Rating: 
Summary: More proof that you can't make the orignal better
Review: In 10 words or less, this movie was terrible! I mean it had no real plot and just kept dragging on and on. If you've ever seen a horror film in your life, you'll predict everything that's going to happen. The only thing I was surprised about was how the final "evil" would look, but other than that, it was totally not scary. The movie basically begged you to turn it off "End me...End me! For God's sake, end me!" I wouldn't recommend watching this movie or think about watching it unless you need a cure for insomnia.
Rating: 
Summary: Slow, and not too scary.
Review: It was a slow, and sort of boring plot line. I followed with distaste, A few places in the movie gave me a start, but I wouldn't watch it again,
Rating:
Summary: Failure...
Review: I cannot imagine how could this be rated as Horror or Thriller!!!The DVD menus are brilliant although it may not be very clear for the eye due ti the animations... the extras are wonderful. And the film started very successfuly, I thought that this would be a very nice one... all went well until it has got to into a weak science fiction drama! I mean for God's sake, why didn't the story continue went as a psycho killer? Why did it has to become an unreasonable story?!! Oh and the ending is very very very weak...
Rating: 
Summary: OOOOOOOOOKKKKKKKKKAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY.......
Review: I still have no idea what I saw on that screen that one faithful day in August. Did it scare me, you ask? I honestly don't know. Why did I give this movie 4 stars you ask? Don't ask me. For on that one faithful day in August of 1999, I saw, up close mind you, a man's stomach being sliced open while a nurse captured it all on film. And then the rebelion began.......the hospital burned, people were drowned, nurses were raped, 3 pencils got shoved through a man's throat......and then, well...lets just say some patients "showed their dissaproval" for Dr. Vannacutt's patient care program....yes that'll do. Well.....now.....after seeing this movie I'll never think of mental institutions the same way again. Oh....and lets not forget that ever so lovable nurse with a fetish for electro-shock therapy.....Do I reccomend this movie.......well, if your a fan of some of the things I mentioned..........then....yes? Am I insane.........well arent we all a little bit crazy?............Let me say this though.......that Vannacutt fella really should've been patient instead of a doctor...........Think about it.
Rating:
Summary: Spooky and good
Review: This movie was the smaller budget opponent of The Haunting. Interestingly, despite the lack of the big name talent (Geofferey Rush and Famke Jansen were not yet big) and the big CGI budget of the Haunting, this movie was much, much better. There's an incredibly interesting visual style apparent in this movie about a group of strangers summoned to a house for a birthday party. The challenge is, if they manage to stay in this former asylum all night, they make lots and lots of money. Then things start to go bump in the night. The ending of this movie is a little lacking, but that is typical of suspense movies of this type. They build the evil up so much in the audience's collective minds that whenever they reveal the evil, it is a little anticlimactic. Still, this movie has a few thrills and chills. The DVD presentation is pretty clear. The picture is good, especially for such a dark movie, and the sound is good but not perfect. The cut footage is interesting, especially since it contains wholly different versions of scenes so you can compare them with ones that made it into the movie. And alternate ending is also in there and while it was interesting to see, I'm glad it was cut. This is a great movie for late at night, and the DVD is a pretty strong collection of features for such a critically maligned movie. I admit, I have not seen the Vincent Price original, so I can't compare, but this is a much stronger movie than the awful The Haunting (released at about the same time).
Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT NEW HORROR MOVIE!!
Review: I heard some of the reviews of House on Haunted Hill before I actually saw the movie. Hearing the negative feedback, I wasn't expecting much when I rented it. To my pleasant suprise, House on Haunted Hill was a very well produced and yes- a very scary movie!! It is seldom that a "remake" is par to the original. House on Haunted Hill is superior to the original. Very hip characters, outstanding special effects, and seamless production make House on Haunted Hill a satisfying treat to watch over and over again. One of my personal favorite horror movies of the past decade. Forget the negative feedback that House on Haunted Hill initially recieved- this is a must have for any horror buff!!
Rating:
Summary: Almost Great !
