Review: The House on Haunted HIll (1999)

"House on Haunted Hill," is another remake from Dark Castle Entertainment. As you guessed it, William Castle also did the 1959 original of the same title that stared Vincent Price. This version contains an "all-star" cast.

 

This movie is more similar to the original than the other Dark Castle remake, "!3 Ghosts." However, even though they respected Castle's original vision, there is far more to the remake than the original.

 

There are a number of famous characters in this movie. Geoffrey Rush (Lantana) gives perhaps his best performance ever as Price, the star of the film. Not only does he take the role made famous by Vincent Price, he does it with a flare. His wife, Evelyn, portrayed by Famke Janssen (X-Men, Hide and Seek), does just as well in recreating the role of the vicious and calculating wife.

 

Chris Kattan (SNL, Corky Romano) plays a neurotic Watson Pritchett, Pritchett's family owned the infamous "house," and he rents it to Price for a birthday party.

 

As in the original, Price throws his wife a birthday party in an old asylum. Dark Castle pulled all the stops out on "building" a creepy and frightening institution.

 

Price invites several people he believes to be, "so desperate they will do anything for money." He offers everyone a million dollars each to spend one night in the old hospital. The confusion begins as soon as the party starts. The guests who arrive weren't the ones invited, the effects aren't the ones Price created, and it soon comes clear that the old hospital is the only one in control.

 

Once the old security system is deployed, there is no way for those inside to get out.

 

One-by-one guests start disappearing and Price's plans unravel when his wife winds up dead.

 

The night's events cumulate as guests realize surviving one another's greed is the least of their worries. Something is at work, for reasons they must learn, that will kill them all.

 

Remake Note: It is important to add that the greatest faucet of this "remake" is the independence from the original in the plot. They didn't attempt to re-do Price's biting lines or recreate a newer version of the same story. They used a good, fresh story line that fit the period of its release and strong effects suited towards what modern audiences were accustomed.

 

 

Ghoulish Details:

 

This was an excellent remake. Dark Castle has a flare for recreating original Castle movies with details that are very contemporary and convincing.

 

There are a number of new characters in this remake and all come together to create a must-see film for horror fans. The special effects were convincing and effective in setting the scene and creating the overall atmosphere.

 

Productions of Dark Castle have consistently reinforced the notion that not all remakes are horrible.

 

Ghoulish Rating: 5 (out of 6)

Trivia:

 

* The original "house" was literally a house. In this remake, it's an old hospital.

* Before medicine began utilizing actual engineering, the devices used in medicine were crude and primitive.

* The original vat of acid became a vat of blood.