Movie Info
Movie Name: The House on Skull Mountain
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Genre(s): Horror/B-Movie
Release Date(s): October 1974
MPAA Rating: PG
Good thing I happened to study voodoo in college
Pauline Christophe (Mary J. Todd McKenzie) has died but her last action was to summon the lost members of her family to her country mansion in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Andrew Cunningham (Victor French) is trying to find his identity, Lorena Christophe (Janee Michelle) has come to honor the great-grandmother she never knew, Harriet Johnson (Xernona Clayton) has begun seeing visions of a hooded man, and Philipe Wilette (Mike Evans) hopes for a big inheritance. As the group is picked off one-by-one by a voodoo houngan named Thomas (Jean Durand) who worked for Pauline, they must stop the evil before it kills them.
Directed by Ron Honhaner, The House on Skull Mountain is a supernatural thriller. The film was released in October 1974 and is relatively low-budget.
I got The House on Skull Mountain as part of a two pack with the better known 1971 film The Mephisto Waltz. Checking out the movie, the film has a weird blend of genres but never manages to reach a level that makes it good in any of the genres.
Grandma Pauline, you’ve looked better
The story is rather bland. It isn’t bad, but it also lives up to its PG rating…that’s today’s PG (not 1974 PG which is a lot scarier). The movie is about voodoo and evil, but it never feels very evil. The plot just meanders and even includes a “fun day out” with Lorena and Andrew. I will say that the race issue of the story is an interesting twist that could have been explored to greater levels…but of course it also ended up being the great white hero (sort of).
The movie while casting primarily African-American actors doesn’t feel like blaxploitation which is nice considering when it was made. It doesn’t have the over the top stereotyping of characters though the fact that they have Jean Durand and a voodoo cult does bring it back toward a blaxploitation horror film. As mentioned, the Victor French casting was interesting and both Janee Michelle and Xernona Clayton are likable as the “good” cousins while Mike Evans plays the slimy cousin.
Mr. Edwards kicks voodoo ass!
The movie even with its PG rating should have pushed harder and missed tons of opportunity. It still is a bit unclear if the snakes were real or phantoms conjuring in most scenes, but I do like some of the skull imagery though it was too little and for the most part too late. The movie could have been completely atmospheric, but it misses the chance.
The House on Skull Mountain embodies its generic horror title. It should have either been a gorefest or a scarefest, but instead it is a sleepy, dull story with a few glimmers of interesting moments. There is nothing really wrong with the movie, but there is nothing really good about it either. You can probably pick another horror house if you want chills.
