What actually happens
A party for a wife that someone may be poisoning
Millionaire Frederick Loren is throwing a party for his fourth wife, Annabelle, in a rented house that is said to be haunted. He offers five guests $10,000 each if they stay inside the house all night after the doors are locked at midnight. Bars cover the windows, the power is off, and nobody has a phone or radio. The guests are Lance Schroeder, a test pilot, Ruth Bridges, a newspaper columnist, psychiatrist Dr. David Trent, Nora Manning, an employee at one of Frederick's firms, and Watson Pritchard, who owns the house. None of them knows the Lorens or each other. Frederick thinks Annabelle tried to poison him for his money, and she says he is paranoid and jealous. Watson believes the ghosts of murder victims, including his own brother, haunt the house. He gives a tour that includes a basement vat of acid. Lance and Nora stay behind to look around, and someone shuts Lance in an empty room and hits him on the head, while what looks like a ghost approaches Nora.
Reading this instead of watching it is the correct decision. Scaredy Cat makes that decision automatic, for free.
Everyone gets a gun and a reason to use it
Annabelle warns Lance in private that her husband has a scheme going, and she suspects him of murdering wives two and three, after wife one disappeared. Downstairs, the guests are told the rules, and each is handed a gun. After more ghostly sightings, Nora decides not to stay, but the caretakers lock up five minutes ahead of schedule. A scream draws Lance and David to Annabelle's body, hanging as if she had done it herself, but there is no perch for her to have used. Nora then tells Lance that someone strangled her and left her for dead. Given what Annabelle said, they both suspect Frederick. Frederick tells Nora to stay out of sight so whoever attacked her believes she is dead. Lance and David suggest that everybody remain in their own rooms and fire at whoever walks in, so the killer will either stay put or give himself away.
A plot that works until the lights go out
Annabelle's ghost chases Nora from her room down into the basement. David hears the noises and decides the killer is nearby, so he suggests that he and Frederick search the house separately. Lance discovers a hidden room off the upstairs hall, and its door closes behind him and traps him. David instead goes to meet Annabelle, who faked her death with a hanging harness and sedatives. They are secret lovers, and together they arranged the haunting to push Nora into killing Frederick. Nora spots Frederick walking into the basement, gun drawn, and shoots him. She runs, and David comes in to dump Frederick's body in the vat of acid. The lights go out.
The skeleton in the acid vat has opinions
Annabelle goes down to the basement to check that her husband is dead. This is the scene people dread most, and it comes near the end. A skeleton comes up out of the acid, speaks to her in Frederick's voice and accuses her, then pushes her in. Frederick then walks out of the shadows carrying the puppeteer's control unit he used to operate the skeleton. He reveals that he knew about the plot from the start.
The ending, explained
Nora, Watson and Ruth let Lance out of the secret room, and Nora admits she shot Frederick. Down in the cellar, Frederick tells her that her gun held blanks, that Annabelle and David had a plan to murder him, and that both of them are dead in the acid. He says justice can decide whether he is innocent or guilty. Lance, Nora, Watson and Ruth survive the night. Annabelle and David are dead, and Frederick is alive and waiting for a verdict. Watson still believes the house is haunted, adds David and Annabelle to its ghosts, and expects to be next.
The post-credits ruling
Nobody has confirmed whether there is a scene after the credits.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: fine, no dog dies.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is House on Haunted Hill scary?
Barely. House on Haunted Hill is a 3 out of 10 with low dread. It has a few jump scares and a skeleton, but it is mostly a campy murder mystery.
How does House on Haunted Hill end?
Frederick reveals that he knew all along that Annabelle and David had staged the haunting to have him killed. They both die in the acid vat, and the other guests survive.
Does the dog die in House on Haunted Hill?
No, no dog dies in House on Haunted Hill. A dead rat's bones are used to demonstrate the acid.
Is there a post-credits scene in House on Haunted Hill?
Nobody has confirmed whether House on Haunted Hill has a scene after the credits, so it is safest to stay through them.
Is the house actually haunted in House on Haunted Hill?
Mostly not. Annabelle and David arranged the mishaps and Frederick worked the skeleton with a control unit, so most of the scares are staged. Watson still believes the house is haunted at the end.
