The Mothman Prophecies (Special Edition)
Director: Mark Pellington
Average Customer Review:
DVD (27 May, 2003)
list price: $27.95 -- our price: $25.16
(price subject to change: see help)
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Editorial Review

Described by director Mark Pellington as "a psychological mystery with naturally surreal overtones," The Mothman Prophecies begins like an ambitious episode of The X-Files. Richard Gere brings adequate torment, portent, and ambiguity to his role as a Washington Post reporter and grieving widower plagued by a mysterious, unseen urban legend known as the Mothman. Pellington develops subtle doom and gloom that's as effective as the paranoid streak he brought to Arlington Road. As the Mothman terrifies a West Virginia town, he remains an enigma, glimpsed almost subliminally. This--along with a magnificently creepy soundtrack--amplifies the movie's surreal overtones while keeping everything else (unsettling phone calls, prophesied disasters, suggestions of the afterlife) completely unexplained. With Laura Linney and Debra Messing in underdeveloped roles, The Mothman Prophecies feels a bit underdeveloped itself (and ends in desperate need of Mulder and Scully). But if you like your weirdness open-ended, this moody thriller's worth a look. --Jeff Shannon ... Read more

Features

• Color
• Closed-captioned
• Widescreen
• Dolby

Reviews (196)

Desde el más allá
Richard Gere se lanza al ruedo sobrenatural con su nuevo thriller, El Mensajero de la Oscuridad.

Basado en los eventos misteriosos que ocurrieron en Point Pleasant, West Virginia, a mediados de los años 60, y llevado a la literatura por el reportero John Keel, este es un modesto y confuso film sobre lo metafísico, el cual ofrece más preguntas que respuestas.

Gere interpreta a un reportero de Washington, llamado John Klein. Al inicio del film, Klein se ve envuelto en un accidente automovilístico que causa la muerte de su esposa, quien al parecer, se distrajo en el volante cuando vio una aparición.

Dos años pasan, y Klein se verá inexplicablemente arrastrado hasta Point Pleasant, donde comienza a averiguar sobre la actividad paranormal que ha estado ocurriendo en el pueblo. Sucede que varias personas han tenido las mismas apariciones que tuvo su esposa (una criatura de ojos rojizos con forma de mariposa) y en ciertos casos, esta criatura ha hecho predicciones trágicas que se han convertido en realidad.

Klein recibe la ayuda de un ermitaño escritor (Alan Bates) y una policía local (laura Linney), a quien todo el mundo respeta y afortunadamente es ecuánime y racional.

La cinta del director Mark Pellington debería ser felicitada por no tratar de emplear los típicos métodos de sustos y falsas alarmas para crear tensión. No es que no los use, pero no depende exclusivamente de ellos para sostener su atmósfera tétrica.

Muchas personas la catalogarán de terror por la angustiante manera cómo aglutina el desespero y la tensión alrededor del tema sobtrenatural. Es una cinta que nos pone al borde del asiento, con los sentidos agudizados. Las historias bizarras y aterradoras son capaces de hacernos perder la concentración y la capacidad de razonar lógicamente, de manera simple pero efectiva. Y sin el exceso de los "boooos" y "aaahhh" a los que acostumbran otras cintas de terror.

The strange events that happen around the MOTHMAN Legend...
I am intrigued by stories of unexplained phenomenon.When hundreds of people from different locales who have never met each other all describe the same, strange thing that cannot be explained...it makes you wonder what else is out there.A perfect example of this is the legend around the MOTHMAN.

Based on a book by paranormal investigator John Keel, this spooky, X-Files-type supernatural thriller is purportedly based loosely on true events that occurred in the small town of Point Pleasant, WV, in 1966-1967. Richard Gere stars as journalist John Klein, an up-and-coming reporter devastated by the death of his beloved wife Mary (Debra Messing) following a car accident. Mary saw a mysterious vision immediately before the crash, a haunting image of a moth-like creature. Two years later, Klein is driving to an interview with the governor of Virginia when he suddenly finds himself hundreds of miles out of his way in a small town on the West Virginia-Ohio border. He discovers that strange events are occurring there, including sightings of the "mothman," as well as UFOs and bizarre alien-like telephone calls. Klein stays to investigate, despite the protests of skeptical cop Connie Parker (Laura Linney) and the initial hostility of spooked local Gordon (Will Patton). He soon discovers that sightings of the mothman are historical portents of doom and disaster, omens that may foretell a terrible cataclysm about to strike Point Pleasant.

True to the book, not the supposed real-life monster
Mothman supposedly existed and was a creature that scared several people in the 60's. A book was written about the moral and supernatural angles of these sightings. This film is based on that book, not so much the creature itself, and as a result this is not an accurate horror/monster movie but instead a decent but disappointing supernatural thriller.

Having thoroughly read the history of the alleged titular creature, Mothman, I was at first quite disappointed in this film. The real case dealt with people who were supposedly chased by a tall, bird-like man creature with glowing red eyes and incredible speed. The creature did strange things like flying without flapping its wings, and it sounded like a woman screaming. The case, never officially solved, allegedly involved UFOs, although barely a legitimate link to them was made.

Instead of being based on these things, the film is more directly based on a book of the same name, which itself was more of a hypothetical study of what Mothman may mean and represent. A focal point in the film is how the sighting of the monster allegedly preceded disasters. In actuality, the creature was only scantily reported to have been seen around the Ohio river bridge when it collapsed in the late 60s. The film showed this collapse and is its finest scene. But then it adds extra mysterious details to the event, such as Mothman's ability to make people dream such an event before it happened, etc. This is an example of the film being based on the more glamorous ideas in the book instead of focusing on the facts of the case itself, which were far more interesting and would have made for a more frightening movie.

The movie is, however, well done. It takes itself seriously, is well acted, and features very good mood music and ambience. It sets the mood, leading up to some great scenes such as one in which the main character talks with the alleged creature on the phone. It's creepy stuff, but scenes like that are all too rare in this film. It had a lot of promise and was well done, but I had my hopes up for more of a thriller along the lines of the Sixth Sense, which was well written and acted but still had its fair share of visual chills. As it stands, the Mothman Prophecies is good, and I give it credit for getting a lot of facts and references to the actual case correct. But I was hoping for something much more based on the incidents as they were reported, as opposed to an opinionated book that merely theorized what may have really happened. If you liked the movie at all, I suggest you look up the actual Mothman case and see if you're more interested, as I am, in the supposed real-life creature of 60's West Virginia ... Read more

Asin: B00008WJEK
Subjects:  1. Mystery / Suspense   

Haunted
by James Herbert
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (01 September, 1993)
list price: $6.99
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Reviews (18)

Absolute Rubbish!
Please don't waste your time and/or money on this truly awful book. It's plagiarism at it's worst. Think for a moment to every mystery/horror story you have ever read and enjoyed. Now imagine the dung heap that could be created if someone took bits and pieces of those stories and cobbled them all together - Badly!

The writing is poor and the cohesiveness is non-existent, in fact it distinctly feels like the author changed his mind several times throughout the story before he gave up and just ended it. And then it somehow got published without the services of an editor.

If you are like me and you like your storylines to make sense, pass on this one. In fact maybe pass on this author all together.

This book had some truly chilling moments.
I got this book at a book fair for a buck so I got my money's worth of chills out of it and then some.I don't know what that other reader is complaining about The Others and Sixth Sense for as this book was written way before those movies ever came out!! If anything they copied him.I loved it and it gave me quite a few scary moments. Especially the pond scenes, and the last scene of the book with Mr. Ash was also chilling.So I do recommend this book to anyone who likes eerie little stories of things that go bump in the night, or the day as the case may be.

disappointed--big time!
I'm just your everyday middle-class book reader who picked this book up at a used book store.The book started out promising and kept my attention.For me to really like a book, I like to "like" the character(s)--feel for them, want them to succeed, or whatever.I just never got caught up with Ash. I wanted to, but the story just stopped! I thought . . . ok--there's either got to be a sequel, or I am incredibly disappointed. Surprise ending? There wasn't an ending--it just ran out of pages!I found out there is a sequel--"The Ghosts of Sleath," but that review sounds like it's the same characters in a different town.I was really bumbed at the end. Sorry--I wanted to like it! ... Read more

Isbn: 0515103454
Sales Rank: 416893
Subjects:  1. Fiction - Horror    2. Horror    3. Horror - General   

The Ghosts of Sleath
by James Herbert
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (1995)
list price: $19.95
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Editorial Review

Veteran horror writer James Herbert brings back the protagonist of Haunted toinvestigate psychic disturbances in a picturesque village in the Lake District of England. It's an interesting mishmash of a novel--not entirely successful, but enjoyable all the same. Herbert's penchant for gorgeously visceral carnage unfortunately clashes with his equally skilled ability to create a subtle mood of supernatural terror. And he throws way too many ingredients into the stew: family secrets, rape, infanticide, necrophilia, the "Black Arts," a moldering mansion, a sinister yellow fog, drowning children, poltergeist pranks, a haunted painting, a tormented vicar, a neglectful doctor, even an evil knight. Yet, as Necrofile: The Review of Horror Fiction reports, "None of theseflaws are fatal. These days, making a classic ghost story work atall--let alone on the scale of TheGhosts of Sleath--requires a daunting level of craft, control, and consistency....Many of the novel's supernatural elements ... evoke the requisite chills." ... Read more

Reviews (9)

One of the best ghost stories!
Psychic investigator David Ash delves into the mysterious events terrorizing the community of Sleath, and as each dark secret is unveiled, evil forces are unleashed, and Ash fears for his own sanity as well as that of the village people. This one of the best ghost stories ever written, scary, compelling and very well written. One of Herbert's best.

