Hillbillys in a Haunted House

Description

Two Country & Western singers and their manager are en route to the Nashville Jamboree but become tired and stop to rest in an abandoned mansion. Little do they know, but the basement of the old house is headquarters for the evil Madame Wong and her entourage of foreign spies. Strange things begin to happen almost immediately and they suspect the place is haunted. However, our three heroes decide to spend the night anyway to escape an upcoming storm. Soon, (a song or two later) they settle down to get some shut-eye. But during the night the spies kidnap our female singer. Now things really get exciting as the hillbillys help capture the bad guys and foil a diabolical plan to steal a secret formula for rocket propellant. Now they're off to Nashville, not very rested, but happy and content to participate in the more normal pleasures of entertaining the audience of the giant Nashville Jamboree. Bonus Features: Bonus Previews| Scene Selection. Specs: DVD5; Dolby Digital Mono; 88 minutes; Color; 1.33:1 Aspect Ratio; MPAA - G; Year - 1967; SRP - $9.99.

Customer Reviews:

thanks for the fast forward button.......2006-03-16

I have yet to see a good movie musical. They have the most abysmal stories. I would rather they just show 90min. of the featured singers.
I enjoyed all the singers but Sonny James & Merle Haggard are the standouts. I use the fast forward & only stop at the musical numbers. Well worth the purchase price. Not as good as "Las vegas Hillbillies"

The Worst.......2005-03-29

Everybody has their own personal choice for the worst movie ever made, and "Hillbillys in a Haunted House" is mine. So why 2 stars? Because like so many other totally wretched films it has a strange sort of fascination...and because I believe you have to experience the worst before you can appreciate the good stuff. Ferlin Husky, Joi Lansing (who's awful by an eyefull) and someone named Don Bowman play traveling country musicians who stumble upon a house so creepy looking that it might as well have "HAUNTED" in neon letters above it, and are forced to spend the night. Inside are John Carradine (who breezes through this mess so casually that he calls other characters by the wrong names), Basil Rathbone, who is clearly having the worst day of his life, and Lon Chaney (who manages one good, incongruously chilling murder scene) as some sort of spies. There is also a really terrible actress named Linda Ho as a Dragon Lady and a guy in a gorilla suit, since everyone knows that all haunted houses come complete with their own gorillas. It might have been possible to pull off this sort of rubbish at Universal in the 1940s (with largely the same cast!), but for 1967 -- the year before "Rosemary's Baby" and "Night of the Living Dead" -- it's pretty pathetic. And for film buffs, the spectacle of watching the obviously ailing Rathbone struggling through his last film role is downright painful --almost as painful as the performance of Ferlin Husky, who in an apparent tribute to Chaney, seems to turn into a howling werewolf whenever he goes for the high notes. This film played mostly in the south upon release: maybe it was intended as punishment for that seccession business a century earlier.

Rather enjoyable actually..........2004-11-15

Hackneyed plot, poor acting, dodgy songs, TERRIBLE miming to those songs and flat direction are all present in HILLBILLYS IN A HAUNTED HOUSE, yet I just can't bring myself to hate this film. Everything is just so sweet and niave, without a hint of malice about it. Seeing Basil Rathbone slumming it made me gasp in horror, but he still tips the film over into 'acceptable' by his mere appearance.
A Country and Western duet and their nervous manager are on the way to the "Nashville Jamboree" when a storm (which we never see) forces them to hole up in the titular haunted mansion. Bag of nerves "Jeepers" needs a rest anyway, so this is the ideal place for a cosy quiet night and a sing-song. Needless to say, the house is occupied by spies who (in typical 'Scooby Doo' manner) use electronic trickery to scare away unwanted visitors. When the spies' pet gorilla (don't ask) kidnaps the female singer "Boots Malone", our two heroes begin the hunt for her. Things wrap up nicely with the trio ending up in Nashville and the last 20 minutes consists of music numbers from people I've never heard of accompanied by stock footage of an appreciative audience from 10 years before!
I mean, just read the audacity of that plot and you'll see what I mean. Joi Lansing as 'Boots' is a pretty & shapely platinum blonde that cheers up the film no end (I didn't think she would fit into that iron maiden in which the villains imprison her as she's, ahem, a little big in front!) and actually offers a nice performance. The comedy is pretty basic, but there are a couple of funny lines lines from nervous wreck "Jeepers" (not many, though!)
Best of all, this film is a reminder of better times that probably never existed and is ideal when you're feeling fed up and need something to watch with a friend, if only to mercilessly pull apart. Even then, you'll have had a good time...

Oh Mr. Rathbone,what happened to you?.......2004-08-23

How sad to see such a great actor such as Basil Rathbone in this crap after all his great films of the thirties,maybe it was personal financial troubles that forced him to accept his role in this movie that is so bad that it makes Plan 9 look acceptable.

Stay away from that monkey.......2004-08-06

Okay, I've discovered the Worst Director Ever, bar none. I've watched three of Hollywood b-movie veteran director Jean Yarbrough recently (THE BRUTE MAN, THE OVER-THE-HILL GANG, and now HILLBILLYS IN A HAUNTED HOUSE) and this is one bad-nasty awful director. OTHG was a criminal waste of a veteran cast of character actors heading rapidly towards the sunset. BRUTE MAN was exploitation unleavened with insight or humanity. HILLBILLYS IN A HAUNTED HOUSE is hick humor for those who find Don Knotts' movies too difficult to follow. These films are monuments to blown opportunities, stagnant and unimaginative direction, comedy that makes us groan and horror that makes us laugh.
Avoid the scenes with Basil Rathbone if at all possible. It's apparent he'd suffered a stroke prior to this movie and his distinct enunciation is noticeably slurred, making it difficult for a fan to watch. About the only highlights here are when the country music stars (Ferlin Husky and Merle Haggard, especially) strap on the guitars and sing.

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