Review: Released at almost the same time as the awful "The Haunting" I wasn't expecting much, but this movie delivers. A terrifically creepy and nasty opening and the jolting modern day introduction set us up nicely. An able cast is brought to the haunted house where unspeakable things were done to mental patients who's revenge we witnessed at the outset. Geoffrey Rush is great, doing a nice oily tribute to the inimitable Vincent Price (of the 50's version of this story). Great stuff follows with two plots unwinding simultaneously, the fake and the real "haunting". The images of the good "doctor" appearing in the camcorder and on the surveillance cameras was terrific. I wish the whole movie could have sustained the chills generated by the "just-glimpsed-then-gone" evil and the hackle-raising stare and smile of these apparitions. And, of course Geoffrey Rush's trip in the psychotic chamber is worth the price of admission alone. Unfortunately, someone decided they could forego the sinister doctor and his minions and victims for a big CG finish that ISN'T scary and ISN'T creepy. And so the movie ends with a bang that is actually a whimper. Too bad, they were really on to something in the buildup prior to that. Could have been great. But, the ending is only the ending, and the leadup to it has enough good stuff to make it worth a look.
Rating: 
Summary: BOOGERS, BOOGAHS, AND NOT-SO-HAUNTED HILLS
Review: The first question to pose when the credits roll and everybody heads home is "If the flick is called House on Haunted Hill, why isn't the hill crawling with nasties?" Not the last question of continuity to arise, it is certainly the first which must be immediatly forgotten if one wants to enjoy the show. Robert Zemeckis' and Joel Silver's 1999 freak-film quickly stumbles into more holes than Casino's desert, and yet remains an entertaining if trashy pic. Following the tradition of shlock-horror promoter William Castle, WB's remake faithfully refreshes the underground-indie splatter genre right down to the pocket change budget. Quite a step for a Hollywood studio. Maybe too wide a step. Without advanced screening, and a Castle-like contest as the primary promotion, House seems to have been the company black sheep. Considering the final product executive confidence must've been understandebly shaky. For in every sound and frame, every note and flicker, House on Haunted Hill is a daring update of camp chaos and carnage cheese. Psychotic, psychedelic story mixed with thirties' style,'90s gratuity and wrapped up in shiny CGI for Halloween. As we go along, we shall see why this makes reality checks moot, and the movie fun. THE PLOT (or How I Almost Ruin the Movie By Blabbing About the First Reel) We open with the house. A tall, narrow concrete structure, resembling a twisted cathedral of the Third Reich. Night blankets the sky. Wind rushes mindlessly and ceaslessly against it's thick walls. An orderly walks purposefully down the length of a hospital hall. His hands grip a trio of unsharpened pencils. Beyond him one can make out stretchers, white wooden cell doors and tannish brown walls. Old yellow lights bath the entire scene as if through a glass of good whiskey. This as yet faceless man enters a sort of box office. He punches into work,methodically sharpens his pencils, blows the shavings away, puts on a record of classical music, and proceeds to author reports. The music is a relief. You see, the halls reverberate with the screaming echos of the mad. 1931 is not a good year for the psychiatric proffession. Beneath its sterile and community surface the Vannacutt Psychiatric Institute for the Criminally Insane is in fact a source of insanity. Dr. Richard Vannacutt, director and head shrink, indulges his side hobby for physiology by tourturing and dismembering his helpless patients, strapping them down and slicing abdomens open. Just such a scene greets our audience. The good doctor patiently plunges a scapel into a man's flesh. Helpless limbs pull against straps, screams muffled through surgical tape. Nurses calmly film everything for posterity. As our dedicated pursuers of anatomy "operate", Dr. Vannacutt hears thumping