Wild things are bound to happen when he leases an abandoned mental institute for his bored and spoiled wife’s birthday. It is then that we realize that Steven Price ( Rush) just might be the William Castle figure in this movie, always pulling pranks on his audience. Starring Geoffrey Rush and Famke Janssen, House on Haunted Hill begins with a death-defying rollercoaster ride courtesy of Price Enterprises ( Vincent Price, get it?), an elevator stunt, and Marilyn Manson’s cover of Sweet Dreams ( Are Made Of This). It still lacks when held up to the original film, but it doesn’t completely suck. Thanks to a change in location – from a spooky home to a mental institution –, a super-charged 1930s backstory involving human experiments and Nazi doctors, and more gore, director William Malone ( Creature, Feardotcom) succeeds in making this remake his own. Lovecraft monsters and, for that birthday treat, we can be thankful"Īll is not lost, though. "strange figures look a lot like typical H.P. From heavies like Joel Silver to Robert Zemeckis, every producer has a set of ideas and they are all crammed into this production. One gets the sense, too, that there are far too many cooks in the kitchen for this flick. So are all the fake deaths as one demented couple tries their best to kill the other. It has nice nods to the Castle franchise (and T he Uninvited !) and to Vincent Price but the film’s refusal to find humor through its dark tunnels is a glaring misstep. While it is far from scary, this flick is certainly psychotic with its chills and thrills. Makes sense then that Scream Factory would bring out Warner Bros remake of House on Haunted Hill with brand new supplementals and a crisp new 2K scan in this the Collector’s Edition of this film from 1999. Audiences are only now just rediscovering his gems. Entertaining as hell, he could always be relied on to create an atmosphere with his many films. I hold William Castle with high regard when it comes to horror. In which the showman, with spotlights and all, actually becomes the show.
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