House on Haunted Hill

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Joel H I’m a big fan of House on Haunted Hill (1959), so I was interested to see what they’d done with the story 40 years later. As it turns out, they kind of messed things up. House on Haunted Hill (1999) has some creepy visual effects, but this movie fumbled the ball when it came to story, dialogue, and characters. For example, I like Famke Janssen, but I found her to be highly irritating as Evelyn. And I also expected more from Geoffrey Rush as Stephen Price. While I don’t think that House on Haunted Hill (1999) was a complete waste of time, I think I’ll just stick to watching Vincent Price’s version. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 11/01/24 Full Review Audience Member 25 years old and this was one of the earliest horror movies I ever watched as a kid It’s the first horror film I saw before the new millennium This was Dark Castle Entertainment’s first of many horror movies An updated version of the 1959 original this one focuses on a haunted house with deadly results directed by William Malone and produced by Robert Zemeckis and Joel Silver Starring Famke Janssen, Geoffrey Rush, Ali Larter, Taye Diggs, Brigette Wilson-Sampras, Peter Gallagher, and Chris Kattan This centers on amusement park mogul Stephen Price (a reference to Vincent Price) and his conniving wife Evelyn October 11th, 1931 Los Angeles The Vannacutt Psychiatric Institute for the Criminally Insane fell apart to chaos, murder, ruin, and decay when all the patients rioted and killed all the working staff members Dr. Richard Benjamin Vannacutt specialized in mass murder and horrific surgery on his patients becoming one of the most mass serial killers of the early 20th century Cut to present day Evelyn wants to throw her birthday party at Haunted Hill but the guest list is removed somehow replacing it with several unknown new ones They arrive at Haunted Hill which is the same psychiatric institute, Mr. Price makes a deal to pay each of them $1 million dollars if they can survive the night but little do they know the house is actually ‘alive’ The ghosts inside these walls are mad not everyone related to the members of Vannacutt’s staff perished so luring these new guests in is the ultimate trap The film doesn’t match up to the original perfectly but I will give credit for putting in a fair amount of chills and such freaky imagery There’s more of a supernatural flair that wasn’t in the original A chilling score by Don Davis adds to the spooky atmosphere The filmmakers also don’t shy away from the amount of blood Rush and Janssen are having so much fun chewing the scenery with their deliciously despicable characters and their raunchy chemistry, they’re always at each others throats being the most interesting dynamic of the entire movie The rest of the cast works being so colorful while being memorable Some good lighting tricks and aggressive camerawork make this house come alive as it were as an actual character next to the humans ones given these ghosts have an agenda in mind This was also my first introduction to Marylyn Manson’s Sweet Dreams song which would become a traditional thing in other Warner Bros. properties If your expectations are low enough it’s very scary In my opinion it’s still a memorable experience being a product of its era yet still timeless with elaborate set pieces, terrifying images of ghosts, and gruesome deaths Heck it set the template for modern horror remakes A truly underrated horror movie to say the least Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 10/31/24 Full Review Marius L Cheesy, trashy, campy, glorious fun! Oh how I miss those 90s horror movies! This is the kind of movie that is made for a hung over sunday! Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 04/19/24 Full Review Farah R The story is good, and the actors aren't bad, so House on Haunted Hill is at least watchable compared to other low-budget horror movies of the 90s. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 04/18/24 Full Review Solomon K Don't understand the low score. The movie was fun and creepy. Only bad thing was the awful cgi. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 04/05/24 Full Review Chloe S Really, honestly, the only parts of the film I was interested in and enjoyed was the setting (good atmosphere and really nicely designed, especially the basement level), some of the monster designs (The Shadow especially- the ink-blot inspiration really shines, and looks really cool!) but the story, the characters, and the ending all fall flat. Doesn't help that 90% of the deaths (y'know, the MAIN SOURCE OF SCARES) happen off-screen or are relatively timid. The only exception (I guess- his death is off-screen but it is the most creepy of all of them) was a minor character that shows up for TWO SCENES and he's dead for one of them! Watching this movie once is alright, not watching it at all is better. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 04/05/24 Full Review Read all reviews

House on Haunted Hill

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