noises. Above, patients crawl on an opaque skylight set in the ceiling. They leer and laugh. Hmm. Back in the floor cage, our diligent report writer notices a particularly skeletal and gaunt patient staring at him through the wire screen service window. He ignores him, continuing with his scribbling, and totally unaware of the gaggle of loonies peering through the glass behind him. Smash! In an instant the office is crowded with flailing limbs and snarling faces. A web of hands siezes the orderly. One of these hands also snatch a trio of freshly sharpened pencils-- and plunges them into and completely through the orderly's throat. Blood spurts out of the ragged hole and he gags on his own lifefluids. It's all downhill from here. Inmates burst into the operating room, smashing skulls and equipment alike. An electrical fire sparks. As nurses are drowned or sexually assaulted, Vannacutt lunges for a control throttle. He engages it just as his more affectionate patients dig their fingers into his body. The camera lady takes a nap on the floor, bleeding enthusiastically out of a massive head wound. Screen fades to black... ...And jerks back to life. We see a big bald oaf frown into the old-time camera lens as he cranks it himself. He manages to whip it around without breaking beat and records his buddies using scalpels to express their dissatisfaction with the Institute's patient care policy. The good doctors are captive audiences as it were, as the rebels get to the hearts of matters. Cut to a television screen. An old newsreel depicts a flaming nut house, the voice over dramatically drooling about the grisly discovery of Vannacutt's psych ward turned crematorium. Guess it really was designed by a Nazi. Peter Graves, host of "Terrifying But True"-- a typical Fox show-- tells us the "site of his atrocities still exists, restored almost to its original condition" and "...spirits of Vannacutt and his victims still haunt the walls of the House on Haunted Hill". And breaks for commercial. It is now 1999 and a particularly sexy, particularly posionous young socialite sits in a tub and is inspired by this quality programing. She calls up her husband and tells him she knows where her next birthday party will be held. Sexy, and mentally questionable to boot. For this woman is Mrs. Evelyn Price, mate of none other than billionare amusement park designer Steven Price. Taking his dress, features, and personality from the Vincent Price Prep School, he proves himself even more blantantly demented than she. Her call interrupts his grand opening of Terror Incognito; Price's new amusment park loaded with fake accidents and deceptive rides. He cuts their conversation short in order to give a tour to two reporters, using up a few minutes of film time to establish the sort of vaudville, carnival-style atmosphere which will quickly turn the story into Grade A chedder. After scaring the crap outta his paparazzi, Price resumes the plot by calling his wife back and after accusing her of all sorts of perversity, quickly acquiesces. But not the way she thinks. He shreds her guest list and generates his own, hoping to attract greedy, desperate people to turn the party into an amusing nightmare. A healthy relationship this is not. Now something odd happens. After Price goes on to a board meeting, a shadow falls across his laptop, and by itself the guest list is rewritten and sent out. Those iMacs are something else. Well, that is the setup. The rest of the story slips down into a dark basement of horror and decay. In fact, that is exactly where all of the "boogers" attack the hapless party-goers for most of the movie. Boogers are the various CGI things which leap out of CGI darkness and, well... the scene where a wannabe reporter stumbles into an operationg room is priceless. When she realizes she can see and hear ghosts on the camera but not with her own eyes, your heart skips with hers. You can practically feel the hairs on her neck rise when she slowly looks behind her to see... wh-- what's that SHAPE in the shadows by the only exit? N-now it's--AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Nicely rendered remake of a classic.
