i had an epiphany today .
it occurred to me while i was watching " house on haunted hill .
"
it is as follows : if a trailer makes the film it 's advertising look like a trashy , stupid movie , well guess what ?
chances are , there * is * truth in advertising .
too bad i did n't trust my own instincts when something - or - the - other possessed me to see this movie .
i blame it on my sudden craving for a scare and my anticipation of " sleepy hollow .
" that and " dogma " started too late in the afternoon for my schedule .
an hour of " angel " or " buffy " is scarier than this doozy
that tries to be scary and shtick but falls flat on its face .
i wish i 'd seen it when it was halloween .
at least i would have been forgiving .
hey , tis the season .
the movie was scary ( albeit very confusing , dizzying , and nauseating ) at first , but soon the horror got repetitive and downright laughable because the film obviously was n't going anywhere .
now i truly appreciate films like " scream , " " halloween , " or any old hitchcock film where the scariness stems from situations that are at least somewhat realistic .
that 's what spooks people out , the fact that it could happen to them or someone they know .
there has to be a logical precedent for the situations they want to scare us with .
sure , utterly unpredictable is good , too , but that 's different from utterly nonsensical .
hohh ( house on haunted hill ) , on the other hand .
. .
well let 's just say i about fell off my chair laughing when they oh - so - cleverly revealed that everyone who got invited to the party was related to the psycho doctors who died in the house a couple of decades ago .
riiiiight .
y'know , that just sends chills down my spine .
yeah .
just like i wet my pants when they told me the house is evil .
ooooooo .
hint : blood and guts only work a few times .
sooner or later people start to tell themselves that it 's just ketchup and props and you 've got to come up with something better than that .
there were just too many things in this movie that we 've all seen before ; from the inevitable " plot developments " of strangers unwittingly trapped together ; strangers turning against each other ; the evil manifesting itself ; the dead coming back for a last scare .
each was more predictable than the last .
why did n't these fools just stay together in one place anyways ?
sheesh .
was i grossed out ?
yes .
did i get spooked a few times ?
yes .
but why ?
i get really disturbed when there is no why .
when there were n't random scares that were there for no other reason than for the visual effect ( which was n't that good either , trust me ) and the scare , the film was filled with drab , laughable dialogue .
the characters were incredibly flat and cliched . not to mention downright annoying .
you 've got a bunch of people going nowhere in their lives ; of course they 're dumb enough to go to a party some stranger invited them to provided they win a million dollars if they survive the night .
jeez , i thought no one fell for those " you may already be a winner " things anymore .
and of course , all three gals are babes .
i wonder how on earth the geoffrey rush of " shine " ended up in this movie .
keep that up , geoff , and you 'll qualify for the next batman venture .
the only single person i enjoyed was chris kattan because , well , he just cracks me up .
and famke jansen (
sp ? )
because she reminds me of the delectable brosnan .
pierce brosnan ( hey , i willingly endured " dante 's peak " three times for him : ) .
all right , i concede .
there were a couple of things i enjoyed .
that perverted little amusement park at the beginning .
i probably wo n't ride a rollercoaster for a while .
and the machine they used to drive geoffrey 's character mad ( see , i do n't even remember their names ) .
the machine , not that stupid fishtank with naked wimmin in it .
i kept waiting and waiting for that inevitable twist at the end of the movie .
it would n't have redeemed the film , but at least it would have made me feel better .
but no , they opted for the beautiful sunrise ending .
thank god they did n't add a kiss at the end or i would have puked .
god , there is no hope .
Output: N