ghost cellar scene


I don't know about you but it gets me everytime lol. and how she glided out

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All scenes with the cellar ghost scared the living crap out of me. The way she glided out unconcerned by her surroundings freaked me out.

I didn't see anything comical until the skeleton showed up, and when that happened I was invested enough in the story that I didn't laugh at it.

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I saw the movie in '59 and when the Old Caretaker floated past Nora in the dark closet, 300 screaming kids had to be scraped off the ceiling.

It was the greatest jump scare of the fifties.

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I agree and would go so far as to say that it is still one of the greatest jump scares of all time.

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I love, love, love this movie. However, it caused me a major childhood trauma. When I was ten years old, a birthday party was going to include a group of little girls going to the theater to see HOUSE ON A HAUNTED HILL (cake and ice cream to follow).

So, was I traumatized by the spooky/gliding/blind housekeeper? Was it the not-really-dead-yet hostess at the window? The dancing skeleton in the wine cellar?

Nope, none of these. What did emotionally scar me for life was the night before the birthday/monster-movie party, I came down with a raging case of chicken pox! And, needless to say, could not attend the festivities. Boo-hoo-hoo.

Now that is my scary story.

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and that scared the hell out of me. Now watching it, it is of course silly. Like she is gliding by on a skateboard or something.

Good fun, this movie is.

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Iri: Thanks for the great story!

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Great story Iri! And how Lance never sees her glide out the same door he's entering in from has always been beyond me. She was real, not a ghost, she may have been blind, but he wasn't!!

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That confused me, too! If she's a real person, HOW IS SHE GLIDING?! And why was she standing there in ... pounce stance with a terrifying look on her face?

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Yeah, it doesn't really make sense. Nor does the way that Nora manages to be outside the window then hanging in the hallway within about 30 seconds. And the rope that self-glides around the girl. I guess there really was some phantom helping the humans in this film!

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HOW IS SHE GLIDING?!


I guess just because her skirt reached all the way to the floor, she was able to make it look like she was gliding.

And why was she standing there in ... pounce stance with a terrifying look on her face?


I have three theories.

1: Either Mr. Loren or Mrs. Loren asked/paid her to do that to freak Nora out. Most likely Mrs. Loren, since she was trying to get Nora hysterical enough to shoot her husband for her.

2: Nora was already scared enough that she was half-hallucinating and, seeing the unknown woman with the blank eyes (and not knowing that she was merely blind), became terrified and felt endangered, and imagined her in a threatening posture.

3: Or, heck, maybe the woman decided on her own initiative to freak out one of the guests for sh!ts and giggles, being that it was a haunted house party and the mood was certainly set for it. Old blind people gotta get their kicks somehow too, you know. 

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I love that creepy, old lady. She only has about 2 minutes maximum of screentime and doesn't say a single word yet she still manages to be one of the most memorable characters I've seen in a horror movie.

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I just watched this movie for the first time last night; that was one of the greatest jump scares ever. I loved it. My heart jumped out of my chest.

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It took a long time for me to realize I know the old gal! She's Leona Anderson - she'd been in some silent movies, including one with Stan Laurel, but I knew her from a record of hers my Dad had, where she does some comically bad singing. Listen here, if you must: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQ1fyx91of4

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I jumped myself, and when the guy didn't see her, I knew she was a ghost.

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This film was shown on TV recently and I was half watching it while looking at my laptop. That jump scare scene came on and I nearly flung my laptop across the room. Dear god that would have been intense for '59.

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It scared the hell out of Tom Savini and he was in Vietnam, so that should really say something.

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No, it was just silly.

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