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 & 3 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

When an eccentric millionaire offer a group of opposites $1,000,000 to spend the night in a so called "Haunted House" with a murderous past, they figure it is a quick way to get quick money and leave. All of them are sure it is some made up story just to mess with their heads a little and test their courage. But, once they stay in the house they start to think about the mistake they made in coming there when mysterious things start to happen.

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Plot Keywords:

haunted hospital | haunted house | strapped to a bed | breasts | female nudity | 

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Taglines:

If you're in, you may not want to get out

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Genres:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

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

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

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

Did You Know?

Trivia

The only character in both the original and the remake of this film is the owner of the house, Watson Pritchet. However all the other characters are loosely based on characters from the original.

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Goofs

(at around 46 mins) When Melissa goes to the basement with her camera and her camera starts to show the ghosts performing an operation, it is an obvious recording as the camera begins to pan on the video before the actress moves the camera.

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Quotes

Pritchett: [walking slowly to Sara] You don't... get it... do you? This house is pissed. It has no morals, 'cause it's a fucking *house*!

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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

When Sara and Eddie find the knife that Evelyn used to kill Donald, it was orignally in the movie after they found his decapitated corpse in the Saturation Chamber. It was later edited so that they found it beforehand as it seemed to make more sense why they blamed Steven for it.

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Connections

Featured in MsMojo: Top 10 Hottest Male Horror Movie Characters (2016)

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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

Butcher us, mad doctor Combs!!

The similarities between William Castle's campy 1959 original and this typical Hollywood remake are kept to a minimum. We have the premise of 5 people who're offered a million $ if they survive spending a night in 'the house' and Rush who brings tribute to Vincent Price (who played the lead role in the original). Other than this, Malone just follows the routine remake-standards meaning bigger, louder and more spectacular. If you're not too harsh, this actually is a pretty enjoyable movie and – at times – a successful mixture between an old-fashioned 'haunted house' chiller and a modern special effects playground. Thanks to some sort of miracle, Malone managed to cast class actor Geoffrey Rush and a more than decent supportive cast. Rush is talented enough to make his performance of eccentric impresario Steven Price look like a homage to Vincent Price instead of doing a lame impersonation. To me, however, the absolute star of this film is Jeffrey Combs (Re-Animator) who plays the small role of the demented Dr. Vannacutt. As usual, Combs' character is the cause of all horror and his grimaces are more diabolical then ever. He's an amazing horror icon and I simply can't get why he isn't enjoying an immortal success-status. Until about 5 minutes before the ending, the use of CGI is imaginative and not irritating at all. The finale is overly fake and kinda ruins the film. If you're not too demanding, The House on Haunted Hill guarantees a lot of fun and a few scares. Definitely a better remake than Jan De Bont's The Haunting and Steve Beck's 13 Ghosts.