A syndicated movie show appeared on late night around 1987 featuring bad movies. One of the only movies that I saw on this program was Hillbillys in a Haunted House starring country music singer Ferlin Husky. Ferlin Husky was familiar to me because his song Wings of a Dove was on some 8-track tape that our family carried on vacation when we only had about 5 tapes. Hillbillys in a Haunted House follows Woody Wetherby (played by Husky) and his two traveling companions, Boots Malone and Jeepers, as they travel to a country music jamboree. Their car breaks down at an abandoned house that is haunted. The film is a showcase for country music performances by a variety of guest stars. About the last half of the film is a country music concert. The music gets old, but the haunted house and bad comedy keep the film interesting.
I find the film interesting for several reasons. The cast is filled with interesting actors, many who are staples of the horror genre. The bad guys in the film include Basil Rathbone, John Carradine and Lon Chaney Jr. This was the last film that Rathbone made in the United States. It was also the last film where Chaney and Carradine appeared together. It also features actor George Barrows in his gorilla suit. Barrows appeared in most of this suit in the 3-D Sci-fi classic Robot Monster where he played the title role. He was also known to have appeared on many TV shows in this suit including The Beverly Hillbillies. Another cast member with a Beverly Hillbillies connection is actress Joi Lansing who plays Boots Malone, Woody’s love interest. She appeared on several episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies as Lester Flatt’s wife. This film has a Beverly Hillbillies feel to the comedy. It is the sequel to the film The Las Vegas Hillbillys where Woody inherits a casino. In that film, Boots Malone was portrayed by Mamie Van Doren. It also features Jayne Mansfield. I have always considered Jayne Mansfield to be the poor man’s Marylin Monroe and Mamie Van Doren as the poor man’s Jayne Mansfield. The music is better integrated into the story in The Las Vegas Hillbillys making it a bit more watchable.
I was able to pick up a DVD set that includes both these films. My son is the only other member of the family that seems to be able to tolerate the country music. Ferlin Husky has a unique style of singing that we like to imitate. Our love of these films led us to seek out the Ferlin Husky Christmas album which has become a staple of the Wheeler family Holiday playlist. The good people at Rifftrax (former cast members of Mystery Science Theater 3000) saw fit to do a riff of HIllbillys in a Haunted House. The riffs make the film more tolerable, and they had the good sense to remove the concert at the end of the movie.
I would like to point out that I have spelled “Hillbillys” the way it is spelled in these films. I’m not sure why they did it that way but I suspect that it was either an attempt at being funny (country people don’t know how to spell) or trying to avoid legal action from CBS and the makers of The Beverly Hillbillies.
