The clash of egos among the ghost hunters is center stage, with Reville (an actor who always looks to me like Spencer Tracy's long lost short son) as the scientist looking to apply some practical physics to the spooks, McDowall, is a "physical medium" and the veteran of an earlier, disastrous visit to the notorious Emeric Belasco house featured in the film, Franklin, a "psychic medium" who gets to strut her stuff the most of any of the actors, and the lovely Gayle Hunnicutt as Reville's wife who is along for the bumpy ride to provide moral support (and a nice bod for an entity in the house to possess).
The hair and eyeglass styles in the '70s were as scary as anything paranormal in the movies to me. McDowell's aviators and Gayle Hunnicutt's bicycle pumped hair can't match Clive Reville's intense look, though, can they?
I can't say that I was really scared, except when a black cat up to no good appears in Franklin's room, when Franklin is discovered after a booty call from a spook, and when Roddy McDowall, normally an excellent actor, (even in much schlockier movies than this), pulls out all the stops having a conniption or two. Of course, no one behaves very logically, except Mr. Arrogant Physicist (Reville)--much to his regret. Nor do they have the good sense to bunk together for safety, and as usual, they are often alone and isolated in the house, even though Roddy keeps telling the girls to take a hike--though he will be staying to collect some dough from a zillionaire (Roland Culver) funding this "research project." Much better than most ghost stories, but overall, not as genuinely memorable as the original version of The Haunting.
Check out that flying '70s collar on Pamela Franklin's shirt. Now, that's scary.
Did anyone else see this one?