A Disapoinment, like everything else of his I've read...
I had to read this book as well as "The Haunted" after watching the movie on which, both novels are evidently based. I'm often amazed when a movie is better than the books. And in this case the movie was far superior! In writing, in plot, and pacing, the movie outstrips the books in a way that the author probably finds offensive.

Do not waste precious time on these novels, rent the movie instead. If you must read a suspense novel, particularly a british one, read a great one! I recommend anything by Phil Rickman who is phenomenal to say the very least.

The Gore of Sleath
Here's the run down: You've got a emotionally compromised psychic investigator who has been sent to an intellectually compromised town. He's heard creepy stuff has been happening and he's a scientist sent to do his thing. He does everything but behave like one however.

To give him credit, 'ol Herb the author did have some suspense going. But as I was turning the pages, I was grimacing to find out what was next. There was an exceedingly large portion of icky violent scenes. And by ick, I mean things being ripped off, oozing down, cracking apart etc etc... Another con, would be the psychic-link romance quotient... Yeah, who'd a thought. ... Read more

Isbn: 0006475973

Hell House
by Richard Matheson
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (13 October, 1999)
list price: $13.95 -- our price: $11.16
(price subject to change: see help)
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Reviews (108)

I Don't Get It
Stephen King himself calls HELL HOUSE "the scariest haunted house novel ever written."The book has harvested acres of accolades from countless horror fans.The novel even spawned a movie or two.So why did I finish HELL HOUSE and yawn, nonchalantly scratch my groin, and wish I could have several hours of my life back?

Could it be, perhaps, that the story was contrived, often even laughable?That the characterization was weak?That the story contained a "mystery of Hell House" that really wasn't a mystery at all?That the author's sexual jollies added nothing to the plot whatsoever?That the ending, which took forever and a day to arrive, was as weak as a popcorn burp?

Yes to all of the above.

Even worse was Matheson's writing style, which had me squirming with its weak word selection (often redundant, with the same words in the same sentence) and obscene reliance on awkward adverbs.Confusedly?Frightenedly?Frenziedly?What the heck(ly)?I kept wondering if I was reading a novel or a mediocre effort from some college kid submitting a classroom assignement.

I was really looking forward to this book, as I bought into the hype that HELL HOUSE was one of Matheson's "signature" works.If this is a signature work, Matheson needs to go back to penmanship class.Very disappointing.
--D. Mikels

Riveting!
I read Shirley Jackson's Haunting of Hill House many years ago, so I found Hell House and decided to give it a try, thinking it could never measure up to Hill House.Boy, was I wrong!This is the scariest story I have read.I read it in a matter of days only because I forced myself to slow down.I will admit, though that I left it at work rather than have it at home!Terrifying!!!!!!

Good old fashioned booga-booga
This is a great ghost story.Unlike alot of horror novels which contain blood, gore, and graphic violence, Hell House sneaks up on you in a quiet, subtle way.It's eerie, fast paced, and fun.

4 people are hired to stay for 5 days in a supposed haunted house referred to as Hell House, owned by a man named Emeric Belasco.Belasco used his house to promote excess and human depravity.Drugs and alcohol were plentiful, and those who followed him lost their minds. Eventually, the house was broken into and everyone inside, 27 people, were found dead.Belasco was never found.Lionel Barret; a parapsychology professor, his wife; Edith, and 2 mediums; Florence Tanner and Benjamin Fischer are given 5 days to discover if Hell House is really haunted and if so, by whom.Let the games begin.

Things go bump in the night, voices are heard, bedding rises up in the air, taking shape as though a human is hiding under it.Record players play by themselves and rocking chairs move with no one sitting in them.It is a roller coaster ride into the supernatural.

The characters are all human and believable.They are just as scared as you or I would be, given the same circumstances.No one is a hero.They just want to survive the 5 days, collect their money, and get out, alive. Can they do it?Will they all leave alive?This is a fun book.I really enjoyed it and am sure you will too. ... Read more

Isbn: 0312868855
Sales Rank: 19848
Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Fiction - Horror    3. Haunted houses    4. Horror    5. Horror - General    6. Horror tales    7. Popular American Fiction    8. Fiction / Horror   

The Uninvited
Director: Lewis Allen
Average Customer Review:
VHS Tape (27 August, 1992)
list price: $14.98
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Editorial Review

One of the spookiest ghost stories ever put to film, The Uninvited is also one of the few classic haunted-house movies to treat the subject with respect and seriousness. Ray Milland and Ruth Hussey play a brother and sister who leave the city to live in a beautiful old house dramatically perched on a cliff overlooking the Cornish coast. As they discover some of the house's peculiarities--the unexplained chill that settles in certain rooms, the aroma of mimosas that wafts through the house, flowers that wilt when brought inside--they are told by local girl Gail Russell that the house is haunted, by the spirit of Russell's mother no less. The rationalist city folk first scoff at the idea but as Milland slowly falls in love with the frightened girl he investigates the legends and discovers some startling hidden truths. Donald Crisp costars asRussell's humorless, hard-bitten grandfather who forbids her visits to the house. Handsomely shot against the beautiful Cornish countryside, director Lewis Allen wisely suggests more than he shows and the uneasy tone and quietly restrained direction looks forward to such films as The Haunting and The Legend of Hell House. Though Allen ultimately reveals a suitably spine-tingling apparition, some of the film's best moments are chilling in their simplicity: nocturnal moans, slamming doors, and the dog's whimpering fear of the upstairs. --Sean Axmaker ... Read more

Features

• Black & White
• HiFi Sound
• NTSC

Reviews (74)

Shame on Universal for not releasing this on DVD
One of the most genuinely creepy and atmospheric ghost stories ever put on to film, "The Uninvited" relies on a fantastic array of spin-tingling sounds of "things" going bump in the night and people creeping around the darkness by candle light as opposed to outright gore.

Ray Milland and Ruth Hussey play siblings on vacation who happen across an abandoned mansion (thanks to their dog and a squirrel which it chases through an open window) overlooking the Cornish coastline. They purchase the house soon afterwards, only to discover that it's haunted by an apparition which may be the spirit of a local girl's mother. The tension mounts as Milland, Hussey, and the girl (well played by Gail Russell) investigate the secrets of the mansion -- only to find themselves faced with a growing number of fantastic creep outs. Just who -- or what -- does Hussey and Milland hear sobbing in the dark at four in the morning? Exactly why does their pet dog refuse to climb the stairs to the second floor, whining fearfully at the bottom of the steps? Just what kind of hideous, ghastly thing did the maid see peering out at her from a doorway leading into the room where Russell's mother spent much of her time?

Most terrifying of all, will Milland be able to stop the undead thing before it claims the life of Russell?

"The Uninvited" is a pure delight from start to finish, a combination of Alfred Hitchcock's "Rebecca" and Robert Wise's "The Haunting," beautifully shot and well acted under the steady direction of Lewis Allen. With the exception of "The Innocents," darkened hallways have never seemed so threatening, punctuated by the sound of a slamming door or a woman's sigh.

Regretfully, Universal Home Video has not only allowed this title to go out of print on VHS, but "The Uninvited" has never been released on DVD -- a sorry state of affairs, but not surprising considering this is the same studio which has ignored releasing such films as the original Val Lewton/Jacques Tourneur "Cat People" and "I Walked With a Zombie." One can only hope that the studio will change its mind. This is far too great of a film to leave unrepresented on DVD.

Romanticized 1940's ghost story
Lewis Allen's "The Uninvited", while a decent flick was mixed with too much comedic flair provided by leading man Ray Milland, to truly capture the creepy and tragic nature of the plot and setting.A more dramatic portrayal of his character would have increased my appreciation for the movie.

Brother and sister Roderick and Pamela Fitzgerald played by Milland and Ruth Hussey, while ambling through the craggy cliffs of the English seaside come across an old abandoned mansion.They enter the house and become charmed by its ambiance and breathtaking views of the sea.The beautiful cinematography of the rugged English coast does much to add a sense of foreboding and intrigue to the film.Hussey convinces her music critic brother that they should purchase the property.

