The Legend of Hell House

The Legend of Hell House is a 1973 gothic supernatural horror film directed by John Hough, and starring Pamela Franklin, Roddy McDowall, Clive Revill, and Gayle Hunnicutt. It follows a group of researchers who spend a week in the former home of a sadist and murderer, where previous paranormal investigators were inexplicably killed. Its screenplay was written by American author Richard Matheson, based upon his 1971 novel Hell House. Plot Physicist Dr. Lionel Barrett is enlisted by eccentric millionaire Rudolph Deutsch to undertake an investigation on the afterlife at Belasco House, the "Mount Everest of haunted houses." The house was originally owned by Emeric Belasco, an imposing, perverted millionaire and supposed murderer, who disappeared soon after a massacre occurred at the home. The house is believed to be haunted by the victims of Belasco's twisted and sadistic desires. Accompanying Barrett are his wife, Ann, as well as two mediums: mental medium and spiritualist minister Florence Tanner and physical medium Benjamin Franklin "Ben" Fischer, who is the only survivor of an investigation conducted 20 years before. The group arrive to begin their investigation a week before Christmas Eve, and the rationalist Barrett is rudely skeptical of Florence Tanner's belief in "surviving personalities", spirits which haunt the physical world, and he asserts that there is nothing but unfocused electromagnetic energy in the house. Barrett brings a machine he has developed, which he believes will rid the house of this energy. Though not a physical medium, Tanner begins to manifest physical phenomena inside the house. When, after a quarrel with her, Barrett is attacked by invisible forces, he suspects that Tanner may be using the house's energy against him. Meanwhile, Fischer remains aloof, with his mind closed to the house's influence, and is only there to collect the generous paycheck. Ann is subjected to erotic visions late at night, which seem linked to her lackluster sex life. She goes downstairs and, in an apparent trance, disrobes and demands sex from Fischer. He strikes her, snapping her out of the trance, and she returns to herself, horrified and ashamed. A second incident occurs a day or so later after she has become drunk. Her husband arrives a moment later to witness her advances to Fischer. He is resentful, and spurns Fischer's warnings that the house is affecting Ann.