Review: The opening sequence of William Malone's remake of "House on Haunted Hill" is a wonderful setup for the rest of the movie, which is brilliant mish-mash of horror, gore, intelligence, wit and frights galore. It's a feast for the senses that never lets up nor fails to please. While not the best remake of a movie in history, it is a valid and admirable effort, and has quite an adult feel to it that rises over that of the teenage horror films that have dominated movie screens the past decade. The opening sequence takes place in the secluded Vannacutt Psychiatric Institution for the Criminally Insane, where Dr. Vannacutt's unethical experimentation on his patients leave nothing to the imagination. One night, the patients lead a bloody rebellion, trapping everyone in the asylum and setting it aflame, killing everyone inside; only a handful of the staff members survive. Scoot ahead to the present, where amusement park tycoon Steven Price is being haggled by his narcissistic wife to have her birthday party at the newly remodeled insitute, which has been converted into an expensive mansion. Sound like contrivance? It is, but hey, give it a break: it's a horror movie. Price puts the finishing touches on his wife's guest list, but when everyone arrives at the mansion, they discover they were not the ones intended for the party. Husband and wife think that the other is responsible, while the guests, Eddie, Sara, Melissa, and Donald, are just as confused as to the reason for being invited to a total stranger's party at an even stranger location. Price explains to the group that if they stay in the house throughout the remainder of the night, they will receive $1,000,000 each, despite the repeated warnings of Pritchett, who is convinced the spirits of past inhabitants permeate the house. When the house closes in on everyone, trapping them inside, all things begin to go awry. They begin seeing strange images and hearing frightening sounds, and soon no one is able to discern reality from a mind trip. The movie has a nice flow to it that keeps it moving, and shifts sometimes between fast-paced fright and slow intensity. I enjoy being scared, and more importantly getting that feeling in the pit of my stomach when something is about to happen. "House on Haunted Hill" delivers that feeling quite commendably, keeping the chills coming while keeping its predictability factor at an astonishing low. Sure, when it looks like someone is going to die, they usually end up dead, but the way in which they die always remains a mystery until later in the film. The movie's plot, cast of actors, and stylish appeal give it a fresh look that makes it so much more appealing than the teenage horror franchises Hollywood continues to pummel us with. The plot involves no college students, no high school groupies, no serial killer in a ghost mask or carrying a fishhook. The cast is more adult than other horror films, and much more intelligent and witty. The films also has a setting and visual integrity to it that set it apart. The mansion is barely lit in the interiors, and the majority of the light comes from outside search lights that swing in the night. THe basement, which was never renovated and left in its original form, is the ultimate scary setting, embodying a moldy, decrepit feel that adds lots of creepiness. The movie's gore content is a majorly high one, and becomes more of a shock than a gross-out. Most of these scenes involve bodily harm and mutilation, and there's a lot of blood and gory effects thrown into the sickening mix. But the fact that there actually is a story behind all this is what makes it better, giving it a glossy finish while keeping it from becoming an out-and-out splatter flick. Acting is one of the film's many strongpoints, and the most effective in bringing the story to life. Geoffrey Rush is a standout as Steven Price (his character is named after Vincent Price, who played the same character in the original film). Rather than sink into the regular acting we see from characters like this in other horror movies, Rush comes off as his usual self: witty, cocky, and brimming with intelligence. He brings austerity and pomp to the role, while also bringing on the dark humor. Famke Janssen portrays his wife, Evelyn, and this role also provides her with a witty sense of charm as well. The chemistry between these two is so offbeat and cumbersome that they fit the roles perfectly when it comes to dishing out the insults. Ali Larter, Taye Diggs, Chris Kattan, Peter Gallagher and Bridget Wilson round out the supporting cast, and each of them brings added style and life to the film. "House on Haunted Hill" wastes no time in getting to the goods, and does a good job at that. The story has a solid base to it that sets it apart from other films of the genre, is far more intelligent and witty, and does a nice job of giving us chills and intensity. The gore may be a put-off for some, but the script and ability of the cast make this a sleek and stylish film that looks glossy though decrepit.
Rating:
Summary: WICKED AZZ MOVIE THAT YOU WILL LIKE !!!
Review: THIS MOVIE IS THE WICKEDEST MOVIE I'VE SEEN IN THE LONGEST TIME I SWEAR TO YOU.THE SPECIAL EFFECTS IN THIS MOVIE ARE JUST FAB.THE HOUSE JUST PLAYS WITH THE PEOPLE,THROUGH THE WHOLE NIGHT.THIS ONE GIRL WAS FOLLOWING DIGGS AND IT ENDED UP BEING A GHOST.ANOTHER GIRL IS WATCHING HER VIDEO CAMERA AND SHE SEES DOCTORS OPERATING ON A PATIENT AND WHEN SHE WAS TO LOOK OFF THE CAMERA THE DOCTORS WEREN'T THERE,I'M TELLING YA IT'S A WICKED MOVIE.I RECOMMEND YOU TO BUY THIS MOVIE NOW,IT'S A KEEP.
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