The House on Skull Mountain

I recently viewed The House on Skull Mountain (1974) on a random streaming service. The plot revolves around a southern voodoo lady's death, prompting her family to gather for the will, only to realize their lives may be in jeopardy.

Directed by Ron Honthaner in his sole directorial venture, the film features Victor French (Highway to Heaven), Mike Evans (The Jeffersons), Lloyd Nelson (The Dead Pool), and Denis LeHane (The Town that Dreaded Sundown).

While the film explores unique family dynamics and presents some suspenseful and unpredictable situations, it falls short overall. The made-for-television vibe is pervasive, and despite entertaining voodoo scenes, the absence of compelling kill scenes, gore, or blood splatter is noticeable. The background music is reminiscent of classic '70s horror and complements the atmospheric elements with storms, thunder, and rain. The surprising conclusion adds some value.

In summary, The House on Skull Mountain is an uneven and below-average entry to the horror genre. I would rate this a 4/10 and suggest skipping it.

Although I thought that "The House on Skull Mountain" was overall a fairly neat movie, I wish that it had featured more action. And people need to realize that voodoo is more than just people sticking pins in dolls; voodoo is a religion. Of course, there can never be too many movies about haunted houses.

The plot is that an elderly African-American woman dies and a couple of people are invited to her house near Atlanta. Sure enough, there are bad things going on in this house. I thought that Phillippe was sort of a cliché (alcoholic wise guy), but he was the neatest character in the movie! Anyway, there's nothing special about this movie.

Perhaps the only, at least to my knowledge, haunted-house movie that also qualifies as a pure-blooded Blaxploitation effort, "The House on Skull Mountain" is an overall worthwhile film but unfortunately not the undiscovered gem I hoped it would be. I was mainly attracted by the luscious title and the accompanied DVD-cover illustration; but luckily enough the film is also reasonably well-scripted – albeit derivative of "The House on Haunted Hill" obviously - and entertaining. It's a tale of voodoo, greed and things that go bump in the night. On her deathbed at the house on Skull Mountain (there actually is a skull-shaped rock in the mountain, which is totally awesome!) an elderly black lady, who looks like a guy and talks like a child, orders to send out four letters to four distant relatives. They all travel up to the house, expecting to inherit a fortune, but in fact get a whole lot more than they bargained for. They each become subjected to eerie voodoo rites and spells inflicted by the bald servant of the dead lady. "The House on Skull Mountain" is stylish and professionally made. It's slow-paced and the low number of death sequences are not very bloody or spectacular, but director Ron Honthaner provides a fair share of frissons and unsettling atmosphere. The filming locations are sublime and the titular house is fantastic. The house and the astonishing lead actress Janee Michelle are definitely the main trumps of the film. The climax sequences are rather dull and clichéd, with a voodoo ceremony that seems to go on forever. Youthful gorehounds beware, but fans of 70's horror and peculiar Blaxploitation will definitely enjoy "The House on Skull Mountain"

In my reassessment process of my first movies watched at my tender age, the large majority had an upgrade of the ratings, in other hand just a few have a downgrading, The House of Skull Mountain is one of them, officially it never come out in Brazil, thus just leaves me call on the last expectancy the Youtube's files, I've found a fine print in English language without subtitles and I went ahead anyway.

The story is about an elderly black woman Pauline Christoph (Mary J. Todd Mackenzie) about to die from Haiti when her descendent was the first King Henry Christoph of Haiti after spelled the French there, a sort of hero who defeated the slavery on French colony, due it Pauline demands to the Priest (Don Devendorf) four letters to their Americans Christoph's bloodline, they appeared too late when Pauline already died, actually no one of them never heard about their progeny coming from Haitian Pauline Christoph, the first one the young gorgeous Lorena Christoph (Janee Michelle), the comes a young male Phillip Willete (Mike Evans) a sort of philandering playboy often spoken in black jargon.

