House on Haunted Hill Review
by Brandon Herring (horrormvfn AT aol DOT com)November 17th, 1999
Rating: * * * out of * * * *
Rated R for horror violence and gore, language and some nudity.
Starring: Geoffrey Rush, Famke Jansen, Ali Larter ,Brigette Wilson, Taye Diggs, Chris Kattan, Lisa Loeb, James Marsters.
Running Time: 115 minutes
So here is the second of 1999's remakes of classic horror movies. The first was the dumb, pathetic but OK remake of the classic 'The Haunting'. Now comes the highly awaited remake of House On Haunted Hill. The classic which starred Vincent Price as a man who pays a group of people 100,000 to stay in his house. If they survive the night they get the money. If not well you get the jurisdiction. Having not yet seen the film (DVD on its way) I wasn't sure if I would really like the remake. But sure enough it comes through and has a great storyline to fall back on.
Geoffrey Rush (in a fantastic role with an incredible performance) is Steven Price, the owner of an amusement park destined to scare the wits out of people. His wife Evelyn Price is throwing a party with her friends. Steven dismays at the idea and makes his own list. Somehow someone, or something changes that list and five other people are invited to the party. Eddie (Taye Diggs) an ex-baseball player, Sarah (Ali Carter) an ex-assistant who can re-wire anything, Melissa (Brigette Wilson) a talk-show host in sorts, Dr. Blackburn (Peter Ghallager), and Watson (Chris Kattan) a smart-mouthed humorist in ways. What he is gonna do is pay these five people 1,000,000 dollars if they can survive through the night. If they can they get the money, if not well they don't.
The House On Haunted Hill used to be an insane asylum. Years before mental patients broke out and killed the Dr. there, forcing him to lock the place up because if he died, so did they. Everyone who was in there burned to death. Now it is Steven Price's home and he is throwing this party for these five people. What starts out as a seemingly normal night, turns into a horrifying, blood splattering night. The deep dark secrets of what really happened in that asylum and why those guests are actually there are revealed. One-by-one the people start to disappear. Conspiracies start to turn up, and Steven Price finds out that his house may be alive after all. The people find rooms, which once held mental patients. Rooms which once had people dying. Rooms which may still contain these people. Now these five people must try and survive the night and try and survive the house, and they must survive each other with terrorfying results.
Since I officially haven't seen the original I can't say which is better. I can say however I liked this movie. Geoffrey Rush gives a one in a million performance as the rich Steven Price, and does a great job doing a Vincent Price role. Famke Jansen as his wife was great and even kind of eerie at times. Ali Carter and Taye Diggs sort of become the main characters and Ali Carter who debuted in Varsity Blues gives a fantastic performance here as does Taye Diggs. Chris Kattan gives us great comic relief and the movie contains a lot of comical lines. Peter Ghallager and Brigette Wilson were great as well and gave commanding performances as potential victims.
The plot was well conceived and was very absorbing. The movie has atmosphere the whole way through that is disturbing and creepy, and even sometimes downright scary. I found even the opening credits to me a little ominous. One thing I knew not to expect was a 'Haunting' type movie with special effects galore. Even though it had fantastic gore and special effects, the movie has only a 19 million dollar budget, which doesn's show all the way through but you can tell. The movie was written well, and it's only major flaw is the under-developed characters and plot holes that we are left with.
The ending is quite clever and some may not even get it. I must say House On Haunted Hill was a surprise. I was expecting another Haunting with special effects, no scares and a dumb ending. Instead I found a good Halloween movie with gore, scares and great acting. House On Haunted Hill is one of those movies you really can't take seriously. Though it is a well-made movie with a good storyline it still has some flaws. But besides that the movie is fun, smart and scary and makes us wonder why remakes like this can't be made all the time!
Reviewed By Brandon Herring October 28, 1999.
Brandon Herring
Movie Review Heaven
(http://www.geocities.com/hollywood/movie/3160/moviereviewheaven.html
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