House on Haunted Hill (1999)

User Rating:

5.2/10   

Director:

William Malone

Writers (WGA):

Robb White (story)
Dick Beebe (screenplay)

Release Date:

29 October 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Six strangers have the chance to make $1,000,000 EACH. All they have to do is make it through the night alive.

Plot:

A millionaire offers a group of diverse people $1,000,000 to spend the night in a haunted house with a horrifying past.

Plot Keywords:

Haunted House | Millionaire | Mental Institution | Money | Ghost

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Geoffrey Rush	...	Stephen H. Price
Famke Janssen	...	Evelyn Stockard-Price
Taye Diggs	...	Eddie Baker
Peter Gallagher	...	Donald W. Blackburn, M.D.
Chris Kattan	...	Watson Pritchett
Ali Larter	...	Sara Wolfe
Bridgette Wilson	...	Melissa Margaret Marr
Max Perlich	...	Carl Schecter
Jeffrey Combs	...	Dr. Richard Benjamin Vannacutt
Dick Beebe	...	Male Nurse
Slavitza Jovan	...	Twisted Nurse
Lisa Loeb	...	Channel 3 Reporter
James Marsters	...	Channel 3 Cameraman
Jeannette Lewis	...	Price's Secretary
Janet Tracy Keijser	...	Girl on Wires

MPAA:

Rated R for horror violence and gore, sexual images and language.

Runtime:

93 min | Spain:99 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Malaysia:18SG | USA:R (certificate #37055) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia) | Canada:18A (Video rating) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Canada:R (Nova Scotia/Ontario) | New Zealand:R16 | Philippines:R-18 | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Chile:14 | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 | Germany:16 | Ireland:18 | Japan:PG-12 | Netherlands:16 | Norway:15 | South Korea:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | Portugal:M/16

Filming Locations:

Griffith Park - 4730 Crystal Springs Drive, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Dark Castle Entertainment

Trivia:

Cindy Crawford was considered for the role of Melissa Margaret Marr.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When the camera tracks in on Schecter in the control room in the haunted house, there are two very conspicuously CG-added Blockbuster video boxes under some paper. They wobble as the camera moves closer to them.

Quotes:

Sara Wolfe: I'm trying to figure out who or what Melissa was taping when she disappeared.
Eddie Baker: Right, then where will we be?
Watson Pritchett: Out of Scotch, thanks to you, Ass!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Return to House on Haunted Hill (2007) (V)

Soundtrack:

Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)

Not bad at all for a remake (and maybe better than the original)

I've seen some of the comments on the film here, and would beg to differ with many. 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? Generally they add a flavor-of-the-month star, a bunch of irrelevant plot changes and a soundtrack from a has-been band or one that should never have been). As a bonus, a supernatural element was brought to this film that wasn't there in the original version. I've seen a lot of complaining about the ending, but hey, life sometimes sucks and I could certainly see something like that happening to me. To tell the truth, I'd have to say that this remake was better than the first version. And this is from a stone-cold believer that Karloff was the best Frankenstein monster and Lugosi the best Dracula. Tongue in cheek this movie is -- James Whale would have loved it.