They make inquiries about the mansion with the owner Commander Beech played by familiar English actor, Donald Crisp.They are stunned when the asking price falls within their budget.There is a proviso however, the mansion is thought to harbor haunting disturbances.Beech lives close by with his attractive young granddaughter Stella Meredith, played by the tragic, in real life, Gail Russell.Beech had bequethed the mansion to his daughter Mary Meredith, thought to be a saintly figure, who had tragically fallen to her death from the cliffs in front of the house.Strange forces seem to be drawing Russell to the mansion, but her grandfather had forbidden her to go there.

Milland and Hussey move in and begin to observe strange occurrences especially in a room once used as an art studio with a beautiful panoramic view.They soon learn the the apparition is most likely that of the departed Mary Meredith.It seems that Mary and her husband, known as Meredith, had employed a Spanish gypsy housekeeper named Carmel.Mr. Meredith apparently had a lengthy affair that caused internal strife.While the Fitzgeralds are investigating the mysteries of the mansion, Milland and Russell are being drawn together romantically.

Crisp trying the shield his granddaughter from the mansion recruits his daughter's oldest and dearest friend Miss Holloway played by reknowned author and stage actress Cornelia Otis Skinner.Skinner's eerie performance is the highlight of the film.She plays the director of an asylum or convalescent home in Devonshire.Unbeknown to the Fitzgeralds, Stella Meredith is being held there with permission from her grandfather.As they question Miss Holloway she tells a tale that reveals a lesbian undertone.

Milland and Hussey unveil the mystery, eventually purging the mansion of the spirits and go one to live happily ever after.

Veteran actor Alan Napier, better known as Alfred the butler from the Batman TV series, plays a pivotal role in the film as Commander Beech's country doctor, Dr. Scott.Using medical records he inherited from his predecessor, he helps Milland and Hussey unravel the strange circumstances surrounding the haunted mansion.

A Romantic Mystery
The sunny and romantic feel of Dorothy Macardle's wonderful book about a young brother and sister buying a home on the English coast and getting more than they bargained for was kept in tact in this true film classic. Victor Young's beautiful score captured perfectly the light and comical intruded upon by a haunting mystery and ghost story. His Stella by Starlight is on a par with David Raksin's Laura as one of the most romantic songs ever written for film.

If asked who the most beautiful star of the 1940's was, most would probably say Hedy Lamarr or Gene Tierney. But if asked who was the prettiest, most would say Gail Russell. She will always be remembered for her role as the young and lovely Stella Meredith, looking for love and acceptance from a mother long deceased. Tragedy took her from us at a young age but she lives on in films like this one.

Ray Milland is excellent as always as Roderick (Rick) Fitzgerald and Ruth Hussey is his sister Pamela. They are both excited when they happen upon the beautiful house along the coast called Wynwood (Cliff End in the novel). They purchase it from the Commander (Donald Crisp) under protest from his lovely grandaughter Stella (Gail Russell). Her reason for not wanting the house sold is revealed when a light and enjoyable romance blooms between she and Roderick.

She and Roderick go sailing and Russell is breathtaking with the ocean breeze blowing her hair. Roderick gets sea sick in an amusing moment and Stella's longing for a connection to the mother she lost when she was three is highlighted for the first time when she reveals the perfume she wears has the same mimosa scent as the one her mother wore. It is a scent that fills the nursery in Wynwood and gives Stella a feeling of being loved when she is there.

But all is not well at Wynwood, with a sobbing heard late at night and a sea fog driving Stella to the cliff where her mother fell and died. It is all tied to the mystery of a young Spanish Gypsy girl named Carmel who posed for Stella's father, who was an artist. Stella is protected and loved one moment, and in danger the next. Roderick loves Stella and knows he must somehow solve the mystery of what happened to rid their lives of this cloud so he and Stella can be happy.

Dr. Scott (Alan Napier) may help them find the answers as he has access to notes the doctor of Stella's mother and Carmel made. Dr. Scott is also smitten with pretty Pamela, and it appears both Roderick and Pamela could be happy if only they could bring warmth back to Wynwood House.

To reveal more would lessen your pleasure if you have not experienced this wonderful film fron the 1940's. There are some genuinely eerie moments mixed in with the lighthearted, but at its heart this is really a romance. It is that blend of romance and supernatural mystery which make this the best film of this kind ever made.

This is one of the most romantic films of the 1940's and the shy and beautiful Gail Russell will always be associated with the young and searching Stella Meredith in the hearts and minds of moviegoers. Those who fall in love with Russell after seeing this film will want to check out The Great Dan Patch, Angel and the Bad Man and Wake of the Red Witch for a further dose of her sunny beauty. This was one of her most memorable roles and is not to be missed by any film buff. ... Read more

Asin: 6302503493
Subjects:  1. Horror   

The Legend of Hell House
Director: John Hough
Average Customer Review:
DVD (07 September, 2004)
list price: $9.98 -- our price: $9.98
(price subject to change: see help)
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Editorial Review

Four people enter the Belasco Mansion, the so-called "Everest of haunted houses," hired by a dying millionaire to investigate the possibility of life after death. Physicist Clive Revill leads the quartet, which includes his wife Gayle Hunnicut and two mediums. Pamela Franklin, young and impulsive, immediately makes contact with what she perceives as a tortured spirit, while Roddy McDowall, the only survivor from the previous investigation 20 years ago, closes himself off completely, deathly afraid of the malevolent forces that crushed his former comrades in body and spirit. Science fiction and horror legend Richard Matheson, responsible for penning such horror classics as The Devil Rides Out and Roger Corman's The Pit and the Pendulum, brings a literate sensibility and a refreshing seriousness to the haunted-house genre with this adaptation of his novel Hell House. Director John Hough follows Matheson's lead with a moody but sober approach, balancing the physical threats of objects lethally leaping to life with the slow, subtle possession of the characters by a truly evil spirit. Parts of the script feel like so much scientific mumbo jumbo, with characters discussing the finer points of supernatural manifestation and ectoplasmic activity, but Hough's deliberate direction gives it the necessary solemnity to take it all seriously. --Sean Axmaker ... Read more

Features

• Color
• Dolby
• Widescreen

Reviews (74)

Touch me...or I'll find somebody who will!
A GREAT LITTLE HAUNTED HOUSE THRILLER THAT WAS PROBABLY RODDY'S BEST ACTING FEAT! GOOD AND CREEPY, BUT A LITTLE HARD TO UNDERSTAND, IT'S WELL WORTH SITTING THROUGH WITH POPCORN!Best scene....the snapping ectoplasm

SO YOU WANT TO BE CREEPED OUT?
When I originally saw this movie back in the 70's, it started
me on a quest to find the Mt.Everest of haunted house stories.
I never did because nothing has even come close to beating
"Hell House". From the moment the movie opens you are drawn in by the feeling that you are being watched yourself. Every time I watch this film I always feel a bit uneasy. The look and feel of the film is fantastic. BUY THIS MOVIE and READ THE BOOK by
Richard Matheson

Great Haunted House Movie
Forget special effects, this is a classic that did not need animation or Pixar special effects, the mood is set with the story, photography and music. This is THE best haunted house film I have seen, they surely do not make them like this anymore. ... Read more

Asin: B00005LIRD
Subjects:  1. Horror   

The Haunting of Hill House
by ShirleyJackson
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (05 June, 1984)
list price: $14.00 -- our price: $11.20
(price subject to change: see help)
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Editorial Review

Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House has unnerved readers since its original publication in 1959. A tale of subtle, psychological terror, it has earned its place as one of the significant haunted house stories of the ages.

Eleanor Vance has always been a loner--shy, vulnerable, and bitterly resentful of the 11 years she lost while nursing her dying mother. "She had spent so long alone, with no one to love, that it was difficult for her to talk, even casually, to another person without self-consciousness and an awkward inability to find words." Eleanor has always sensed that one day something big would happen, and one day it does. She receives an unusual invitation from Dr. John Montague, a man fascinated by "supernatural manifestations." He organizes a ghost watch, inviting people who have been touched by otherworldly events. A paranormal incident from Eleanor's childhood qualifies her to be a part of Montague's bizarre study--along with headstrong Theodora, his assistant, and Luke, a well-to-do aristocrat. They meet at Hill House--a notorious estate in New England.

Hill House is a foreboding structure of towers, buttresses, Gothic spires, gargoyles, strange angles, and rooms within rooms--a place "without kindness, never meant to be lived in...."

