The House on Haunted Hill (1999)
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| Directed by: |
William
Malone
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| Starring: |
Geoffrey
Rush/Steven B. Price |
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Famke
Janssen/Evelyn |
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Taye
Diggs/Eddie |
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Ali
Carter/Sara Wolfe |
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| RATING
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PLOT-CRUNCH:
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Five total strangers are invited to
Evelyn’s (Janssen) birthday bash by her husband, theme park
extraordinaire Steven B. Price (Rush). The location: An abandoned asylum
now owned by Watson (Kattan). The promise: Stay and survive the night you
get a million dollars. The catch: The asylum has a shady history and is
supposedly haunted by pissed off ghosts. Let the party begin!
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THE
LOWDOWN: |
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Scary, stylish and at times downright creepy film. It takes the basic
ideas of the original and muscles 'em up big time. In the original we’re
not sure ghosts are even involved, in this one there’s no doubt that
spirits are causing havoc. They play on the "is it Price or the
house" thing a bit, but let it all drop pretty fast to make way for
the ghouls. The movie is filled with nightmarish images: spooky doctors,
crazy hallucinations, head shaking phantoms (shades of Jacob’s Ladder)
and violence galore. Yes the computer effect climax takes away from the
primal tone the movie sets up for the first hour and fifteen minutes, yes
some of the characters are underdeveloped, yes we don’t see enough of
Bridgette Wilson and yes the last frame is ambiguous. But on a whole this
is a very satisfying film. Eerie scenes, peeved spirits, funny bantering
between Rush and Janssen and an hilarious Chris Kattan. What else can you
want from life? Lets enter the house and collect our checks.
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| ACTING: |
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Geoffrey Rush (Price) hams it up and has a
blast with his part. He’s funny and his lines are filled with dry wit.
Famke Janssen (Evelyn) plays the super bitch perfectly, together they make
one bitter couple.
Taye Diggs'
(Eddie) biceps do a great job. Ali Carter (Sara) knows how to scream, run
and look frightened. Chris Kattan (Watson) improves the Watson part from
the original and makes it his own. His delivery is awesome and he had me
pissing my pants. Bridgette Wilson (Melissa) looks great but is hardly in
the film. Peter Gallagher (Donald) lets his glasses do all the thespian
work.
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| GORE: |
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There’s a lot of ketchup on the menu: A scooped out skull, pencils in
some guy’s neck, scalpel attacks…it will satisfy any gorehounds
appetite.
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| T
& A: |
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Breasts of nurses getting raped…the nudity is not fun and your crotch
won't move. Trust me…
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| DIRECTING: |
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Malone loves style. Crazy lighting, groovy shots and I adored the one
spirit point of view shot (don't blink). The flashback sequences are very
unnerving and the scene in that image chamber is one acid inspired trip. Don't
smoke up before this flick, you’ll be hiding under your bed within
minutes.
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| SOUNDTRACK: |
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A very kool use of "Marilyn Manson’s" "Sweet Dreams"
and a chilling score.
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| BOTTOM LINE: |
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It doesn’t embarrass the original and stands on it’s
own. The "opening credits" is creepier than the whole
"Haunting" remake. Watching this movie has the same feel as
going through a haunted house at a theme park. You never know what might
pop up. Sometimes you do feel that it was put together quickly and some of
the situations could have been explored more but it’s been a while since
I’ve seen a decent haunted house flick and this one with all it’s
flaws is still an entertaining ride. Now stop stabbing that poor guy and
run to the video store!
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| BULL'S EYE: |
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One hit wonder singer "Lisa Loebb" has a small part as a
journalist.
Jeffrey Combs (of Re-Animator fame)
plays the creepy doctor, Richard Vannacutt.
Geoffrey Rush character’s name is
Price after Vincent Price who played the same part in the original.
Stay tuned after the end credits for
a little surprise.
The movie had lots of scenes cut out
by the studio, here are a few:
-Early scene between Ali Carter and
Debi Mazar (playing her boss) totally cut out.
-Scene where the ghosts enter the
bodies of the dead and revive them! Zombie fun! The studio felt it looked
too much like "Thriller" and cut it out.
-A painting on the wall coming to
life and attacking Bridgette Wilson (we see it in the trailer).
-A different ending that has Debi
Mazar inheriting the house, accompanied by a real estate agent (played by
Jeffrey Combs) she enters the house and lets out a scream.
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