House on Haunted Hill (1999)

An amusement park mogul offers a group of diverse people $1,000,000 to spend the night in a haunted house with a horrifying past.

Director:

William Malone

Writers:

Robb White (story), Dick Beebe (screenplay)

Stars:

Geoffrey Rush, Famke Janssen, Taye Diggs

1 win & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Geoffrey Rush	...	Stephen Price
Famke Janssen	...	Evelyn
Taye Diggs	...	Eddie
Peter Gallagher	...	Blackburn
Chris Kattan	...	Pritchett
Ali Larter	...	Sara
Bridgette Wilson-Sampras	...	Melissa Marr (as Bridgette Wilson)
Max Perlich	...	Schecter
Jeffrey Combs	...	Dr. 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

Storyline

An eccentric millionaire and his wife host a party in a haunted mansion for five strangers, who'll each be given $10,000 if they survive the night. A promotional stunt was created for its release in theatres, for which a plastic skeleton was flown over the audience during key moments of the film.

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Plot Keywords:

haunted hospital | characters killed one by one | haunted house | strapped to a bed | breasts | 

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Taglines:

Are You Dying To Be Rich?

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Genres:

Crime | Fantasy | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

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

Did You Know?

Trivia

Was the subject of podcast "Classic American Movies."

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Goofs

The hospital was closed in 1931 yet much of it is lit with fluorescent tube lighting. Fluorescent tube lighting was not in commercial production until the late 1930's and not in widespread use until WWII.

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Quotes

Evelyn Stockard-Price: [Stephen H. Price is sneaking out of the room] : And where are you off to, Mr. Price? Checking the wiring on the animatronic mummies?
Steven H. Price: I'm just gonna go take a leak, if it's okay with you.

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Crazy Credits

The Warner Bros. logo is grey in color and is surrounded by thunder and lightning.

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Alternate Versions

In the scene where Sara and Eddie go into Dr. Vannicut's office and discover an old picture of the staff of the hospital, the scene in the final cut of the film is a lot shorter. In the original version of the scene they explore the room a lot more before finding the picture, in fact they find lots of body parts in pickel jars and a lot of creepy paperwork! This scene was also shortened due to pacing and running time.

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Connections

References Pit and the Pendulum (1961)

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Soundtracks

Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)
Written by Annie Lennox and David A. Stewart (as Dave Stewart)
Performed by Marilyn Manson
Courtesy of Nothing/Interscope Records
Under License from Universal Music Special Markets

User Reviews

Chiller remake with grisly horror, genuine chills and shocks

This William Castle's remake starts October 11th 1931, Los Angeles.A conflagration of biblical proportions incinerates nearly everything and everyone inside what was one the City of Angels most celebrated medical facility, The Vannacutt Institute for the Criminally Insane. But the secret this inferno burned free was far more frightening that any picture Hollywood could produce. A sanitarium of slaughter supervised by a surgeon gone mad ,Richard Benjamin Vannacutt(Jeffrey Combs). Little known today but likely the most prolific mass- murderer of this century. He out-butchered Bundy. He made Manson look meek. And the site of this carnage still exists today, restored almost to its original state. But it has yet to be inhabited, because some say the spirits of Vannacutt and his victims still live within the walls of the House on Haunted hill. The magnate named Price(Geoffrey Rush) arranges shocks guests(Taye Diggs,Ali Larter, Peter Gallagher,Chris Kattan,Bridgette Wilson) along with his spouse(Famke Janssen). He invites them to the haunted former insane asylum and offers them a million of dollars if they can stick it out for the complete night. But soon supernatural creepiness begins frightening the hosts.

This eerie tale packs horror, grisly killings and lots of blood and gore. It's silly but good fun and with an excessive use of computer generator FX and special make-up in charge of Robert Kurtzman, Howard Berger and Greg Nicotero(appears a cameo as roller-coaster technician). However I miss the first version's gimmicks,such as a full-size skeleton(dubbed Emergo) leap from the screen and descend on cinema-goers along a hidden wire. The film is lavishly produced by Dark Castle , production specialized on terror genre and in charge of Joel Silver,Robert Zemeckis and Gilbert Adler. The motion picture is professionally directed, without originality by William Malone. He's a TV episodes director(Masters of horror,Tales of crypt, Freddy's nightmares) and occasionally cinema director(Feardot.com,Creature). Rating: Acceptable and passable but with no novelty.

Details

Official Sites:

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. (alternate)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 October 1999 (USA)

Also Known As:

House on Haunted Hill

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$37,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$15,946,032, 31 October 1999

Gross USA:

$40,846,082

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$42,593,455

Company Credits

Production Co:

Dark Castle Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1