Although Eleanor's initial reaction is to flee, the house has a mesmerizing effect, and she begins to feel a strange kind of bliss that entices her to stay. Eleanor is a magnet for the supernatural--she hears deathly wails, feels terrible chills, and sees ghostly apparitions. Once again she feels isolated and alone--neither Theo nor Luke attract so much eerie company. But the physical horror of Hill House is always subtle; more disturbing is the emotional torment Eleanor endures. Intense, literary, and harrowing, The Haunting of Hill House belongs in the same dark league as Henry James's classic ghost story, The Turn of the Screw. --Naomi Gesinger ... Read more

Reviews (278)

Yawn....Snooze....Another yawn!
The longest 200+ pages I have ever labored through.The fact that Robert Wise managed to turn this rambling, painfully boring and forgettable story into an eerie and effective ghost story is a testament to his talent as a director (I'm referring, of course, to the original and not that laughably bad remake). Save for the finely etched, if not necessarily likeable and/or compelling, characters there is just nothing in this book that I found remotely special. I get sleepy just thinking about it.You want a great ghost story, read Stephen King's "The Shining.""The Haunting of Hill House" lingers in your memory like cotton candy on your tongue, that's to say five seconds.If this story keeps you awake at night, then either you'reemotionally scarred or a nervous wreck or a combination thereof.Skip this snoozefest unless, of course, you need something to lull you into a deep sleep.

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
In this Story of mystery and terror, author, Shirley Jackson,tells a wonderfuls story of a group of people who are put into the ultimate haunted house. The Haunting of Hill House, A good read for all ages, is a timeless classic catching the very essence of human nature, when it comes to being scared. It's up to the main character Ealeanor to solve a family mystery as old as Hill House itself. If she can survive the encounter.

~Mary @ DHS

Sublime
Dr. Montague is interested in researching haunted houses, and rents Hill House, an 80-year-old monstrosity with a dreadful past, for this purpose. He writes to several people with some sort of psychic backgrounds or events in their lives in order to get them to stay in the house with him. Only two people end up responding. They are Theodora (just Theodora, no last name), a sort of bohemian free spirit who has a knack for being able to guess Rhine cards, and Eleanor Vance, a thirty-two year old spinster who has spent the last 12 years taking care of her invalid mother, who has recently died. When Eleanor was a very little girl, there was a rain of stones on her house.

It is the drawing of Eleanor's character that makes this book so amazing. She's a pathetic creature with limited social skills, someone whose own passive character and life circumstances have conspired to cheat her out of a life. And so, in a sense, you feel sorry for her, and yet you dislike her because you are afraid of being like her. Her sister, whom Eleanor lives with, is opposed to Eleanor's participation in the Hill House experiment, and refuses to let her take the car that they both own. Eleanor, who thinks she's been waiting for something like this her whole life, sneaks out early in the morning and takes the car, driving the few hundred miles to Hill House. And it's probably the first rebellious thing she's ever done in her life.

The fourth major character is Luke Sanderson, a member of the family that owns Hill House, who is there to ostensibly keep an eye on things. Luke is a self-centered boring rich boy. Hence, I visualized him as Owen or Luke Wilson. He is so boring that, after reading the book, I don't really have a sense of him as a person... but I think that was the point.

So, these four people are together in this strange house, a house that is well built but somehow seems all wrong in its proportions, a house where rooms have been built within rooms, a house where the doors won't stay open and where it is easy to get lost. The housekeeper and cook, Mrs. Dudley, won't stay there after six. Eleanor is at first repulsed and horrified by the house, but stays, because staying the course is really her last chance at having a life.

Supernatural, haunting things happen, but the really interesting thing is how the relationship between Theodora and Eleanor develops, and how Eleanor's attitude toward Hill House evolves. "Journeys end in lovers meetings," she thinks; and "I am learning the pathways of the heart." She thinks she is so profound, she's constantly creating fantasies, she is jealous of Theodora and puts her down in her mind, but she's really projecting her own need to be the center of attention on Theo, and wants desperately to be like her. Also, although most of the book is from Eleanor's perspective, you (as a more self-aware person) can see how the others are really reacting to her, how they really see her. It's uncomfortable, but so compelling.

And the haunting itself... the doctor says, "We have only one defense, and that is running away. At least it can't follow us, can it?" then, to Eleanor, "Promise me absolutely that you will leave, as fast as you can, if you begin to feel the house catching at you."

And the house does seem to be singling out Eleanor... what happens to her over the course of the book, and how Hill House catches at her...It's so amazingly, subtly done that I want to sit down and reread the whole thing, right now. ... Read more

Isbn: 0140071083
Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Fiction - Horror    3. Ghost    4. Gothic fiction    5. Haunted houses    6. Horror fiction    7. Psychological fiction    8. Fiction / General   

Gothic
Director: Ken Russell
Average Customer Review:
DVD (26 February, 2002)
list price: $14.98 -- our price: $13.48
(price subject to change: see help)
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Editorial Review

Lurid, kitschy, over the top--what more does one expect from Ken Russell, director of The Devils, Tommy, and Altered States? Gothic purports to tell the story of a night that Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, and the future Mary Shelley spent at a country estate and decided to write ghost stories--a night that ultimately resulted in Mary writing the novel Frankenstein. These three and a couple of friends romp around the mansion, freaking out at shadows and the sounds of a storm, getting increasingly hysterical and hallucinatory as the night progresses. Thrown into the mix are a mechanical belly dancer, nudity, walking suits of armor, an orgy, séances, grotesque masks, leeches, a pig's head, stigmata, snakes, and God-awful dialogue like "We are the gods now--we have dared to call ourselves creators!" Gabriel Byrne (Byron), Julian Sands (Shelley), and Natasha Richardson (Mary) are all terrible; it's a miracle any of their careers survived. But good or bad isn't really the point with Ken Russell, who aspires to a kind of visual delirium. Gothic isn't the masterpiece of excess that The Lair of the White Worm is, but towards the last half-hour it does achieve a creepy state of disorientation entirely suited to its subject matter. Russell isn't afraid to be trashy in the pursuit of unfettered cinematic symbolism. It's a dirty job, but somebody's got to do it. --Bret Fetzer ... Read more

Features

• Color

Reviews (30)

GOTHIC is a fun movie
The only reason I would not give this movie more stars is because it is somewhat low budget and has alot of gross out situations thrown infor no real reason.I saw this moviefor the first time only a few years ago,I remmeber when it came out and I heard from people who saw it back in th 80,s that they were realy turned off by it and that it was a gross nasty shocking movie.I must say I never took the time to see it until I happened to come across Another film about the same thing HAUNTED SUMMER.I liked that little movie and became very interested in this situation about the Byrons and the shelleys getting together for Ghost story telling so I wanted more.I found GOTHIC On VHS finaly in a video store ,I was actualy dissapointed by GOTHIC at first because I had expected something realy much more shocking because by 21's century standards it is not so shocking now.However it is a fun film to whatch if you are an intellectual person and you enjoy dwelling on English bohemians or anything where highly intelligent artisticpeople are getting together and inventing new things.I prefer haunted house stories and psycological horror to alot of the computer generated crap made now that isnt scary anyway.As this film says imagination is what creates the best monsters and ghosts.The historical background of this account helps make it more interesting ,it is simply a speculation loosly based on what may or may not have happened that summer in Villa Diodati, Switzerland. I believe that the actors are good except for the fact that the real Historical figures may have been slightly younger than this crew ,Gabrielle burn as Byron is so horribly out of shape and flabby hewould have been a total turn off to the ladies and the Historical Byron was always very cadaverously thin,the best mistake though is the actress who plays Mary Shelley is Kind of Hotas the realy Mary was very plain looking atleast in her portraits.This is a fun film to whatch just to kick back with or it could make a nice backdrop when looking for your own inspiration if your into Horror writing or any creative venture[I dont however recommend most of the pethetic decadent behavior depicted by the characters in the GOTHIC of course]Contrast this film with EMMA with Gwyneth Paltrow set about the same time period.

The Romantics Unbound
I haven't seen any of Ken Russell's other works, but this one is the only one I need to see.This interesting thing about this movie is how similar all of the characters look to their real-life counterparts, or at least their portraits, with the sole exception being Shelley.Even without the fictional aspects being mixed in, the historical accounts of Percy and Mary, Claire, Polidori, and Byron are quite fascinating as well as entertaining in the movies, as evidenced by Haunted Summer.But it was Coleridge who once coined the term "suspension of disbelief", and taking a compelling real-life account of how Mary Shelley came to write Frankenstein and mixing in generous elements of the fictitious in order to turn reality into a horror story can be fun indeed, especially when the story is capable of allowing you to suspend your disbelief.And that's what this story does so wonderfully.I remember loaning a copy of this movie to a friend many years ago, and then several days later she called me to express her disbelief that Polidori had drank a beeker filled with water and leeches.But that's part of the lure of this film.Fans of the account concerning the origins of the story Frankenstein might, if their imagination allows, truly enjoy this work of art.

Ecxellent movie
Not a gore fest movie.It is supensefull and thoughtfull.It's a wild drug trip with the characters all strung out on laudanum.Surreal imagery mixed with drugged out viewing from the character's perspective. ... Read more

Asin: B00005V1WO
Subjects:  1. Horror   

'Salem's Lot
by Stephen King
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (01 November, 1999)
list price: $7.99 -- our price: $7.99
(price subject to change: see help)
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Editorial Review

Stephen King's second book, 'Salem's Lot (1975)--about the slow takeover of an insular hamlet called Jerusalem's Lot by a vampire patterned after Bram Stoker's Dracula--has two elements that he also uses to good effect in later novels: a small American town, usually in Maine, where people are disconnected from each other, quietly nursing their potential for evil; and a mixed bag of rational, goodhearted people, including a writer, who band together to fight that evil.

