Factual error: As Frederick is explaining to his guests how to use their .45 automatics, he fires one round at a near-by vase, shattering it. However, it leaves no bullet hole in the wall directly behind the vase.
House on Haunted Hill (1959)
Directed by: William Castle, Rosemary Horvath
Starring: Vincent Price, Richard Long, Alan Marshal, Carol Ohmart
Continuity mistake: Frederick picks up a bottle of champagne out of the ice bucket and shakes it a little. As he does this the foil and wire are still on top. He turns and aims the bottle at his wife, then tips it back and the foil has vanished as he now just removes the wire and cork.
Continuity mistake: When Annabelle gives Frederick her gun, he places it in the mini-coffin and closes the coffin. However, in one of the next shots, we see that all coffins are open.
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Suggested correction: It's not "in one of the next shots" it's actually many shots later, so anyone could have touched that mini coffin for any reason during the time off-screen. After Frederick closes the top of the mini coffin, it cuts to the scene upstairs with Nora and the missing severed head. Then a considerable period of time has passed until we see the mini coffins again, when Lance walks into that room and sees Pritchard with the knife.
Frederick Loren: The caretakers will leave at midnight, locking us in here until they come back in the morning. Once the door is locked, there's no way out. The windows have bars that a jail would be proud of, and the only door to the outside locks like vault. There's no electricity, no phone, no-one within miles, so no way to call for help.
Watson Pritchard: Like a coffin.
Frederick Loren: What husband hasn't wanted to kill his wife at some time during their marriage?
Frederick Loren: This is Lance Schroeder, a test pilot. He's no doubt a brave man, but don't you think you can be much braver if you're paid for it? And I happen to know that Lance needs the ten thousand I'm giving, if he's brave enough to stay all night.
Question: In the scene where Mrs Loren appears at the window of Nora's room. Since Mrs Loren and the doctor are faking Mrs. Loren's death and apparition, how did they manage to make the rope go round her feet? Also how did Mrs Loren glide in and out?
Chosen answer: As far as the "gliding in and out", Mrs Loren presumably uses the same body harness she used to fake her hanging. As to the rope... the film is deliberately ambiguous on whether or not the ghosts are real, as evinced by the drunk's last line in the movie; the rope trick is probably supposed to reflect this ambiguity despite being Mrs Loren's trickery.
Question: If Frederick picked the party members himself, without his wife's input, how did Dr. Trent (spoiler alert, his wife's lover) manage to get Frederick to pick him?
Chosen answer: Frederick knew that Trent was his wife's lover. That's why Trent was invited. The party was supposed to be an opportunity for Frederick to take revenge.
Question: (Spoiler alert) If Annabelle and Dr. Trent simply wanted to murder Frederick, what was the point of Dr. Trent attempting to dispose of Frederick's body in the acid? Why the elaborate scheme to have him accidentally killed by someone else if they were going to destroy his body in acid anyway? They could have simply hit him over the head and dumped him in the pit.
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