The Corner Penthouse

I just found out about an individual Blu-ray release of House on Haunted Hill (1959) from seller "houstonphil" on eBay. Read on to find out more about it...

This review is an off-shoot of my House on Haunted Hill (1959) comparison article, which primarily focused on DVD releases. I was originally going to include it there, but it would not have fit in the scope of the article.

This individual Blu-ray release is not from a traditional "studio" or available through normal retail outlets. eBay seller "houstonphil" is selling a beautifully-made RECORDED BD-R Blu-ray (alt url) for $14.99 + $4.62 U.S. shipping.

I asked Phil, who as his username implies is based in Texas, some questions about the Blu-ray before I ordered one. This was his reply:

I'm not 100% certain of the source, it actually originates from the materials used for the EYEPOP-3D release (2023 I think) and was used for the 3D conversion and the 2D blu-ray included with that set. Since the film is public domain I decided to use that very nice source to create this blu-ray. The pictures in the listing and the video are taken directly from the blu-ray, so they should give a good idea what to expect.

It is 1080P HD, its most definitely not a DVD upscale and it does come with the insert and artwork shown in the listing. These are BD-Rs manufactured by Kunaki, so the insert, case and disc printing are very nice and it's factory shrink-wrapped.

Philip Williams, the seller, is one of the members of the EyePop-3D team, so it makes sense that that would be the source. I have it now in my possession and I have to say that it does look nice. It is, essentially, the Warner DVD Widescreen transfer (with slightly different framing) in true 1920x1080 high definition. I don't see any alterations or anything negative, other than the lack of special features and that it's not a factory-pressed disc. A quick list of stats is listed below.

• Authoring Date: July 14, 2024
• UPC Number: 198715845068 (not sure if this is valid, but it's what's listed on the back of the case)
• Case Type: Standard Blue Plastic Case
• Media: Recorded BD-R Blu-ray
• Sides: 1
• Layers: 1
• Region Coding: All
• Running Time: 1:14:54
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Movie File Size: 11.4GB
• Source: EyePop Blu-ray
• Audio: English 2.0 LPCM
• Subtitles: None
• Chapters: 13
• Edits/Alterations: None
• Special Features: None


The menu is one movie frame of the titular house (from the title shot) with just "Play Movie" listed on it. No Scene Selections menu. It comes with a single-sided insert card featuring a photo of Jonas (Howard Hoffman) and Mrs. Slydes (Leona Anderson) standing in front of the coffin boxes.

[UPDATE - 1/23/2026]
Five months after I found the HoustonPhil Blu-ray, Film Masters released a factory-pressed version, which I have reviewed here.