Hillbillys in a Haunted House (1967)

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

OMG, this is awful, just awful. You want it to be campy awful, but that's too much work. It's just plain awful. Bad sets, bad acting, bad directing, bad script.The saddest part of this dreck is the complete waste of the beautiful Joi Lansing, who never ever appears in a swimsuit or a negligee or even the clingy tattered dress they paint on her on the movie poster. C'mon, movie gorillas are grabby and horny bodice-rippers going back to King Kong. But this ape is too impotent to monkey around - matching everything else in this mess. Lansing should have been one of the screen's great sex symbols, but this snore was no help. The rest of the show is just unwatchable Z-movie hack work. Basil Rathbone and John Carradine stand around jawing in the suits they were probably buried in. That's about as scary as it gets. Scooby Doo and Shaggy would have turned down the story as too far-fetched.Merle Haggard sings a great song, Sonny James does an okay one. The other singers, popping up mostly on the tacked-on end, had minor recording careers, but you'll need to Google them to find out why.

Of the 13 feature films in which John Carradine and Lon Chaney both appeared, 1967's "Hillbillys in a Haunted House" was not only the last, it was one of the few where they actually shared any scenes (shot under the working title "Ghost Party"). Joined in villainy by a game, 74 year old Basil Rathbone, the three actors offer the only real novelty to this tired rehash of old dark house clichés, dragged down by its abundance of country music. A sequel to the successful "Las Vegas Hillbillys" (note the spelling!), retaining stars Ferlin Husky and Don Bowman, but replacing the absent Jayne Mansfield with the equally photogenic Joi Lansing. En route to Nashville for a good old fashioned jamboree, the trio break down and have to spend the night in a house that's not really haunted; its actually the home base for spies trying to steal a top secret formula from a local rocket base. John Carradine alternately scowls and grimaces as Dr. Himmil, when he's not mercilessly teasing the gorilla Anatole belonging to Lon Chaney's Maximillian, who goes undercover by getting past an unsuspecting janitor (all he gets for his trouble is a formula combining nitroglycerin and antihistamine!). As Gregor, Basil Rathbone shares most of his scenes with Carradine, using phony ghosts and noises to try to scare off their dimwitted intruders, whom they mistake for agents from M.O.T.H.E.R. (Master Organization to Halt Enemy Resistance). A genuine ghost closes out the spy stuff at 67 minutes, leaving the final two reels open for yet more musical numbers. Chaney is clearly having a grand time, and Rathbone too, while poor Carradine has to remain sullen for the most part, fewer opportunities to be funny (he did enjoy stealing Anatole's banana!). As bad as the film's reputation is, consider how much worse it would have been without its heavyweight cast of screen villains.

A generation earlier country music stars the most prominent of them being Gene Autry got an outlet in films as B western singing cowboys. The B western having gone the way of the dodo bird for country stars to make it on the big screen they would have to find other outlets.Hillbillies In A Haunted House was the second of two films that country singer Ferlin Husky made as the same character, country artist Woody Wetherby, the first being Las Vegas Hillbillies. This time he and girl friend Joi Lansing and brain dead roadie Don Bowman are on the way to Nashville and stop at what they think is a deserted mansion. What it is though is the headquarters of enemy agents after a rocket fuel formula. A woman runs this spy ring played by Linda Ho and her three henchmen are Basil Rathbone, John Carradine, and Lon Chaney, Jr. three players who have acquitted themselves well in the horror film genre.All I can say is that mixing country music with Gothic horror must have stunk up the drive-ins from Saskatchewan to Nashville. I don't recall this film ever making it to New York City, but just as well it didn't. Rathbone, Carradine, and Chaney have the satisfied look of players whose paychecks have just cleared the bank and they're going through the motions. The spies have a pet gorilla around also for what is no discernible reason I can fathom other than to give Joi Lansing something to scream at. Now for country music fans there are a few interludes of some of the top C&W artists of the day like Husky, Molly Bee, Merle Haggard, Sonny James, etc. In fact the last fifteen minutes of the film is just these singers on stage doing numbers with no real attempt to give them background. Fans of the sounds from Nashville did well here, but quite frankly on the whole the film sank like the Titanic.What a comedown for Rathbone, Carradine, and Chaney.

I recently learned about this movie when I saw a documentary entitled "The Fifty Worst Movies" and since I am a glutton for punishment, it sounded like it would be so bad it was funny. Well, after seeing this film, it is so bad that it's just plain awful. Seeing the movie to make fun of it isn't really possible--it just stinks so badly! Towards the end of their careers, Basil Rathbone, Lon Chaney and John Carradine would star in just about anything--and this film is the proof. It's a combination horror movie, Country Music marathon and spy movie!! Yep, your eyes aren't playing tricks on you! Talk about awful! The film begins with old-time Country singer Ferlin Husky and his friends driving to Nashville for a concert. You know it's going to be a long ride when one of the friends is named "Jeepers" and they start the film with one of the worst songs I can remember. The problem was that it was very obvious that they were just moving their lips and the song literally sounded like it was recorded in a tunnel. In fact, all the songs in the film (and there were MANY) sounded this way. Throughout the film, they'd break into song in the darnedest places and most ridiculously inappropriate moments. And, at the end, when there was no more plot, they just had about 6 songs in a row by a variety of long-forgotten Country stars. The net effect was a lot like watching an extended episode of "Hee-Haw" without all the corny jokes.As far as the aging actors go, they were spies (naturally) who lived in a haunted house and had a killer gorilla (obviously a guy in a costume). None of it made a bit of sense and the film made BELA LUGOSI MEETS A BROOKLYN GORILLA look like Shakespeare in comparison!! Dumb, pointless and absolutely painful if you hate old-time Country music. This is a chore to watch!