Rating: 
Summary: Better than the critics said.
Review: When I first watched this movie, I expected it to be poor because of the negative critical reviews I had read. However, I was presently surprised by the quality of the movie, and I believe it is one of the better horror films made in recent years. Although not an exact remake of the 1959 William Castle film of the same name, the premise is similar. Party guests are offered $1 million if they can survive the night in the haunted house. The 1999 film does an especially good job of illustrating why the house is haunted. I highly recommend this film.
Rating:
Summary: There's Evil In The Shadows Of This "House"
Review: There's some genuine thrills, and a few chills thrown in for good measure, in this remake of the 1959 horror film, "House On Haunted Hill," directed by William Malone. When Evelyn Stockard-Price (Famke Janssen) informs her husband, amusement park thrill-meister Steven H. Price (Geoffrey Rush), that she wants her birthday party to be held at an old house that stands on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean-- a house that was once an infamous mental institution in the '30's-- he is more than willing to consent. What he plans, however, is more than she bargained for. He starts by shredding Evelyn's guest list and replacing it with his own, then decides to make it more than a party; it'll be a kind of a contest of endurance: Any guest who manages to stay the night and remain alive will receive a check-- at first light of morning-- for one million dollars. But his sinister plans are only the beginning of a birthday bash beyond anything even he could conjure up, because unbeknownst to Steven, supernatural forces (it would seem) are already at work on plans of their own. And before it's over, the Prices and their five guests (as well as the audience) will know a night of unimaginable terror. All of which sounds like the trailer from a camp '50's horror movie, but as a matter of fact, this film is much better than that. Beginning with a well developed script by Dick Beebe, Malone puts his imagination to work and, with the help of some great special F/X, actually delivers the goods promised by all the promotional campaigns for the movie. The house itself is creepy, and the atmosphere Malone creates-- both physically and psychologically ("You don't want to go down to the basement!")-- makes for some truly frightening moments. From the outset, he keeps the tension high and maintains an air of mystery throughout as the story unfolds. Who is really doing what to whom, and are there really supernatural forces at work? There's enough twists and turns to keep everyone, including the audience, guessing as to what's actually going on; and just when you think you have it figured out, it twists again and you're back to square one. No matter where you go, there you are, and Malone is always still one step ahead. Oscar winner Rush lends an ambience of dignity to the role of Price (played by Vincent Price in the original), as does Janssen as Evelyn, their respective portrayals allowing each actor to demonstrate a versatility for not only leading roles, but character parts as well. As this is not a film that allows for much by way of character development, the characters must be established by the actors very quickly, and with at least enough depth to be credible, and in this Rush and Janssen succeed nicely. As the guests, Peter Gallagher turns in a notable performance as Dr. Donald Blackburn, as does Ali Larter, in the leading female role of Sara. The charismatic Bridgette Wilson adds significantly to the proceedings, while Chris Kattan (doing justice to the role created in the original by the terrific character actor Elisha Cook, Jr.) steals some scenes with his portrayal of the manic owner of the house, Watson Pritchett. Rounding out the supporting cast are Taye Diggs (Eddie Baker), Max Perlich (Schecter), Jeffrey Combs (Dr. Vannacutt) and Lisa Loeb in a noteworthy cameo as the Channel 3 Reporter. There's some scary moments in "House On Haunted Hill," but nothing that will keep you awake or give you nightmares, because it's all done in a way that is meant to be entertaining, and most importantly, fun. Malone set out to make a movie that would provide some heart-pounding thrills and evoke some spontaneous screams from the audience, and that's exactly the movie he made; there's nothing here that's going to strike fear in the hearts of the meek. This is good old-fashioned Halloween or late-night fare that will make the hairs on the back of your neck bristle and perhaps make you want to leave the light on in the hall, so that in the morning you can have a good laugh at yourself over it. That's entertainment; and that's what the magic of the movies is all about.
Rating: 
Summary: Insult to the Original
Review: I am especially disturbed by the scads of movies made recently which have mindboggling great special effects but crappy storylines and charecterizations. (DeepBlueSea, Godzilla, Twister, etc etc etc) I'm not even going to bother comparing this to the 1950s classic, I don't think remakes are always a bad idea but in that case, I think the charming tale is a period piece which tampering could only reveal how life in the modern era lets us down. Computers can't create terror in my opinion. I also detest the portrayal of the millionaire's wife in this flick. Aren't we sick of the stereotype of "the gold hunting evil woman fooling around". Haven't we moved beyond this? But I can't diss the flick entirely. The idea behind this film is decidedly creepy. It isn't a boring movie by any means either. The ending is quite poor however.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining horror dark comedy.
