31 Days of Halloween - Day 15 - House on Haunted Hill (1999)
It’s another remake on the Halloween watch – this time of the 1959 film of the same name, with Geoffrey Rush playing amusement park mogul Steven Price (a nod to the similar main character of Frederick Loren, played by Vincent Price in the original) who invites five strangers to his wife’s birthday party at an abandoned asylum.
The asylum was run by a mad doctor – played by the wonderful Jeffrey Combs of Re-Animator – where horrific experiments were conducted on the patients. The patients took their revenge on the doctor and staff, and the asylum is haunted by their spirits – the birthday party guests don’t know what they’re up against.
Being a Dark Castle Entertainment horror flick – the same team behind Thirteen Ghosts and House of Wax – you know you’re in for an entertaining tale, but the horror could have been ramped up. There’s so much potential there. The Act III ghostly mix/threat is poor and Comb’s mad doctor could have had a larger role.
There’s some brilliant, surreal special effects however and FX’s popular American Horror Story definitely gives it a nod in their Asylum series.
BEST HOUSE ON A HAUNTED HILL?: This one
GORE RATING: 3/5
SCARES: 2/5
DISTURBIA: 2/5
TOTAL HALLOWEEN VIEWING RATING: 7/10
Watch it for: Geoffrey Rush’s lead is a great nod to Vincent Price
Watch out for: A trippy saturation chamber
It’s another remake on the Halloween watch – this time of the 1959 film of the same name, with Geoffrey Rush playing amusement park mogul Steven Price (a nod to the similar main character of Frederick Loren, played by Vincent Price in the original) who invites five strangers to his wife’s birthday party at an abandoned asylum.
The asylum was run by a mad doctor – played by the wonderful Jeffrey Combs of Re-Animator – where horrific experiments were conducted on the patients. The patients took their revenge on the doctor and staff, and the asylum is haunted by their spirits – the birthday party guests don’t know what they’re up against.
Being a Dark Castle Entertainment horror flick – the same team behind Thirteen Ghosts and House of Wax – you know you’re in for an entertaining tale, but the horror could have been ramped up. There’s so much potential there. The Act III ghostly mix/threat is poor and Comb’s mad doctor could have had a larger role.
There’s some brilliant, surreal special effects however and FX’s popular American Horror Story definitely gives it a nod in their Asylum series.
BEST HOUSE ON A HAUNTED HILL?: This one
GORE RATING: 3/5
SCARES: 2/5
DISTURBIA: 2/5
TOTAL HALLOWEEN VIEWING RATING: 7/10
Watch it for: Geoffrey Rush’s lead is a great nod to Vincent Price
Watch out for: A trippy saturation chamber
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