House on Haunted Hill

Plot synopsis:
The film is set in an abandoned asylum, the Vannacutt Psychiatric Institute for the Criminally Insane, where numerous murders were committed in the 1940s and 50s. The head of the facility, Dr. Richard B. Vannacutt, performed grotesque experiments and medical procedures on the patients, killing many in the process. The hospital was closed when some of the so-called "patients" escaped, killing almost the entire staff and burning the hospital. Vannacutt had rigged the building with numerous iron gates, activated by cranks and levers, to serve as barriers to keep patients from leaving the building, should they escape; some of these were controlled by huge, clock-like timers that wouldn't open for twelve hours. During the fire, he released these gates, keeping the inmates, employees and the fire itself contained. After several unexplained deaths during reconstruction of the facility, it was dubbed "The House on Haunted Hill".Present day. Stephen Price is an eccentric amusement park mogul whom has a disintegrating marriage to Evelyn, his spoiled trophy wife. Stephen's wicked sense of humor has caused a strain between him and his wife, each of whom would gladly kill the other. Evelyn fancies spectacular parties, so Stephen leases the house from the owner, Watson Pritchett, for Evelyn's Halloween birthday bash. Evelyn gives Stephen a guest list two pages long; he shreds it to spite her and then creates one of his own. The five people who show up for the party: model Jennifer Jenzen (aka: Sara Wolfe), Eddie Baker, Melissa Margaret Marr, Dr. Donald Blackburn and Pritchett himself, aren't the ones that he invited. Neither Evelyn nor Stephen know who they are. Despite this, Price continues the party's theme, offering a million dollars to anyone who stays in the house and survives until morning, with any person not making it having his money added to the pot.Shortly after arriving, the security gates are tripped, locking everyone inside and forcing them to remain there until the gates unlock in the morning. Price scolds Carl Schecter--a company employee, who has developed a series of harmless traps to scare the guestsfor not letting him know he planned to pull a stunt like that. Schecter said it wasn't him who did it. Price is then convinced his wife did it somehow. Shortly after, Melissa is killed by one of the ghosts when she wanders off into the basement of the house. It's revealed that the spirits themselves created the guest list specifically to include the descendants of five members of Vannacutt's staff who didn't die in the long-ago fire. Also, it is revealed that Evelyn and Blackburn are in working together to bring down Stephen. Evelyn then kills Blackburn and uses his body to frame Stephen.After a deranged Stephen attempts to kill Evelyn for orchestrating his murder plot, the two accidentally unleash the Darkness of the house when he throws her through an ancient and decayed door. The Darkness is a dark, shape-shifting creature composed of all the spirits in the house, led by Dr. Vannacutt; this force comes after and tries to kill all the remaining guests. It starts by assimilating Evelyn into itself, killing her while Price watches in horror.The Darkness reveals how the evil souls that comprise it want to feed on all those "who are responsible". Upstairs, Pritchett, Eddie and Sara are trying to open one of the iron gates on the windows when they hear Price's screams from down the hall. Pritchett investigates, while the Darkness catches up with Price on the other side of the door; he jumps out of the way at the exact same moment when Pritchett opens the door and the Darkness kills him and flows away. Price runs through the hall while Sara and Eddie follow, trying to figure out how he's alive when Sara supposedly shot him (answer: a bullet-proof vest). Price tells them that what Pritchett's been saying all along is true: the house is alive and killed everyone. He figures that the only way to get out is to go to the attic and try and escape through there. Price runs ahead of them to activate them while Sara and Eddie stay behind. The Darkness seeps through the house and tries to kill them.As they are running up the stairs to the attic Sara trips, and the Darkness uses Melissa's form to try to lure her to it. Price by then has activated a pulley that reveals an opening in the window of the attic. Eddie and Sara get there, while the Darkness seeps up the cracks of the wooden floor, and Sara lingers while Eddie goes to the opening. Eddie looks back from the window to find that the Darkness had arrived and is attempting to sever the rope that keeps the iron gate open. While Eddie rushes back to get Sara, the Darkness tries to kill her but instead kills Price, who had sacrificed his life to get Sara out of the way. Sara escapes just as the iron gate comes crashing down, trapping Eddie with the Darkness.The Darkness then confronts Eddie and brings up charges against his ancestor's actions. Eddie then screams that he was actually adopted. At the sound of this, Pritchett's ghost appears and frees Eddie by pulling the rope needed to open the iron gate, at which Sara pulls Eddie through as the Darkness is about to kill him. After he is pulled through, the gate shuts, Pritchett's ghost disappears and the Darkness disappears into nothingness. As Sara and Eddie sit in exhaustion over the night's events, they notice that an envelope has been pushed through the gate, containing five checks for $1 million each. They smile and enjoy the rays of the sun. It ends with Sara asking, "One more thing, how do we get down from here?" as they are several hundred feet above the ground and there's no exit.

