Weak horror film is mainly interesting because of how closely the plot hews to the teen body count horror film formula long before the formula was firmly established a decade later with the "Halloween" and "Friday the 13th" films. Frankie Avalon and a group of British teens go to an old mansion where they are then killed one by one. Who is the murderer? (SPOILER ALERT!) I was really hoping it would be Frankie of Beach Party fame, but sadly it was not. Writer/director Michael Armstrong, the man who made the notorious (and poorly made in my opinion) "Mark of the Devil," delivers another weak film here. I do think this film could have been better if Armstrong got his original choice of David Bowie as the killer. Unfortunately AIP felt Bowie would clash with Frankie. Too bad. That might have made this a much more memorable of film.

I'll be totally honest and admit straight away that I hoped for this flick to be A LOT better… I'm a sucker for British horror movies from the late '60s/early '70s period, especially if they have such juicy sounding titles like "The Haunted House of Horror" and if they are produced by the underrated Tigon Company that also made the fabulous genre masterpieces "Witchfinder General" and "Blood on Satan's Claw". In terms of plot synopsis and setting, this one differs a lot from the usual type of contemporary Brit-horror, considering it's not a Gothic period piece or a re-imagining of a classic monster movie, but in fact a sort of pioneer slasher movie in a haunted house setting! That's quite unique already, and then "The Haunted House of Horror" also gets a couple of extra points for originality because the lead characters are a mixture of hippie teenagers and old-fashioned stern police investigators. More than enough reason for this film to be a criminally neglected horror gem – I thought – and thus I didn't pay too much attention to the overall low rating and negative reviews around here. Well I still stand behind the points I raised for originality, but sadly I do have to acknowledge that it is a boring film with a very illogical plot! First of all let me state that the brief plot description mentioned on the film's IMDb page isn't accurate at all… "Teenagers gathered in an old mansion are being murdered one by one. The survivors must discover who among them the killer is before he finishes off everybody". Yeah, right… Whoever wrote that two-line summary clearly didn't watch the movie! Quite a lot of relevant things happen long before the teenagers gather in the old mansion, they certainly aren't murdered one by one and they do not actively attempt to unmask the killer. Are these unimportant little details? Perhaps, but I don't think so… The film starts very 'hippie-sixties' like, with some guy going on a lunch break date with a blond girl, but during a private house party later that day he is much more interested in a brunette girl. One of the other hipsters at the party is the famous '50s crooner Frankie Avalon and he is somewhat the leader of the pack. They all get bored at the party and then one of them has the luminous idea to go and spend the rest of the night in an abandoned and allegedly haunted mansion. The double-dating guy then viciously gets stabbed to death, but instead of warning the police, Frankie Avalon convinces all the others to cover up the murder instead. I seriously fail to understand why they keep this murder secret!?! One of these dumb hippies should have stood up and said: "No, Frankie Avalon, not informing the police is a very dumb and pointless idea!" The further guessing along for the culprit's identity is reasonably compelling, with a couple of clichéd prime suspects (like a pervert stalker) and other intrigues, but the whole cover-up sub plot makes everything implausible. The body count is frustratingly low, but the on screen bloodshed is definitely sick and brutal for sixties' standards. Overall, I certainly don't regret watching "The Haunted House of Horror" but surely it could have been a lot better. This was the first long-feature film of the promising director Michael Armstrong. One year later he delivered the magnificent exploitation classic "Mark of the Devil", but after that he strangely stopped making films.

60s beach movie sensation Frankie Avalon stars as Chris, one of a group of crazy, swinging London 'kids' who decide to split their dullsville house party for a more atmospheric locale, a run-down, supposedly haunted mansion in the countryside. Rather stupidly, the group decide to hold a séance at the stroke of midnight, after which one of their number is brutally killed in a frenzied knife attack. Is the killer the ghost of the maniac who once lived there, or has one of the friends flipped their wig, man?Haunted House of Horror is, for the most part, very tedious viewing thanks to its formulaic plot, bland dialogue and wooden performances from a cast that, with only a couple of exceptions, look too old for their roles (Avalon was pushing thirty!!!). A little fun can be had from the film's groovy sixties fashion—floral shirts, cravats, mini-dresses and go-go boots—but the film's only real selling point as far as I am concerned are a couple of surprisingly bloody deaths, particularly the last one in which the victim gets a kukri (a Nepalese knife with a large curved blade) rammed into his crotch. Nasty!

I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by this one; I went in expecting nothing and actually found a more than decent horror movie. The film is directed by Michael Armstrong, a British man who would go on to direct the excellent 'Mark of the Devil' a year later. The title is a bit misleading as it makes the film out to be a haunted house movie, when in fact it's closer to the slasher genre if anything. The film takes place in sixties 'swinging' London and focuses on a group of young friends. They're out one night and looking for a party when one of them suggests that they go to an old house that is supposedly haunted. Their party turns sour when one of the friends gets sliced by an unseen killer and, believing they would be in trouble with the local bobby's if they come forward, they decide to dispose of the body themselves. I have to admit that the film is really quite predictable and even though it's a "whodunit", there's never a great deal of mystery surrounding anything in the film. The film is very well shot, however, and the director does a good job of capturing the swinging sixties feel. It's also a very colourful film, which is nice. The acting is rubbish of course, but that's not too important and it all boils down to a nice little twist at the end. I can't say this is brilliant stuff; but it's not bad and worth a look for horror fans.