Ryan Watches 50 Movies

In case you're keeping track, there are just 3 horror classics left in my 50-movie DVD set after this. Like last week's The Bat , House on Haunted Hill was released in 1959 and stars Vincent Price. Unlike The Bat , however, House was directed by William Castle , a horror flick master with a flair for gimmicks. The flamboyant director played by John Goodman in the underrated 1993 movie Matinee was largely inspired by Castle. I thought for sure I had already watched one Castle film in this DVD set, but as I look over the archives it appears I was mistaken... All the more reason to look forward to this one, then. According to various online sources, Castle's gimmick for the theatrical screenings of this film was called " Emergo ," and it involved a glow-in-the-dark skeleton swinging out over the audience at a scary, climactic moment of the movie, a trick that was perfect for House on Haunted Hill, but which would be notably less effective if used with movies...

I lied. When I wrote last week's post , I incorrectly stated that this week's movie would be The Beast of Yucca Flats . In fact, that classic is next week. I wish to sincerely apologize to everyone -- beast or otherwise -- who may be inconvenienced by this error. In the meantime, this week I'll be covering The Screaming Skull from 1958. As I watched this movie on the 50-movie set, I realize that I had seen it before... twice. Once was on a 1-disc, 4-movie DVD of "horror classics" (which now seems downright amateurish to me) and once as on Mystery Science Theater 3000 , where it was ridiculed by robots. And now, here I am watching it again . Will the third time be a charm? I don't know. But I do know that this is the 10th film in the 50-movie set, which means I'm 20% finished with this whole shebang. Will I make it to film #50? Keep reading! Synopsis Before the story starts, there's a disclaimer: Over the image of an open coffin, a voice tells us tha...