'Hillbillys in a Haunted House' review

'Hillbillys in a Haunted House' - 1967

Story in Brief: Our friends from 'Las Vegas Hillbillys', Woody, Jeepers, and Boots are on their way to Nashville for a Jamboree they've arranged. On their way there, a storm approaches and they take refuge in a battered old mansion...which is haunted...by spies!

Thoughts:

This sequel to 'Las Vegas Hillbillys' is much more a film than the original. The story, again, is simple but this time it has a slight chance to develop and has an ending. Of course, there's another ten minutes or so of Jamboree after that, but that's okay. The moments of song seem briefer this time around, only a song or two at a time instead of three. This makes the moments of song seem less of an interruption. There is also an attempt to have a reason for the moments of song.
Ferlin Husky is still an amiable lead, pleasant, amusing and grinning. Don Bowman is still grandly cynical as Jeepers. Mamie Van Doran is no longer playing Boots, the role now performed by Joi Lansing. While this may be sacrilegious to some, Joi seems much more comfortable in her role than Mamie. Joi seems to be having fun with it and, well, I find Joi to be much more attractive. Nothing against Mamie you understand but Joi....wow.
While that's all well and good, the icing on this cake is the guest stars: Lon Chaney Jr., Basil Rathbone and John Carradine. They get to be politely creepy and have a bit of fun. I'm sure these were roles they could have played in their sleep (and may have done) but it adds a certain authentic quality to their roles. The familiar faces help. And we've got a man in a gorilla suit, so it's grand.
Music-wise there's nothing mad here. Apart from Ferlin, the big name is Merle Haggard (and his two songs are a bonus in themselves).
Basically, this is the sort of thing I felt they were shooting for with the first film but didn't make it. It's simple, basic, maybe a little stupid at time, but it's fun and doesn't purport to be anything else.

The video is essentially in the same condition as the first, probably a little cropped, damaged, but solid. Considering its age and relatively low budget origins, this is about as good as one could expect. The audio is solid, but nothing special.

The only extra is a sequence of 'Coming Soon' footage. They're not trailers, just footage from movies VCI was preparing to release at the time. It's the same sequence that appeared on the 'Las Vegas Hillbillys' disk.

This is another disk that can probably be found at a discount price, about $9.99.

Recommendation to watch. Again, it's not bad, just simple silly fun. It'll be of particular interest to fans of Lon Chaney Jr, Basil Rathbone, John Carradine and Merle Haggard.

(Standard 'Pricing and availability have likely changed' disclaimer. Add 'thought I'd get the sequel out here since I mentioned it yesterday'. Also add 'like yesterday, this is probably the most anyone has ever written about this movie'. Archive reorganization going well but yesterday left me worn out. Trying to get more done but the energy just isn't there.)