Tags: comedy, gothic, murder, paranormal, violence, haunting, insanity, psychedelic, revenge, sadist

Review:
However it soon becomes evident that not all the scares are set up by Price himself.This remake of the old 1958 movie sees the plot expanded and made a lot more creepy and enjoyable.
Jensen, Diggs, Gallagher and Kattan all do well and the cast do better than the scream queens that usual inhabit these films.Overall the film starts like any other Hollywood horror but the clever direction, creepy music and imaginative visuals of Dr Vannacutt all create a creepy feel to the film that is better than the gore that also comes.
Geoffrey Rush (what's HE doing in this movie?!) as Steven Price is actually a very interesting character, which can be attributed to either the effort the script takes to set him up, and/or the brilliance of the Oscar-winning actor in the role.
Multimillionaire Steven Price (is the name a nod to Vincent?) played by Geoffrey Rush, doing his best sideshow barker impersonation/Williams Castle impersonation, and wife (Famke Janssen) are having a party, in the restored former asylum.
I found the film to be entertaining (wouldn't William Castle have wanted that?) and that it actually paid homage to the original in so many ways (how many remakes ever do that?
I was expecting the worst--a remake of a lousy 1950s Vincent Price flick (I HATE the original--talk about boring!) and there were no previews--never a good sign.
I've never seen William Castle's original from 1958,but in my opinion 1999 version isn't completely bad.Director William Malone creates some atmosphere and suspense during the first hour,but everything is almost completely ruined by awful ending.There's some good gore,striking visuals and atmospheric sets,but the conclusion is absolutely lame(the CGI effects look really fake!).If you like horror movies give this one a look,just don't expect something impressive..
that being said,, I like how this one doesn't entirely follow the original,, case in point,, in this "new" one the house used to be an old Asylum where hundreds , perhaps thousands were mistreated to cruel and unusual punishment, most of the film does follow the original,, same premise,, millionaire invites 10 people to spend the night and if they survive the money is theirs.
all of the blood and gore that we wanted in the first one and couldn't get because it was just the dawn of color, and the technology obviously wasn't there yet,, all in all I think this one was pretty good,, so I apologize to Vincent Price,,, but still the ORIGINAL was better as far as plot and acting wise goes,,,.
HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL Aspect ratio: 1.85:1Sound formats: Dolby Digital / DTS / SDDSSix strangers are invited to a 'haunted house' party at a former asylum - the scene of a massacre many years earlier, when inmates rebelled against the psychotic chief surgeon (Jeffrey Combs) - and the guests are assailed by restless spirits with a murderous agenda...This remake of William Castle's 1959 shocker was the first title in a projected series by Dark Castle Entertainment, a genre outfit established by the creative personnel behind HBO's "Tales from the Crypt" (Robert Zemeckis, Joel Silver and Gilbert Adler) as a platform for the 'revision' of Castle's entire oeuvre.