Simply taken as a contemporary vampire novel, 'Salem's Lot is great fun to read, and has been very influential in the horror genre. But it's also a sly piece of social commentary. As King said in 1983, "In 'Salem's Lot, the thing that really scared me was not vampires, but the town in the daytime, the town that was empty, knowing that there were things in closets, that there were people tucked under beds, under the concrete pilings of all those trailers. And all the time I was writing that, the Watergate hearings were pouring out of the TV.... Howard Baker kept asking, 'What I want to know is, what did you know and when did you know it?' That line haunts me, it stays in my mind.... During that time I was thinking about secrets, things that have been hidden and were being dragged out into the light." Sounds quite a bit like the idea behind his 1998 novel of a Maine hamlet haunted by unsightly secrets, Bag of Bones. --Fiona Webster ... Read more

Reviews (364)

the real Night Shift of the genre
In a way this is really Stephen King's first novel. Carrie was a detour--a lucky one--on the way, but this work occupied a few years of writing before that. And for me, twenty seven years after I first read it, it remains his best work. He has never since evoked such an atmosphere of hometown America mixed with the truly un-natural. Lines of dialogue, certain descriptions of characters and places, never leave you. The word 'fetid', for example, can only be associated in my experience now with vampires. And as for those yellow school buses, well....

The two short stories King wrote about 'Salem's Lot, which made it into Night Shift, embellish rather than weaken the mystique he created around this fictional town. And, of course, it's impossible to drive by Cumberland in Maine without thinking of it's ghostly non-existent neighboring town and wondering what really lies off the highway exits before you've passed on.

Get sucked into Salem's Lot by Emily Pentecost
Stephen king is brilliant in the way he composes his literary work, Salem's Lot.

Ben Mears, a successful writer, travels to his childhood town of Salem's s lot, to get inspiration from the Marsten house for his new book.About the same time two mysterious entrepreneurs, stalker and Barlow, arrive in the lot to start an antique store.They move into the Marsten house where a few decades earlier, Hubert Marsten murdered his wife and then hung himself.

People start disappearing and mysteriously dying in the lot.It starts with the disappearance of a 10 year old Ralph Glick.As he was walking with his older brother, Danny Glick on the way in the woods to his friends house they were attacked.Danny Glick dies a few days later, with no apparent cause.

Ben Mears teams up with teacher Matt Burke, priest father Callahan, and doctor Jimmy Cody.They also team up with 10 year old Mark Petrie (the friend Ralph was going to see) to find out about why the happenings are occurring and who or what is behind it.This book was nonstop suspense, has unexpected twists and unforeseen conclusions.Despite it rushed the ending; it was a really good story none-the-less.King had a way of putting ideas together in a unique way that makes you want to not put this book down.

Vampires in Maine?!
Many critics have said Stephen King isn't a very good writer.There are twenty characters or more in `Salem's Lot, and it takes a pretty accomplished writer to write about every one of them and tie up all loose ends.Stephen King can tell a great story.There is great pace and mounting suspense when all the people start disappearing.All the suspense and drama occurs in the last 150 pages, when Ben Mears and Mark Petrie (and a few others with them have disappeared or died) have to find Straker and kill him.The part where the basement stairs are sawed off and knives are arranged blade up on the floor is very chilling. ... Read more

Isbn: 0671039741
Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Fiction - Horror    3. Horror - General    4. Science Fiction - General    5. Fiction / General   

The Haunting
Director: Robert Wise
Average Customer Review:
DVD (26 April, 2005)
list price: $14.96 -- our price: $11.97
(price subject to change: see help)
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Editorial Review

Certain to remain one of the greatest haunted-house movies ever made, Robert Wise's The Haunting (1963) is antithetical to all the gory horror films of subsequent decades, because its considerable frights remain implicitly rooted in the viewer's sensitivity to abject fear. A classic spook-fest based on Shirley Jackson's novel The Haunting of Hill House (which also inspired the 1999 remake directed by Jan de Bont), the film begins with a prologue that concisely establishes the dark history of Hill House, a massive New England mansion (actually filmed in England) that will play host to four daring guests determined to investigate--and hopefully debunk--the legacy of death and ghostly possession that has given the mansion its terrifying reputation.

Consumed by guilt and grief over her mother's recent death and driven to adventure by her belief in the supernatural, Eleanor Vance (Julie Harris) is the most unstable--and therefore the most vulnerable--visitor to Hill House. She's invited there by anthropologist Dr. Markway (Richard Johnson), along with the bohemian lesbian Theodora (Claire Bloom), who has acute extra-sensory abilities, and glib playboy Luke Sanderson (Russ Tamblyn, from Wise's West Side Story), who will gladly inherit Hill House if it proves to be hospitable. Of course, the shadowy mansion is anything but welcoming to its unwanted intruders. Strange noises, from muffled wails to deafening pounding, set the stage for even scarier occurrences, including a door that appears to breathe (with a slowly turning doorknob that's almost unbearably suspenseful), unexplained writing on walls, and a delicate spiral staircase that seems to have a life of its own.

The genius of The Haunting lies in the restraint of Wise and screenwriter Nelson Gidding, who elicit almost all of the film's mounting terror from the psychology of its characters--particularly Eleanor, whose grip on sanity grows increasingly tenuous. The presence of lurking spirits relies heavily on the power of suggestion (likewise the cautious handling of Theodora's attraction to Eleanor) and the film's use of sound is more terrifying than anything Wise could have shown with his camera. Like Jack Clayton's 1961 chiller, The Innocents, The Haunting knows the value of planting the seeds of terror in the mind, as opposed to letting them blossom graphically on the screen. What you don't see is infinitely more frightening than what you do, and with nary a severed head or bloody corpse in sight, The Haunting is guaranteed to chill you to the bone. --Jeff Shannon ... Read more

Features

• Black & White
• Closed-captioned
• Widescreen

Reviews (299)

I'm Going To Jackson...
Robert Wise's overly praised (and badly written) adaptation of the much better Shirley Jackson novel 'The Haunting of Hill House' piles on the atmospherics but goes the safe and well-trodden 'Hollywood' path by needlessly giving Eleanor's character a truly embarrassing love interest. As this silly angle is not evident in Ms Jackson's carefully structured psychological exploration of Eleanor's mental disintegration, the film substitutes subtlty with an hysterical performance from Julie Harris, who is unconvincing in the extreme. Add a dash of the sensational (a lesbian) but then shrink back from its deeper implications, tilt the camera now and then and turn the soundtrack up, contrive the inexplicable and cap the tale with a rushed finale and a 'classic' is born!One should take the era of production into consideration, but subtle The Haunting isn't, and this to its own detriment.On the plus side though are a couple of truly chilling set-pieces (thanks to Shirley) which seem to have helped The Haunting earn its glorious reputation. Compared to Jack Clayton's incredibly perverse 'The Innocents', Robert Wise's ghost story pales significantly.All copies of the 1999 remake should be burned.

Forget the remake, watch the original!
If you appreciate a really dark, really intense psycholocially thrilling movie, you gotta see "The Haunting". My words only cheapen the experience. It has so many layers, so many fears and feelings, I just hope you get a chance to see it. I must admit I've seen it a number of times and always, always find it fresh and fascinating. I plan to buy this on DVD very soon. A solid five stars!

Great Oldie
I love old thrillers like this.If its blood and gore you are after dont get this.Its one that makes your skin crawl when you hear the scary noises and the banging and stuff.
I saw this movie when i was about 10 in the mid 70s and i was terrified.Funny how when you see it years later how you wonder why it scared you so much as a kid.
But dont get me wrong this movie realy scares you,turn off the lights,get a blanket to snuggle into and when its finished you wont want to get out.Every noise you hear will scare you if you are on your own.
Takes a while to get started, but when it does its great. ... Read more

Asin: B00009NHB6
Subjects:  1. Horror   

Closed on Account of Rabies: Poems and Tales of Edgar Allan Poe
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD (09 December, 1997)
list price: $19.98 -- our price: $16.99
(price subject to change: see help)
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Editorial Review

One of the true marks of a horror artist is to create something that is at once completely terrifying and utterly fascinating. It's not about blood, guts, and gore, as anyone who's ever seen Psycho could tell you, but about suspense, story, and the characters themselves. Edgar Allan Poe's stories rank as some of the greatest horror ever written--and that's before the likes of Iggy Pop, Diamanda Galás, Abel Ferrara, and Christopher Walken (chilling, as he reads from "The Raven") got their hands--er, voices--on Poe's words. This two-disc compilation is a success if only for treating Poe's texts in the right manner, with subtle backing music and sounds and restrained, ominous performances from the readers (other fine readings come from Ken Nordine, Dr. John, and Jeff Buckley). One reason for the album's quality may be producer Hal Willner; if you enjoy this, you might also want to check out his work on Weird Nightmare: Meditations on Mingus, The Carl Stalling Project, Vol. 1, and Spare Ass Annie. --Randy Silver ... Read more

Reviews (16)

What a spectacular period seven assembly this could be!!
These kinds of tribute albums are always tricky, even when they are just dealing with a musician's body of work.What Hal Willner has done on this two-CD set is amazing, though.To try to collect the pieces from Edgar Allan Poe's eclectic catalog of stories and poetry, find the write artists to read, sing, and/or interpret those works, and then to package it all appropriately was a major feat.Every track is not a five-star work, but the collection earns the five stars for sheer effort and uniqueness.From the cover art by Ralph Steadman, appropriately weird and spooky-looking, to the fabulous liner notes by Charles Baudelaire and Willner, himself, this CD set has been an indispensable part of my Grade 11 English (American Literature) curriculum since its release.

