The Legend of Hell House [Blu-Ray]

Director: John Hough

Cast: Roddy McDowall, Gayle Hunnicutt, Pamela Franklin

Release Date: Now Available on Blu-Ray

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Film Rating: 8/10
Disc Rating: 9/10

 

Plot Summary:

It sits here, shrouded in mist and mystery, a nesting place for living evil and terror from the dead. It’s Hell House. Roddy McDowall heads the cast of this exciting chiller about four psychic investigators and the dark, brooding mansion they call “the Mt. Everest of haunted houses.” It’s already destroyed one team of researchers. Now this brave quartet ventures in for another try at unraveling its secrets. But before they succeed, they must suffer through madness, murder and everything else that the spirits who dwell here have in store for them. Yet learning the truth just might drive them all insane. An ingeniously devised ghost story, The Legend Of Hell House will thrill and delight veteran horror fans from the first creaking door to the very last slithering shadow.

Even if you haven’t seen the film itself before, the chances are you are at least familiar with the title ‘The Legend of Hell House’, this legendary and well respected haunted house story from 1973 is a cult classic that horror fans far and wide are very likely familiar with, at least to some extent. It’s wonderful to see it finally arriving home in the states in glorious high definition, and from Scream Factory no less, one of the best companies around these days for these types of releases as I’m sure the fellow horror fans are already quite aware.

‘The Legend of Hell House’ is directed by John Hough (American Gothic, Escape To & Return To Witch Mountain) and stars a solid cast of talented individuals, including the likes of Roddy McDowall, Pamela Franklin and a number of others, all who deliver capable performances in each of their respective roles. Along with the top notch video and audio quality we’ve come to expect from Scream Factory Blu-Ray releases, we are also treated to a number of special features, such as an interview with the director (more detailed information on bonus content can be found in the technical specification coverage of the review below). In short, fans of the film, as well as horror fans in general will definitely want to make sure to add a copy of this one to their collections.

VIDEO:

Scream Factory’s Blu-Ray release of ‘The Legend of Hell House’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation utilizing the film’s original 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks highly impressive considering the film was released over forty years prior. The colors and detail are sharp and smooth, while still keeping that tone of the age, resulting in a very solid high definition video presentation that should leave fans of this one extremely pleased.

AUDIO:

The Blu-Ray release features a lossless 2.0 Mono DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack that sounds pretty fantastic considering the age of this film. The dialogue, music and audio effects are never dulled or sound anything but discrete and fantastic throughout the course of the film’s runtime. As is the case with the video, this lossless DTS-HD MA mono track is solid overall and should leave everyone quite satisfied.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The Blu-Ray release of ‘The Legend of Hell House’ also includes a number of informative and worthwhile bonus features that fans of the film surely won’t want to miss out on. Included on the release is a lengthy and informative interview with Director John Hough, Audio Commentary with actress Pamela Franklin, the theatrical trailer as well as production/promotion still image galleries.

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They additionally will suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

Film Rating: 8/10
Disc Rating: 9/10

‘The Legend of Hell House’ is now available to own on Blu-Ray from Scream Factory. You can purchase your copy directly from Shout Factory by clicking here!