Working from Robb White's original story, screenwriter Dick Beebe and director William Malone - previously responsible for such unassuming B-movies as SCARED TO DEATH (1980) and CREATURE (1985) - remain faithful to Castle's original whilst goosing the material with newfangled effects technology and levels of gore which Castle had been denied during his lifetime.
Klassen has also updated the eponymous house, a clifftop monstrosity whose plunging Art deco exterior masks the Gothic ruin within, haunted by monstrous spirits who 'come alive' and terrorize a cast of defiantly modern characters, including Geoffrey Rush as a cynical fairground entrepeneur (clearly modelled after Vincent Price), and Famke Janssen as his beautiful, bitchy, duplicitous wife.The film's uneven tone (veering between horror and humor and back again) is likely to divide viewers from the outset, but the horror scenes are played with remarkable gravity, and attentive viewers will spot visual references to the likes of GHOST STORY (1981) and JACOB'S LADDER (1990), particularly a 'guest appearance' by one of the most hair-raising phantoms from that former title.
Some of the original film's charm has been lost along the way, replaced by profanity and splatter (though not as much as some outraged critics would have you believe), and there's nothing in the remake which compares to the blood-freezing shock induced by Carol Ohmart's encounter with a blind, white-haired ghost in Castle's version, but Malone's update deserves a mark for trying.
We have the premise of 5 people who're offered a million $ if they survive spending a night in 'the house' and Rush who brings tribute to Vincent Price (who played the lead role in the original).
If you're not too harsh, this actually is a pretty enjoyable movie and  at times  a successful mixture between an old-fashioned 'haunted house' chiller and a modern special effects playground.
Sure, the CG at the end prompts some definite eye-rolling, and I think that perhaps some neat looking retro stop-motion animation would have been better, but if you can just kind of forgive that part, the rest of it is very worthwhile.This is truly one of my all time favourite Horror films (if you can get a hold of the German Blu-ray, it is lovely!).
The magnate named Price(Geoffrey Rush) arranges shocks guests(Taye Diggs,Ali Larter, Peter Gallagher,Chris Kattan,Bridgette Wilson) along with his spouse(Famke Janssen).
Gathered together for a birthday party, the guests and hosts of a lavish celebration in a haunted asylum find the events part of the house' intent to kill them off and must find a way to get out alive.This one was quite an enjoyable and vastly improved remake.
In an early scene in this remake (of sorts) of the classic Vincent Price horror, Geoffrey Rush's character, a multimillionaire theme park owner, proudly show off his latest attraction: a roller-coaster that fools those brave enough to try it into thinking that the ride is faulty, by sending the speeding car immediately in front of them (which is full of dummies) hurtling off the track.This is dumb in a number of ways: anyone queueing for the ride would see this happen, and the shock element would be lost; no-one would bother riding the coaster more than once (if at all!); and the time needed to put a new fully-loaded 'fake' car into position before each ride would cause massive queueing problems.Yes, the idea sure is dumbbut very effective.
And that pretty much sums up the whole film: House on Haunted Hill is very silly, but a whole heap of scary fun.Rush plays Stephen H.
With a solid cast, decent direction from William Malone, some weird visual effects guaranteed to freak you out, and plenty of unsettling gore (from makeup FX masters KNB), House on Haunted Hill does what a good horror film should do: scare!Once the initial premise is set up, much of the time is spent following the characters as they wander about the haunted loony-bin, but with such a wonderfully realised and very creepy setting, that's really all that is needed.
Overall though, i think that it's a great film to rent if you like the haunted house story.
A cold hearted wife (Famke Janssen) of a twisted theme park big-shot: Steven Price (Oscar-Winner:Geoffery Rush) decide to give a party at an abandoned institute for the Criminally Insane but when her husband decides to host a scary/jokey birthday bash for his wife at that house.
Steven promises to give one million bucks, no question asked if they spend the night could make them very rich or profoundly dead but that abandoned institute is a murder way of life at the House on Hanuted Hill.Directed by William Malone (Creature, Feardotcom) made a well made horror film that has little resemblance of the original 1959 cult classic.