Everyone is going to have his or her favorite tracks/stories/poems, but here are mine:
1.Gabriel Byrne reading "The Masque of the Red Death" -- great accent, cool music and background noises; nicely understated, Byrne lets the story tell itself.
2.Diamanda Galas reading "The Black Cat" -- smoking five packs a day does pay off for some people. . . .I almost wet my pants when I first heard her read the opening line of the story.
3.Dr. John reading "Berenice" -- not the typical Poe selection, very cool New Orleans accent and grovely voice.
4.Iggy Pop reading "The Tell-Tale Heart" -- classic story, great voice and interpretation.
5.Marianne Faithfull reading "Alone" -- again, great voice and creepy effects.

I'm leaving out Ken Nordine, Jeff Buckley, and Christopher Walken, all of whom turn in outstanding performances.

Weak points aside, this CD earns five stars for the total package.The cover art is very cool, the liner notes are very interesting and informative, the sound production is superb, and a vast majority of the renditions maximize Poe's eccentricities and creepy weirdness.The musical artists and actors put themselves somewhat at risk with these alternative performances, and their risks pay off big time!If you are a fan of Poe, this is a must-have CD set.If you are a fan of any of the performers, you likely won't be disappointed either.If you are just a fan of creative and alternative works, this is well worth a try.Everybody wins!

Rythm, mesmerizing
What makes Poe's poetry so gripping? It is not the words themselves, but rather the rythm and beat they create. His poems are just begging to be read and these cd's do just that. A great piece of work.

Reinvigorating a tormented soul
This is a mixed bag all right, the most egregious negatives being perpetual freak-fringe figure Ed Sanders' ostenisble "songs", and Abel Ferrara's too-jokey "Raven".But -oh- Dr. John's reading of "Berenice" is sheer magic.This underrated tale in the Poe canon, of incestuous necrophile dental obsession is totally buoyed by the swampy southern stylings of music and voice.It's perhaps the best recording of a Poe story ever, and I'm a huge fan of the Vincent Price/Basil Rathbone recordings of the 1960s.Ken Nordine could read a cereal box and make it sound good; I wish he had a longer selection on this CD-set.Marrianne Faithfull croaks out "Alone" with that special vocal quality that only years of smoke, whiskey and drug abuse can engender.It's all peaks and valleys - but what peaks! ... Read more

Asin: B000003ZVR
Subjects:  1. Alternative Pop/Rock    2. Avant-Garde    3. Avant-Garde Jazz    4. Club/Dance    5. Contemporary Jazz    6. Dance-Pop    7. Experimental    8. Experimental Ambient    9. Modern Creative    10. Pop    11. Pop/Rock    12. Post-Bop    13. Rock    14. Rock & Roll    15. Spoken / Comedy / Radio Shows    16. Spoken Word   

Topper/Topper Returns
Director: Norman Z. McLeod
Average Customer Review:
DVD (17 February, 2004)
list price: $14.98 -- our price: $11.24
(price subject to change: see help)
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Editorial Review

A classic screwball comedy with a supernatural twist, Topper starsthe incomparable Cary Grant and sparkling Constance Bennett as George andMarion Kirby, a fun-loving couple who cap an evening of jazz and champagneby running their car into a tree. They return as ghosts with a mandate toliven up the straight-laced hen-pecked life of bank president Cosmo Topper(Roland Young), who's hungry for just such a shake-up. Before long he'sboozing, dancing, and getting into fights, all of which gives him a rakishreputation--much to the consternation of his wife (Billie Burke, bestknown as Glinda the Good Witch in The Wizard of Oz). The sequelreplaces Grant and Bennett with Joan Blondell, who can't quite compare,but she's charming in her own way. Topper Returns is a rambunctiousmurder mystery with some gorgeous sets and elegant cinematography--thesequence of Blondell's death and ghostly rise is dazzling. --BretFetzer ... Read more

Features

• Black & White
• Closed-captioned

Reviews (14)

Hats Off To "Topper"
I originally bought this DVD because I couldn't find the original "Topper" anywhere. At the chance of buying both films on one DVD I thought it was a steal.

Given that there are two films on here I'm going to briefly review each on its own.

"Topper" (Dir. Norman Z. Mcleod, 1937) - "Topper" stars Cary Grant and Constance Bennett as a rich fun loving couple, George and Marion Kirby, that happens to get into a car accident and die. But there ghost remains. It is their feeling that in order to get to Heaven they must committ one good deed. So they decide to help an uptight Bank executive, Topper (Roland Young, in an Oscar nominated role) learn to loosen up. The movie has plenty of wonderful sight gags and at times I found myself laughing out loud, very loud. But one wonders why does Grant and Bennett think that helping a rich man learn to loosen up qualifies as a "good deed"? What if they helped a poor man become rich?

The movie's director Norman Z. McLeod was a comedy director of expericence having directed several Bob Hope movies including "My Favorite Spy" and "Alias Jesse James" along with a Cole Porter musical "Panama Hattie" and returned to "Topper" material in "Topper Takes A Trip"

Spot Arthur Lake as the elevator boy. He is known to many as Dagwood in the "Blondie" series. Also co-starring is Billie Burke as Mrs. Topper

The movie was also named by AFI as one of the 100 funniest films of all-time. *** out of *****

"Topper Returns" (Dir. Roy De Ruth, 1941) - Despite having a great cast this sequel doesn't live up to the original. This time around Joan Blondell, H.B. Warner, Patsy Kelly, Dennis O' Keefe and Rochester join in on the fun.

Joan Blondell (Gail Richards) is murdered when mistaken for Carole Landis (Ann Carrington) so her ghost goes to Topper (Young again) to seek out the real killers. And immediately I was asking myself how would she know to go to him? What if she went to Landis instead to warn her? But I guess we're not suppose to think of such things in this movie.The movie does have some laughs but none I found as funny as the ones in the original. Also something to wonder about is why does the taxi-driver (O' Keefe) arrive so late at the house to ask for his fare? Couldn't he wait until morning. But, there I go again, thinking when I shouldn't be!** 1\2 out of *****

Roy Del Ruth like McLeod had been around a long time and is known mostly be me as a musical director. He directed "On the Avenue" (An Irving Berlin musical) and "Du Barry Was A Lady (A Cole Porter musical). He also directed Eddie Cantor in "Kid Millions".

Bottom-line: Buy this DVD for "Topper" it is well worth the price plus "Topper Return" is not so bad. But, who says you have to watch both anyway if you don't want to?

And Lo, the Worm turns....
The ghosts of a carefree and madcap couple redeem themselves by "liberating" a stuffy, hen-pecked banker.Doesn't sound like much, does it?But with Cary Grant and Constance Bennett as the ghosts and Roland Young and Billie Burke as the banker and his wife, plus some of MGM's best stock character actors in support, you get a light and breezy comedy classic.For deft comedic touch you can't beat Grant and Bennett, for propriety coming undone and deadpan delivery that will surprise you, Roland Young is a master.Young is like John Cleese in that he can be funny even delivering straight lines, straight-faced.The film builds on its comedic premise expertly right up to a series of sequences in a hotel, with Eugene Pallete as the "house dick" and Arthur Lake as a befuddled bellboy that are hilarious. Alan Mowbray, as the butler, deserves special mention as well.Top flight comedy done by pros.This gets the five stars.

Unfortunately, I can't say the same for Topper Returns.An undistinguished typical 40's Old Dark House-style murder mystery with a lot of mugging by Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, Dennis O'Keefe, Patsy Kelly and Joan Blondell as the ghost this time out.It benefits by having Roland Young and Billie Burke from the first film, but it has none of the efervescent fun of the first film, and the comedy is mostly tired comedy relief admidst the lame mystery. Reminded me of Red Skelton's "The Fox" films.

So you get a classic and a dud.Worth buying for the first film alone, and you may get something out of the second that I didn't.It's thrown in for free, so what the heck.

