House On Haunted Hill (1958)

Starring Vincent Price, Carol Ohmart, Richard Long, Alan Marshal, Carolyn Craig
Directed by William Castle
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

Five strangers are invited by a millionaire to spend the night locked in a haunted house for a cash reward, and on accepting, are soon given reason to fear for their lives.

Probably William Castle's best remembered horror film, the picture has endured thanks to the lure of Price in one of his most iconic roles, as well as the wide audience that has had access to the film since it fell into the public domain.  Although some more subtlety and suspense would have probably served the picture better, and the camerawork is somewhat flatly photographed, it is well staged on its limited sets, and Castle's shock scenes still carry a bit of a jolt.  There's no big names in the cast besides Price, but they play their parts well in sustaining the mystery at the heart of the film, and Ohmart, playing Price's venomous spouse, is very memorable.  Price himself is a delight to watch, charming and distinguished in one scene, and snide and hateful in another, leaving the audience to guess if there is a malevolence beneath his skin, or if that's just another of the screenplay's deceptions.