The third mature women Harriet Johnson (Xernoma Clayton) a humble housekeeper and the last one is an Anthropology Professor Dr. Andrew Cunnigham (Victor French) oddly enough a white man even having Christoph's ancestry, gathered all them in a gloomy mansion at high mountain looks like a skull each one has been killed without any reason by Voodoo's cult on the mansion's underground, Phillip fallen down at elevator pit and Harriet is bitten by a poisoned snake at Pauline's room, just remains Lorena and Dr. Andrew alive, in house has a couple of old servants which lie all suspicious about those unusual murders, the bleak Thomas (Jean Durant) and his jealous wife Louette (Ella Woods) although Thomas intents keep with the eye-candy Lorena for yourself.

A kind of Blaxploitation blending with Horror strongly based on Voodoo's cult from African roots, where numerous Haitians used to do at there, bringing to America's south-east and south as well during the slavery time, the movie takes place at nearby Atlanta, Giorgia.

Thanks for reading.

Resume:

First watch: 1981 / How many: 2 / Source: TV-Youtube / Rating: 5.

This is curiously obscure for a film distributed by 20th Century Fox. That obscurity is in no way a reflection on its quality, however; if anything, the worst I can say is that there are times when the title betrays production values more closely recalling genre flicks of the 60s. More hard-nosed viewers may find facets like the effects, the painted background showing Skull Mountain, or regular visualization of a skull motif to be outdated and kitschy; I, for one, am delighted by the throwback, reminding of like-minded fare from Roger Corman or AIP. More concretely, while much of the dialogue and scene writing is playful or even ham-handed in keeping with the overall tone of the picture, there are some instances that are weirdly clunky and contrived. Yet while 'The house on Skull Mountain' is filled with some odd touches, by and large it's well made and entertaining. It's hardly any peak of horror, but for those who appreciate all the different flavors that the genre has to offer, this is a good time on its own merits. For my part, I rather like it!

The less than entirely serious tone of the movie is borne out in most regards, from Ron Honthaner's direction and Monroe Askins' cinematography, to some instances of Jerrold Immel's score and definitely the acting. This is hardly to say, however, that this isn't marked by discernible skill and intelligence all around. The cast are enjoying themselves, but plainly just embracing the spirit of the affair; some of Immel's themes very ably lend some real atmosphere to the proceedings. Askins' work is just as solid as that of any of his contemporaries, and if there's any criticism to be made of Honthaner I think it's only that the feature struggles at times with fluctuating tone. I suppose the latter point also extends to Mildred Pares' script, not least with that ill-fitting scene a bit over halfway through when Lorena and Andrew take a daytrip - yet much more than not the writing presents classic, worthwhile material as relatives gather following a death in the family and strange goings-on amass. Add voodoo for flavor, and we have all the ingredients for an eerie lark.

The small cast of characters on hand reinforces the notion, troubling the back of our minds while watching, that plot development is a smidgen forced, and that the story as a whole may be lighter and more abbreviated than it could or should have been. Still, the scene writing is pretty fun as the tale advances, and it certainly comes across that all involved were having a blast making this. Even at their most chintzy I can't say that the characters and dialogue aren't a minor joy. The filming locations are beautiful, and the sets and art direction at large are genuinely terrific, as are props, practical effects, and stunts. Yes, this is the type of horror that's built for amusement over actual evocation of strong feelings, yet it still carries enough of a sinister edge to it - in the greater spectacle of the last act above all - to provide a measure of the earnest genre vibes for which we seek out such films in the first place. The end result may not be perfect, nor perfectly satisfying, but when all is said and done 'The house on Skull Mountain' bears much more strength than not.

I had mixed to low expectations when I sat to watch, and I recognize that this is not exactly held in the highest of esteem. As far as that goes, I can understand how this won't meet with equal favor for all comers, because it does have some faults and weak points, and it's not the most robust and invigorating among its kin. Not every movie needs to be a revelation, however, and this one just wanted to have a good time with the more nefarious side of cinema. I repeat that as far as I'm concerned 'The house on Skull Mountain' is entertaining, with a sufficiently solid foundation to at least partly sate our cravings for horror. It's nothing one needs to go out of their way to see, but if you do have the opportunity to watch and are looking for something comparatively light, I'm pleased to give this my recommendation.