Well worth the price
Although I don't think Topper with Cary Grant is as good as some of his other B&W comedies, "Bringing up Baby", "The Bachelor and Bobby Soxer" or even "Monkey Business", it is a good old B&W movie to watch. However, I think I like "Topper Returns" even better, "Topper" gets bettter as the movie nears the end, but "Topper Returns" seems to keep laughs coming throughout the picture. I find the scenes with "Rochester" from the old Jack Benny show most memorable, the comments he makes ( he has a very memorable voice) , the way he rolls his eyes and responds to the ghost extremely funny. "Topper Returns" has more people doing the funny scenes, little things throughout the movie.

The picture and sound quality on this DVD seems better on our Hitachi 57S700 better than "Topper Returns" by Alpha Video. We have one of our Dtivos getting every Cary Grant movie for the past few years but never seemed to get Topper. We were at a store and saw "Topper Returns" by Alpha Video. After buying this I decided to buy Topper/Topper Returns here on Amazon, just to get "Topper" with Cary Grant, and glad I did.Once again, for those of you that like old B&W comedies, this DVD is welll worth the Amazon price. ... Read more

Asin: B00008ZZ7B
Subjects:  1. Feature Film-comedy   

7th Guest
Average Customer Review:
CD-ROM
list price: $39.95
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Editorial Review

Near the Hudson River lies the village of Harley. Somewhere in this village, Henry A. Stauf, a famous toy maker, built his mysterious mansion. Stauf has invited six guests to his newly completed mansion, but they soon discover themselves locked inside. Now they have to find a way out, but all they find are puzzles in every room. Only one person can solve these puzzles and find a way out. That person is you, the 7th Guest.... ... Read more

Features

Reviews (27)

great puzzles at least
The story-line sucks. they play stupid music while the 'supposedly' scary things are happening. But the puzzles are great! and that's the main thing for me. the puzzles range from the common sense letter ones, to the more complicated mazes or "can" puzzle. i haven't been playing it for more than a couple of hours, and i've already come across at least 10 puzzles, which were challenging, and if not hard, at least they are fun to toy with. i would highly recommend this to any puzzle-lover, but if your in it for the horror and the battling, this game has none, so stay away.

Great game..
The seventh guest is an old game- initially came out in the early 90's but it still has a great concept and lots of puzzles.

You are the seventh guest- invited to a madman's mansion. The mansion is filled with ghosts and puzzles and the guests/ghosts are trapped there. The mansion has many rooms and each room has a puzzle.Each puzzle must be solved to advance the game, open more rooms and save the little boy.Stauf, the madman, is a toymaker who makes dolls from the souls of children andhe is after a little boy to create another doll.

The puzzles themselves vary from the ridiculously easy (piano) to the very difficult (painting).There is a nice variation of puzzles types as well--memory games, logic games, chess, maze etc.

A nice feature is the library book which will give you hints on how to solve the puzzle and even solve it for those who get too frustrated.

The game's atmosphere is creepy but not scary.The music is great though it does tend to drown out the diaglogue.The rooms were well done with lots of hidden scenes and hidden exits.

board! BOARD!! BOARD!! BOOAARRDD!!!
To be honest this game is boaring to me. It's not creapy, I guess in its day it was scary, but not by today's standard baby!
I bought this game and 11th hour at the local dollar store.It looked creapy but it wasnt. The only thing that was enjoyable about this game was the puzzles, they are very puzzling, and you'll be obsest with trying to solve them, my faverite was lining up the queens on the chess board. But its not scary, if you want scary buy Cleave Barker's Undying. ... Read more

Asin: B00004T00A
Subjects:  1. Supernatural (horror)    2. Seventh    3. Computer Games    4. Adventure   

11th Hour
Average Customer Review:
CD-ROM

US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Reviews (18)

Be Careful if you buy this!
I loved the 7th Guest so I bought this game. At Amazon it says that the 11th Hour is for Windows 95 and 98, however, when I got the game the box said that it was for Windows 95 or Dos 5.0 or greater. I could not get the game to work on my computer because I have 98.

If you like puzzle games, the 11th Hour will probably be fun. Just make sure you know what system the game is for before you buy it. If you can't play the 11th Hour I would suggest getting the 7th guest because they made an updated version for windows.

I gave this game 3 stars because it looks like I would enjoy it, but haven't actually been able to play it yet. When I do play it I'll write a better review. Sorry if this isn't helpful.

More of the same
If you've played 7th Guest, you've played 11th Hour. It's the same house -- the same puzzles -- the same general story -- and most of the same actors. Did they think that adding more and better FMV cutscenes would disguise that? Puh-LEASE.

The only really positive thing about the game is how much fun it is to wander through an abandoned house poking at things. The puzzles are all of the improbable chess-problem sort, and several of them require you to play against the computer, a situation that is not always winnable. Quite frustrating! especially since every wrong move you make gets you an insulting remark by the overacting villain. Add to it that the basic story is hopelessly contrived and silly, the ending unrewarding, and the neverending music boring and hokey, and ... well, I wouldn't call it a winner.

If you're intrigued by ghost stories, go play 7th Guest. It's more fun and at least has the benefit of originality.

Even now...this game spooks me.....
The 11th Hour is a excellent game.

Now first off I don't want to hear any new gamers bad-mouthing this game.This is a old game that came out in the early 90's and it used the software that was available at that time.But it truly pushed the limit in this area because the game looked great back then...and still does today.So yes there were some cheezy effects, but overall this game was very good.

The GRAPHICS are what to be expected of a game of this age, but be warned, despite its old software....the game is still very spooky.You basically navigate a house with pre-rendered backgrounds and what looks to be a early PDA called a GameBook.Full-Motion-Video scenes are shown and look very good.

The GAMEPLAY is everything you could want and expect from a puzzle game.The game progresses with you solving puzzles and making key choices in some areas.This is early attempts at combining a puzzle game with a progressing Horror movie.You do however get help from a small Game Book that resemembles the early PDA's you could buy at Radio Shack.The Gamebook will give you clues and show FMV sequences.You can also save and load your game thru this gamebook.However, BEWARE!If you do not like solving puzzles then you will not like this game.

The STORY is one of the best I have seen for a PC Game.It is very elaborate and will have you wanting to find out more as you progress thru the game.Basically you are a TV producer named Carl Denning.You sleep with one of your hosts from a Investigator show and then break it off with her in a bad way.She soon disappears in a spooky mansion she was investigating during her affair with Carl.This is the Stauf Mansion from the previous game, The 7th Guest.Carl recieves the Gamebook and is instructed to go to the Stauf Mansion to save the host he just broke up with.As you arrive at the Mansion, you prepare to find out what exactly happened to her...and there the story begins..

The MUSIC is hands down, the best PC game score I have ever heard.The producer of the music is a group called, The Fat Man.The music really brings this game go life in a very scary way.The music will implant itself into your mind even when you power off your PC and go to sleep.Some of the music is soo distrubing you won't want to visit some rooms in the house, trust me!Amazon does sell the score of this music on CD if you must have it to own.

Overall this game really made a impact despite the company Trilobyte going belly up.It really did disturb me when I went to go to sleep and I could still hear the music in my head.Oh the infernal melody!If you get stuck you can find some hints at www.tbyte.com.I have honestly played thru the game about 4 times and it still distrubs me.Stauf will taunt you all throughout the mansion, so be prepared for that.Get this game, trust me, if you are a puzzle freak you will enjoy this game.If you can't find it on here...try Ebay.And be sure to check out the Soundtrack to this movie in Amazon's Music area. ... Read more

Asin: B00004T009
Sales Rank: 5343
Subjects:  1. Horror (Supernatural)    2. 7th Guest (Seventh)    3. Computer Games    4. Adventure   

Zork Nemesis
Average Customer Review:
CD-ROM
list price: $39.95
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Features

Reviews (22)

Not Zork, but great fun
This game is an amazing improvement over the less-than-stellar first attempt at a graphic-based Zork game, Return To Zork. The graphics remind me of a slightly-revamped Myst, and the acting is superb, although the video is rather low quality. It's also the first exploration game that I ever played which allows a 360 degree panoramic view, something I thought Riven should have used, and which Myst: Exile eventually perfected into a totally spherical view. The puzzles are very intruging, I especially like the music-based ones. The environments, music and atmosphere are genuinely evocative, and in some cases, extremely creepy. You will not sleep well after chopping heads off of dead bodies in the Gray Mountains Assylum while listening to the disembodied cries of the insane.

The plot involves several twists and turns, as you start out to help four alchemists and uncover some very dark pasts.

The only problem I find with this game is that, besides references to previous Zork games such as a portrait of Dimwit Flathead and the various place names, there's very little connecting it to the whole Zork universe. There isn't even an old brass lantern! It's a very serious game, similar to Myst, and not a fun, witty adventure through a fantasy land like Zork Zero. Never the less, I would really recommend it to anybody who's a fan of exploration games, this one will keep you occupied for good while.