Though i quite like the original, i absolutely hated this movie, and if it is true that Dark Castle productions are indeed planning to remake a whole host of William Castle movies then i hope they do a better job!
Why is the doctor commiting these horrible crimes?Chris Kattan from Saturday Night Live makes an appearance, and this brought my hopes up thinking he would provide some sound comic relief, but instead he spends the whole movie ranting about how "the house is alive," something we have known since the first five minutes.Avoid this movie at all costs, it has enough holes in it to drive a Mack truck through.
Eccentric millionaire Steven Price (Geoffrey Rush) throws a birthday party for his wife (Famke Janssen) at a haunted house that used to be an insane asylum before the inmates revolted and killed everyone inside.
As strange things start happening, the guests question whether Price is behind it all or if there really is some evil force at work in the house on haunted hill.Being a big fan of the original House on Haunted Hill, a classic B movie from William Castle, I had low hopes for this remake at the time it was released.
I sat there saying to myself and sometimes out loud, "Oh yeah you couldn't see that coming, No."I say that this movie is good for the people who want to waste time and money.
I am a fan of the more supernatural horror movie and this was brilliant, it added suspense, mystery and lashings of over the top horror to a fantastic cast.Set in a creepy asylum, this was never going to be short of jump-out-of-your-skin moments so if you're watching it with a girlfriend, this is one where they may need a sneaky arm around them, combine it with a yawn!!!!
As a fan of this first film (and of both director William Castle and star Vincent Price), this first effort from Dark Castle Entertainment (founded by Joel Silver and Robert Zemeckis) comes off as a minor disappointment.
However, the original story was pretty much left intact...A group of complete strangers are offered a handsome reward (a million dollars this time) to spend the night in a supposed haunted mansion.
Only difference are that this time the ghosts are for real, there's violence/gore and a back story to the house (shown in flashbacks featuring an all-too-briefly-seen Jeffrey Combs as a deranged scientist).Geoffrey Rush's performance is near-perfect Vincent Price schtick (although he claims he tried to pattern it after cult director John Waters!) and the FX thankfully showcase more make-up (by the always reliable KNB) than CGI.
These films rely mostly on the instant shock effect (the cat jumping out of the closet) instead of building up some serious tension that will leave the viewer very disturbed instead of merely surprised.House on Haunted Hill manages to create a very convincing atmosphere through some subtle and some not so subtle visual gags The images of the ghosts certainly creeped me out and left a lingering impression on me for a long time after the film had finished.
I won't even go into the highly unlikely way that our heroes get out of the house but the whole CGI blob-like uber ghost just seems like an easy way to wrap the story up.I was very frustrated by this movie, I loved the first part and honestly wish they would've gone further with it but in the end they just played it safe.
The new film doesn't rely as much on FX and shock as the silly recent remake of THE HAUNTING and actually has some good atmosphere including spooky sounds and an effective musical score.Rush does a great Vincent Price.
"The House on Haunted Hill" is a goofy, extremely cheesy horror movie that is small on real horror and big on the kind of scares caused by things jumping out from the side of the camera.
The movie updates the special effects of the original, of course; today's audiences are not likely to be easily impressed by creepy skeletons and things that go bump in the night.
Mind-numbing remake of an old Vincent Price scare flick from 1958 has wealthy weirdo Geoffrey Rush (pulling a James Woods) offering five nervous types a cool one million dollars each if they can spend an entire night in a doom-laden asylum.
