House On Haunted Hill [DVD] [1999]

I like supernatural horrors and a big of gore. This has both so I’m happy.

This review is for the movie and the superior German import Blu-ray.(DO NOT buy the Cult Movie Collection UK version, read below)PLOT...A millionaire with theatrical tendencies, Stephen Price (Geoffrey Rush) invites a number of people to stay in a vast creepy house that used to be an insane asylum. Stephen, accompanied by his bitter wife, Evelyn (Famke Janssen), offers a million dollars to anyone who can stay the whole night without dying. When Stephen and Evelyn become trapped with their guests, they quickly realize that the house really is haunted.This is a classic late 90's horror, a remake of the 50's black and white movie. Updated for a new generation with more lavish effects, a great horror even now after all these years, a good old school ghostly haunted house tale, plenty of great kills, some are bloody, the movie has some good effects for the time, a mix of practical and CGI for the spirit, but still looks cool. The cast is great which also is a thing that makes it work, quite a few famous faces from other movies, some horror. Geoffrey Rush (Pirates of the Caribbean) Famke Janssen (Goldeneye) Ali Larter (Final Destination) Jeffrey Combs (Re-Animator) Bridgette Wilson (Mortal Kombat) If you love a good horror its worth picking up for some good popcorn Halloween fun.Make sure you get the German FSK 16 Blu-ray version as it has a much better picture quality and it has many bonus features. The UK Cult Movie Collection version has no features and a transfer which is a disaster, probably the worst your ever seen, the frame rate is so bad and jerky you will have a headache after 2 chapters.The German Blu-ray is UNCUT and runs at 93mins, Great HD picture and runs at the proper speed.Region B Plays in the UK. 1999. English language audio, and German. Subtitles turn off.Features include a commentary, mini featurettes (12mins) Deleted scenes (12mins) trailer, and an extra featurette that talks about the original movie and compares it to the remake (19mins)

I think this is a well made film with plenty of scares and gore. It has a real creepy atmosphere that really adds tension to the movie as it is set in a old mental asylum now a modern day house. It has a real uneasy feel with the flash back scenes of past crimes carried out on the former residents being tortured, along with other nigthmarish visions in the chamber etc. You sense this right from the opening credits and first scenes set in the past of went happened in the asylum. It features a cool young cast and has cool action scenes and special effects. If you haven't seen this before you will find it creepy, and will give a few scares!To compare it to the original is unfair as these are 2 films with totally different audiences in mind, the original now as good as it is was, would be seen as more funny than scary with skeletons on wires! There is a good extra on the DVD that compares the 2, and the scenes as the guests arrive and some of the others between the party hosts are very true to the original. In the original they were offered $10,000 to stay the night, in the update it's a million! This is a good feature especially if you have not seen the original and is about 20 mins.There are also trailers for both versions, feature commentary by the director, about 12 mins behind the scenes of key moments, a few deleted scenes, notes on the director of the original, as well as DVD-ROM content. Overall a very good package and if you like horror you'll love this!

I've looked at other reviews for this movie and most of them seem to have been rated unhelpfull by readers so this is my review of House On Haunted Hill - I hope it helps.An eccenric millionnaire and his wife invite six people (one of them is Ali Larter who was in The Hills Have Eyes (2005) and played Clear Rivers in Final Destinations' 1 and 2) to stay in their "haunted" mansion for one night. He tells them that if they manage to stay and survive the whole night he will share one million dollars between whoever remains. He gives them each a gun "to protect themselves".They all agree to stay and shortly the charactors start to get killed off one-by-one. Some people become suspicious and try to leave but there is a malfunction from within the house and they are sealed inside.Lots of suspence and stalk-and-slash horror from the director of Th13teen Ghosts and Ghost Ship. If you liked either of those movies then you are guaranteed to like this as it is very similar in theme and has the same type of suspence and death scenes.I really enjoyed this movie and only deducted a star from the full 5 because I was surprised because it is an 18 but isn't really that gorey. Don't let this put you off, it is gorey in some places and there is something happening all of the time so you never really get bored while watching it.Good, slasher, ghost flick which is a lot better than most remakes and modern horror movies. This movie is definately worth a watch and I would recomed it to all fans of the horror/thriller genre.