Review of House On Haunted Hill, The

Introduction

Do any of you remember the original House on Haunted Hill? I don’t to be honest, being shot in 1959 it was before my time. The original was directed by William Castle, a somewhat renowned Director of his time, and starred one of the all time horror greats – Vincent Price. This time around the Director is the reasonably unknown William Malone and the lead role is played by Geoffery Rush (again reasonably unknown, well to me anyway).

The story remains basically the same. Successful theme park owner Steven Price (Geoffery Rush) holds a twisted birthday party for his wife (Famke Janssen – Deep Rising, Golden Eye) at an old closed down hospital for the criminally insane. The guests are a group of strangers who are offered one million dollars each if they stay the night in this very spooky building. Of course the building is majorly haunted so when the sun goes down the fun begins.

I had to chuckle when I was researching for this review, this version the hapless guests are offered one million dollars each . . . in the original movie the amount is a comparatively measly ten thousand dollars. Inflations a bugger :).

Video

This disc presents a very clear 1.85:1 anamorphic picture. With many scenes being shot in low light the picture quality remains good. Overall I couldn’t spot any grain or defects in the picture, if I don’t include the end of the movie. The end sequence has the appearance of being rushed, the effects scenes look a little ropy and there are a few scenes that look very poor indeed, a real shame.

Ignore the end sequence for now and I would say that the effects were great, very well done and quite gruesome in places. As mentioned earlier the end sequence looks rushed and unfinished in places and this kind of spoils it just a little.

Audio

Fan-bloody-tastic, this is one great audio track. I lost count the number of times I turned my head to see if there was anyone behind me. Also there are numerous spooky effects and set pieces that really draw you in and scare the s*** out of you. The music also combines with the sounds to provide a very involving soundtrack indeed.

I read a review somewhere which said “this is a real cinema experience soundtrack”. Sums it up beautifully.

Features

It’s nice to see a good selection of extras here as well. We have Filmographies, Behind-the-Scenes Documentaries, Director Commentary, Deleted Scenes, Theatrical Trailers and DVD-ROM Features (Web Events,
Chat Room Access, Genre Essays, Original Theatrical Web Site and Sampler Trailers). I haven’t had chance to go through every last extra but what I have seen I liked.

The Director seems to have taken a personal interest in this DVD as he is there to talk you through the deleted scenes, explaining why they were cut etc. I think that the DVD buying public are becoming to extras on their region 1 DVDs so this sort of extra detail and effort is really refreshing (as it was on the Sixth Sense disc).

One comment I would like to make about commentaries is the lack of actor involvement in allot of the newer releases. I would really like to hear from the people who played the lead roles (as was heard in Ghostbusters and Army Of Darkness to great amusement). This is not really a crticism of this disc in particular but commentary tracks as a whole.

Overall a nice brace of extra material.

Conclusion

This is a great horror film. Sure, it’s not without it’s problems (all mainly centered around the end sequence) but it really is a good ole scare movie.

Let’s get the unpleasantness out of the way first, the end sequence. It looked rushed with several sequences looking very poor. The effect of the main manifestation of evil is very smart when it’s properly done but it’s almost as if they picked some scenes off of the cutting room floor and slotted them in at the last moment. I was also expecting something different from the end bad guy as it were and was a little disappointed. Still, only a small blemish on a realy great film.

The cast are one of those bunch of people where you sit there saying “I know that person, what have they been in before?”. Out of the leads one of my favourites has to be Geoffery Rush as Steven Price, the successful theme park owner who sets up the macabre event. He bares more than a passing resemblence the Vincent Price of the original (mainly in the manor in which he carries himself). He does a great job as the ringmaster of the occasion. His wife Evelyn (Famke Janssen) looks stunning throughout but unfortunartely the friction between herself and her husband is slightly overdone and her character is never really believable. The best part of this movie goes to Jeffrey Combs who plays the evil and twisted Dr. Vannacutt, the onetime head of the institute (since deceased). Jeffrey Combs has appeared in numerous movie and TV roles ranging from Re-animator and Frighteners through to recurring roles on Star Trek : Deep Space Nine. He has a certain look and presence all of his own and, although he doesn’t have that many scenes, those that he has are truly chilling.

The story is fine as a device for the frights, which happily are plentiful. There are a few scenes that I would rate as all time classics and really disturbing. Watch it and then tell me you weren’t spooked by the scene involving the video camera and the scene with Dr.Vannacutt being monitored on the security system.

The movie is also packed with moments to make you jump and you are often on the edge of your seat waiting for something to happen. This is a return to the formula of the classic horror movies such as Friday 13th and Halloween, and a welcome return at that. As a DVD it is a great package and well worth a place in anyones collection.

Get hold of this disc, unplug your phone, lock your door, switch your lights off, crank up the sound and watch this movie. Great entertainment.