Review: The Plot:In 1931, an well known asylum in L.A., The patiens of the criminally insane attack of the nurses and the doctocs there. Now the asylum become a house and after 68 years later. An beautiful cold wife(Famke Janssen) was seeing a documentary about the house and she wants to do a party in that house. She ask her theme park bigshot Steven Price(Geoffery Rush in a relish performance), if he`s interested. He says yes, she invite her people she wants but her husband deleted them on the list, he invite the people he wants. But after he leave his office, the computer erased Steven Guests and The computer re-write by itself the new guests. The day after five people they go to the house and there a catch, the ones, who survive the night, will get one million dollars. But steven is also a specialist on playing pratical jokes but in that house has a dark history and this could be the night, they will never forget.DVD has excellent Widescreen print(1.78:1)format and strong Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround. An good commentary track with the director William Malone. Deleted Scenes and Short Documentary. Excellent DVD to our. Horror fans will have a great time with the 1959 cult classic. Produced by Robert Zemeckis and Joel Silver and a good music score by Don Davis(The Martix). Grade:B+.
Rating: 
Summary: Fun, disgusting, entertaining, scary!! 5 stars!
Review: I am very happy with my purchase of this DVD. The special features are the best part, it's a lot of fun seeing lots of clips of the 1958 version! The movie it's self is what I'd call "cheap thrills", there is lot of blood and gore and it will definately get you spooked if you watch it at night. The best bit of the movie is how this "haunting" atmosphere is maintained throughout, and there are some twists. Unfortunately the ending is a bit of an anti-climax. 'The Haunting' is definately not as good as this movie!!... but I enjoyed them both!
Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly good creep show
Review: I went into this film with no expectations other than a fairly mindless way to spend a Halloween. I was pleasantly surprised that, all indications to the contrary, "House on Haunted Hill" had moments of real horror and more than a few that made me jump in my seat. Until the end, when the CGI programmer apparently took over the production of the movie with predictably awful results, the film gives us some very appropriate twists on the classic haunted house story. Especially effective is a sequence where extremely unpleasant ghosts are seen through the lens of a camcorder. (Note to anyone who sees such a thing in real life: RUN.) No one expects Oscar nominations for a film of this sort, and none were forthcoming, but the cast of second- and third-tier actors have a great deal of fun despite that, hamming things up appropriately and goosing the audience at the same time as they wink at it. A nice antidote for those numbed by splatter-riffic horror movies of the 1980s and the teen horrors of the 1990s. Not a classic, but well worth a rental by horror fans and perhaps purchase by those who love their haunted house films.
Rating:
Summary: NOT AS GOOD AS THE ORIGINAL
Review: I HAD SEEN THE ORIGINAL YEAR AGO, AND BY FAR THE ORINGINAL IS THE BEST. THE SPECIAL EFFECT IN THE REAMKE ARE VERY WELL DONE. THE ORIGINAL IS SCARIER AND BETTER. THE ACTORS IN THE ORIGINAL DO A BETTER JOB OF LEADING YOU INTO THE PLOT.
Rating: 
Summary: OK
Review: I haven't seen the other House on Haunted Hill...but this one is alright. The characters are a wasteland, the dialouge is tedious and the performances, suspect. So what do we have to work with here? Well, the director obviously used some disturbing imagery to create tension and horror. There's a really artful sense of style in camera work, creative horrific imagery and scene set up. Ex: One of the characters sees something on her video camera that's invisible to the naked eye. Some may understand it some may not. But beware the CGI effect at the end...it stinks.... Also beware the ending...it stinks. Did anyone notice that the ad campaign for this movie borrows heavily from Psycho? Slanted letters and images, cracked letters that are the same font as Psycho's, red and black useage as in the MCA home video release of Psycho where the cover art is just the word "Psycho" in red, slanted and cracked. If you did just e-mail me a "yes" if you have time to waste. If you think I'm insane then thank you. You can e-mail me as well.
Rating:
Summary: IT WAS GOOD, BUT NOT AS GOOD AS "THE HAUNTING"
Review: If you compare Geoffrey Rush's "haunted house flick" to Jan de Bont's "haunted house flick", the odds are that "The Haunting" will win the match. Though this film had me jumping a few times, the haunting had a much better plot. House on Haunted Hill (1958) was much better. The music was creepier as well and it was much more classic. Though this movie is not as bad as some movie I've seen in my day, I don't think it's worth over $9.99.
Rating:
Summary: I'm still having nightmares
Review: This movie was like the best movie that I've ever seen. Itscared the ... out of me. I mean I saw it at the theater with my friends and it didn't really bother me, but when it came out on video I decided to watch it again. Like I said it scared the hell out of me. The effects reeked of awesomeness and so did the actors. Taye Diggs was the man and that other hot chick was pretty cool too.
|
