Treasures of the Public Domain: The House on Haunted Hill

I freaking love William Castle. He was the gimmicky horror director in the 1950s who, for instance, makes a fourth wall-shattering appearance at the end of his film Mr. Sardonicus to tally up the audience votes to determine the fate of the titular character: when originally screened, Mr. Sardonicus viewers were given tally cards that showed a thumb pointing up and a thumb pointing down. Audience members could then select whether Mr. Sardonicus should be forgiven for his misdeeds or suffer the horrors of TMJ.

Now, as much as I love William Castle, I didn't know he directed what is probably his most famous film: The House on Haunted Hill. Pretty straight-forward plot: Vincent Price offers $10,000 to anyone who can spend the night in the house and cheesy special effects carry the film from there. Last night, I watched the 1999 remake starring Geoffrey Rush and Famke Janssen. It was OK. But if I want to watch the original, I'd have to NetFlix it, right?

Wrong! 'pparently the copyright on The House on Haunted Hill has expired, so you can BitTorrent it for free. I know what I'm doing tonight. I'm downloading a horror movie and then never watching it.