No amount of Famke Janssen awesomeness can save this poor attempt at horror that spewed from Dark Castle pictures.This movie starts off very abruptly and just sort of speeds up what little character development there is so the house scenes get shown.The storyline is absolutely ridiculous which is good because it matches the equally ridiculous attempts at scaring an audience over 6 years of age.There is nothing even remotely scary in this film as the ghosts look very cheap and well nothing like a ghost one of them looks half woman half meal worm.Even the gore isn't enjoyable as this film suffers from Jelly like blood disease which doesn't add to the realism of the movie however the movie has absolutely zero realism at all so i guess the blood effects were just blending in with all the other crappy things about this film.The cast is actually solid i surprisingly had expectations due to Famke Janssen,Geoffery Rush,Ali Larter, and Tae Diggs but the films terrible well everything else ruined any chance of these actors to stand out.This movie is almost exactly like The Haunting (1999)big cast, lots of hype but an equally bad storyline and equally bad special effects.There is nothing terrifying about any CGI generated creature especially the CGI ghost thing in the end what was that supposed to be?Scary?Intense?It was neither just extremely over the top and extremely stupid.This movie has absolutely no scares it tries to have scares but well when the freaky images aren't freaky and the music that's supposed to create suspense creates boredom the movie really is not a horror.This was like watching Clue the whole time i was waiting for someone to say "It was Evelyn in the library with the candlestick" and i would be less than shocked if that was in the script.Overall this piece of garbage should be burned it makes no sense and fits into no genre unless there is one for bad attempt at a mystery/horror..
It might seem silly to say, this being a remake of a haunted house movie, but there was no plot to be found, nor were there any worthy likable characters.
The only saving grace this film has is the special effects of the "evil".The acting is substandard (Except for Geoffrey Rush's performance)and the story is non existent.
The movie *does* look great.Five people are invited to the birthday bash for Evelyn Stockard-Price (Famke Janssen), which conveniently is located in your standard issue cliffside mansion that naturally used to be an insane asylum.
The House on Haunted Hill remake is a pretty good re-imagining of the original 1959 classic.
The evil spirits end up changing the guest list to one of it's own in an interesting twist revealed later on in the film.The house is actually the Vannacutt Psychiatric Institute for the Criminally Insane which was shut down in the 30's.
The special effects, the direction and the script all add up to create a creepy atmosphere, and an air of intrigue throughout the movie; resulting in an entertaining horror flick, that's actually pretty stylish.7/10.
Awful big time, no silver lining, only dark clouds.For all of those who like to go see horror movies and come out insulted, because one should have never seen it.
House on Haunted Hill is so original because no one's ever made a movie like it before.
Maybe it's because this movie uses every bad horror flick cliche existing, including young people marching around in old houses' basements ALONE instead of just waiting together in the lobby.
Well the road the plot takes from there is different, and the beginning of the film details the origins of the haunted house.
The Roller-coaster Ride Falls Off Track at the End. Fun remake of the 50's Vincent Price classic, "the House on Haunted Hill." Worth the price of admission for the chemistry alone between Geoffery Rush & the ever beautiful Famke Janssen, as husband & wife who don't exactly make holy matrimony, to say the least, as both think one is trying to kill the other.
You'll have fun picking & rooting for the ones you hope get killed next, & that's exactly what their in this film for, to be murdered, one by one.Good pacing & special effects make this one a fun amusement ride, though the roller-coaster falls off track in the end, otherwise I would've rated this a half star higher.
Before watching William Malone's "House On Haunted Hill" of 1999 I was quite skeptical, as William Castle's original of 1959 starring the great Vincent Price is a brilliant spooky classic, and 90s remakes of Horror classics (such as the dreadful "Haunting" remake)usually tend to suck.
I think I'd like this movie a lot more if it weren't a remake, but as long as they use the title House on Haunted Hill, it's a remake and should at show the basic background to be the same.
Being a remake of a Vincent Price movie, I was expecting a little bit of "oh, come on!" so I wasn't totally bothered at first.
So I had seen the original "House On Haunted Hill" Several times.
Now I know the original isn't the best movie in the world, in fact it's not really all that good, but like I said, it's all about Vincent Price.
After watching the original "House on Haunted Hill" I was not sure if this remake would be like a "B" movie or updated, and updated it was.
It may not be the original House on Haunted Hill but it is a very good remake.