Most will be turned off by the boredom.
Some will be turned off by the awful
acting. However, if your tastes
lean towards thriving on the mystery
of obscurity, there’s a treat
in store.
After a few lightning crashes and
some soundtrack cues straight from
H.G. Lewis’s music stand,
our “looks more like ‘63
than ’68” story gets
underway. Hank and Dick agree to
a little gentleman’s wager
at the local bar. These guys put
two hip sports cars on the line,
wagering on whether or not ghosts
really do exist at the old Hanley
place. Naturally, there’s
only one way to solve the bet --
spend the night, dummy! Our two
leads grab a few friends and make
headway to the outskirts of town.
Soon after arriving, strange noises
and icy hands give everyone the
creeps. Sounds pretty typical, which
this film is, up to a point. However,
things get interesting when our
party changes up the ordinary and
actually leave the house, no doubt
making many at-home screen yellers
very pleased. What happens next
involves a hatchet, a dingy basement,
and open graves in a foggy cemetery.
Brrrr.
Overall, Ghosts was
equally weird, spooky, and boring.
For every cold “actor’s”
stare into the camera (believe me,
quite a few), we get a very still,
creep-filled look at the Hanley
house itself. While happenings move
slower than boiling water, there’s
enough strangeness taking place
to alleviate the negatives. Odd
jump cuts (not due to print damage),
sparse ghost encounters, totally
random lightning/red light inserts,
and a gratuitous car starting scene
are all par for the course. And
something else -- the ending was
absolutely perfect.
AUDIO AND VIDEO
Being such a rare film, I went in
with low expectations and came out
quite pleased. There’s some
slight ghosting, a few jump cuts,
and the requisite scratches for
a film of this nature, but the picture
quality was decent. Looks like a
video master. Instead of black and
white, the film appears as monochromatic
blue, with a few inserts of strange
red video effects, which may or
may not have been added at a later
date. The dialogue is hard to decipher
at times, which is definitely due
to the source material, as evidenced
by the echo-y room sound. The mono
sound was just fine, but I detected
some obviously new stereo sound
effects a few times.
EXTRAS
Chapter stops and an Alpha cover
gallery, of course.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Very-obscure 60s horror fans take
note. Where most would scoff at
discovering such an amateurish film,
I found uneven charm and genuine
creepiness. Worth owning if you
know what you like. |
Nightie prowl
Always a classic
Midnight jump
Axe in the basement
|