A timeless game, but all things have their flaws.
I remember playing Zork Nemesis with my mother when the game was first released a number of years ago. I was young then and the combination of haunting music and (for the time) stunning graphics frigthened and enticed me into loving the dark game.

Playing it again now is a bit of a nostalgia trip, and a good time waster, but sadly nothing as grand as it was in my early childhood. The game is fantastic to play once more for its fantastic worlds and characters (the frozen asylum of Dr. Sartorius, for example, is one place I will not soon forget), but sadly its plot can only entertin you for so long after you know its, one other reviewer put it well, Soap Opera worthy end.

That, however, should not stop first time adventurers from picking up the game and enjoying immensly. It's a game worthy of the Myst crowd (a series which, in my opinion, is still far beyond this game in its puzzles and atmospheres), the player must examine everything and take note of all of it for completing the sometimes tricky (though nothing to the level of some presented in Myst, especially Exile, the third game in the series) puzzles along the way.

For the fans of the old text-based Zork originals, this game is a far cry from the embodiment of those type of adventures, but for people like myself who enjoy both the more dark and serious puzzles like Myst, but also have a soft spot for the humor and culture picked up in playing the old text-baseds, some moments in Nemesis will have you giggling out of your chair. References to the Underground Empire, actual encounters with living, breathing (unseeable) Grues (the best and classic throwback to the original Zork), and a good helping of some wacky side characters and other bonuses that will give you a small helping of wacky humor to lighten things up in the midst of some rather macabre and eerie scenes (Might I mention a certain nurse in the blood filled asylum?).

All and all, while it is not a game to be played over and over (though certain points, like the aformentioned nurse, are enough to make me save often and go back to revist some more enjoyable scenes) it is a good game to experience at least once for the inovative world and characters the creators came up with.

What an amazing game!
This is one of the best games i've played! 5 stars and a half! ... Read more

Asin: B00004U8JA
Sales Rank: 4202
Subjects:  1. Fantasy    2. Computer Games    3. Adventure    4. Computer Role Playing Games (Game, rpgs, rpg, crpg, crpgs)   

Pandora's Box: Puzzle Game of the Year Edition
Average Customer Review:
CD-ROM (01 November, 2000)
list price: $19.95
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Editorial Review

When Alexey Pajitnov, creator of Tetris (one of the most addictive games of all time), designs a new puzzle title, fans everywhere perk their heads up and take note. While it's not quite up to the irresistible standard set by its legendary predecessor, Microsoft's Pandora's Box: Puzzle Game of the Year Edition was named Puzzle Game of the Year by the Electric Games website, and offers hours of nonviolent, uncomplicated enjoyment through its 10 different types of puzzles.

Nearly all of the Pandora's Box conundrums resemble the traditional jigsaw puzzle, though you'll find plenty of visual twists, such as sliding pieces on a circular plane or having to solve a puzzle built on a complex 3-D object. Some deviate from this formula, but the most addictive puzzles follow this model, and those provide the most extended--and replayable--diversions.

For those overwhelmed by complex computer games, Pandora's Box: Puzzle Game of the Year Edition offers a simplistic interface and basic rules, easing computer novices into the puzzle environment. This edition features 40 new puzzle games, as well as the original 350 puzzles from the original Pandora's Box. There are five difficulty levels, plus various hints and wildcards that remove the frustration factor when you're unable to complete a particular puzzle. Looking for new puzzle games to replace your Tetris addiction? Check out Alexey Pajitnov's engrossing Pandora's Box: Puzzle Game of the Year Edition. --Doug Radcliffe ... Read more

Reviews (32)

A Puzzling Experience.
Loved the game. Still do. I have played it many times before, just to get a better understanding of the different puzzles included in the game, and also to try and better my personal scores. If there is a better puzzle game out there, I would like to see it. It has kept me captivated hours on end each time I open up a new account for play, and I will keep playing it for years to come for that reason.

A computer game for people who don't play computer games
Pin ball makes me grit my teeth, other computer games are either too violent, too complicated to figure out how to play or too juvenile. But Pandora's Box is the exception. It's the game for lovers of geography, art, history, mythology and for jigsaw puzzle lovers. The graphics are stunning, the music, while not the best feature, lends the right note, changing from African drums to a Caribean beat to pomp & circumstance depending on what parts of the world your game takes you. If you don't want to keep score you can also solve the puzzles on their own. This is my second copy and I hope Microsoft brings out a third installment with new puzzles.

A computer game for people who don't play computer games
Pin ball makes me grit my teeth, other computer games are either too violent, too complicated to figure out how to play or too juvenile. But Pandora's Box is the exception. It's the game for lovers of geography, art, history, mythology and for jigsaw puzzle lovers. The graphics are stunning, the music, while not the best feature, lends the right note, changing from African drums to a Caribean beat to pomp & circumstance depending on what parts of the world your game takes you. If you don't want to keep score you can also solve the puzzles on their own. This is my second copy and I hope Microsoft brings out a third installment with new puzzles. ... Read more

Asin: B00004WLPG
Subjects:  1. Computer Games    2. Puzzle (Puzzles)   

Phantasmagoria Stagefright
Average Customer Review:
CD-ROM

US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France

Editorial Review

This collection contains two terrifying adventures by Roberta Williams from the bestselling horror series in gaming history. The package's extensive film footage, realistic graphics, and orchestrated soundtrack will easily pull you into this world of psychological horrors. (Ages 17 and older) ... Read more

Reviews (26)

Doesn't live up to its expectations...
I am a huge fan of Roberta Williams, her King's Quest games have offered me hours of entertainment since I was about 9 years old. When I heard that she was taking on a more "adult" project featuring real actors and a gripping, horror-based storyline, I was more than excited. However, I received nothing but disappointment.

The graphics in this game are most impressive (considering the time that the game was created). They feature real actors who are placed in front of a blue screen with a cartoon-ish backround and props projected behind them. This gives the game a fairly realistic effect although at times the actors look so out of place in front of their backrounds that the occuring event is everything but real.

As far as the acting goes..it's about what you'd expect from a game which resembles a B horror movie. Most of the acting is barely believeable (although Adrienne, the main character, is not horrible) and the characters themselves are most annoying.

The story was just awful...cliched and robbed to the core, I found absolutely everything in this game to be entirely predictable. It focuses around a couple, Don and Adrienne, who move into a huge, spooky house on an island. The house was owned by a creepy count named Carno and it is said to be haunted. All of the islanders are afraid of the house and none of them are too keen on talking about it (with the exception of one eager old woman who serves as the "revelation of the evil within" source seen in all movies of this sort). The story proceeds just as you would predict. Without giving anything away I'll just tell you that Adrienne discovers ghosts, secret rooms, and a demon which has been wreaking havoc on the house for years. It borrows heavily from Stephen King's "The Shining" (as in..the house turns the husband into a raving psychopath). For anyone who is not too familiar with the horror genre, Phantasmagoria may provide a few hours of good story. To fans of classic horror movies and games, Phantasmagoria will become stale before the end of chapter three.

This brings me to the gameplay. The game itself is divided into 7 chapters (each chapter contained entirely on its respective disk). While this may seem as though it allows for a massive game, it must be said that each chapter can be completed in a quick half hour, even by the most inexperienced of adventure gamers. The puzzles that each chapter requires you to solve are completely lacking in challenge. They are solved by the use of obvious items in Adrienne's inventory and no logical thought is necessary. There was actually a chapter in the game which focused entirely on buying a bottle of Dran-O from the village general store and returning it to your husband. Yes - that's it. Later - a puzzle comes up where the very item you need can be found a single screen below and it is not hidden in the very least.

To fans of blood and gore - this game may serve as an enjoyable "shockfest". There is more than one moment of senseless violence which is not limited to beheading, faces being ripped open, and the funneling of human body parts down a woman's throat. For those too squeamish to even imagine such things, the gore can easily be censored with an in-game option requiring the entry of a password (to protect the little ones' virgin eyes).

Overall, Phantasmagoria lacks in every area required to make an adventure game reach "classic" status. The story is predictable, the gameplay simple and stale, and the characters annoying. For huge fans of senseless violence and B-movie horror plots, this may serve as some sort of "cult classic" piece. All others, don't waste your money.

The absolute best
This is the most enjoyable and thrilling game I have ever played on the PC.I didn't want to move away from my computer while playing because it was so gripping.I recommend this game for any PC gamer who wants a realistic adventure.

Phantasmagoria (the original)
I loved this game the first time we played it!!! I want to buy it and replay it but I don't know if it can be played on Windows XP?Does anyone know?Please email me at thetaylors@insightbb.com.I want to purchase it as a xmas gift(on amazon) for my husband.We set up all night and played it 10 years ago.I wish they still made games like that.Todays' games are too complicated to play. (IMO) All of Sierra games are good !!!!!!!! ... Read more

Asin: B00001LDC2
Subjects:  1. Horror (Supernatural)    2. Computer Games    3. Adventure    4. Collections (Collections)    5. Bundle (Bundles)    6. Havas