House on Haunted Hill (1999 film)
Encyclopedia
House on Haunted Hill is a 1999 American horror film
, directed by William Malone
and starring Geoffrey Rush
, Famke Janssen
, Taye Diggs
, Ali Larter
and Jeffrey Combs
. It also includes a cameo appearance by Peter Graves
. Produced by Robert Zemeckis
and Joel Silver
, it is a remake
of the 1959 film of the same name
directed by William Castle
.
House on Haunted Hill marks the producing debut of Dark Castle Entertainment
, a production company
that went on to produce Thirteen Ghosts and House of Wax
, two films which were also remakes. The film was followed by a sequel
, Return to House on Haunted Hill
, which was released in both rated and unrated editions on DVD
in 2007.
, the Vannacutt Psychiatric Institute for the Criminally Insane, where numerous murders were committed in the past, mainly the 1920s. The head of the facility, Dr. Richard B. Vannacutt (Jeffrey Combs
), performed grotesque experiments and medical procedures on the patients, killing many in the process. The hospital was closed in 1931 after the patients escaped from their cells, killing almost the entire staff (all except 5) and burning the hospital. All the patients died, their souls rumored to be trapped their forever. Vannacutt had rigged the building with numerous iron gates, activated by cranks and levers, to serve as barriers to keep patients from leaving the building, should they escape; some of these were controlled by huge, clock-like timers that wouldn't open for twelve hours. During the fire, he released these gates, keeping the inmates, employees and the fire itself contained. After several unexplained deaths during reconstruction of the facility, it was dubbed "The House on Haunted Hill".
The story revolves around the disintegrating marriage of Evelyn Stockard-Price (Famke Janssen
), a spoiled trophy wife
, and Stephen Price (Geoffrey Rush
) ("Price", as well as Rush's appearance, is a nod to actor Vincent Price
, who played the same character [Frederick Loren] in the original film), an amusement park
mogul with a wicked sense of humor, each of whom would gladly kill the other. Evelyn fancies spectacular parties, so Stephen leases the house from the owner, Watson Pritchett (Chris Kattan
), for Evelyn's Halloween
birthday bash. Evelyn gives Stephen a guest list two pages long; he shreds it to spite her and then creates one of his own. The five people who show up for the party - Jennifer Jenzen (aka Sara Wolfe) (Ali Larter
), Eddie Baker (Taye Diggs
), Melissa Margaret Marr (Bridgette Wilson
), Dr. Donald Blackburn (Peter Gallagher
), and Pritchett himself - aren't the ones he invited. Neither Evelyn nor Stephen know who they are. Despite this, Price continues the party's theme, offering a million dollars to anyone who stays in the house and survives until morning, with any person not making it having his money added to the pot.
Shortly afterward, the security gates are tripped, locking everyone inside and forcing them to remain there until the gates unlock in the morning. Price scolds Carl Schecter (Max Perlich
), a company employee - who has developed a series of harmless traps to scare the guests— for not letting him know he planned to pull a stunt like that. Schecter said it wasn't him who did it. Price is then convinced his wife did it somehow. Shortly after, Melissa is killed by one of the ghosts when she wanders off into the basement of the house. It's revealed that the spirits themselves created the guest list specifically to include the descendants of five members of Vannacutt's staff who didn't die in the long-ago fire. Also, it is revealed that Evelyn and Blackburn are working together to bring down Stephen. Evelyn then kills Blackburn and uses his body to frame Stephen. Sara comes across an incoherent Stephen in the basement, and believing that he is Blackburn's murderer, shoots him when he approaches her. After the others return upstairs, Evelyn approaches Stephen to gloat, and Stephen, protected by a bullet-proof vest, attempts to kill Evelyn. The two scuffle and accidentally unleash the Darkness of the house when he throws her through a decayed door. The Darkness is a dark, shape-shifting creature composed of the spirits in the house; this force pursues and tries to kill the remaining guests. It starts by assimilating and corroding Evelyn into itself, killing her while Price watches in horror.
The Darkness reveals that the souls that comprise it want to feed on all those "who are responsible". Upstairs, Pritchett, Eddie and Sara are trying to open one of the iron gates on the windows when they hear Price's screams from down the hall. Pritchett investigates, and The Darkness kills him while Price temporarily evades it. Price runs through the hall while Sara and Eddie follow. He figures that the only way to get out is to go to the attic and try to escape through there. Price runs ahead of them to find an escape route while Sara and Eddie stay behind. The Darkness seeps through the house and tries to kill them.
As they are running up the stairs to the attic, Sara trips, and the Darkness uses Melissa's form to try to lure her to it. Price by then has activated a pulley that reveals an opening in the window of the attic. Eddie and Sara arrive in the attic, while the Darkness seeps up the cracks of the wooden floor. Price sacrifices himself to give Sara time to escape, but the Darkness then severs the rope holding the iron gate, trapping Eddie inside.
When The Darkness confronts Eddie about his ancestor's actions, Eddie screams that he was actually adopted. Pritchett's ghost appears and opens the iron gate, and Eddie escapes. Pritchett's ghost and the Darkness then both fade away. As Sara and Eddie sit in exhaustion over the night's events, they notice an envelope halfway through the gate. It contains five checks for $1 million each.
In an epilogue
, a film is shown with the patients torturing Evelyn and Price in what appears to be "the other side".
's tradition of releasing each of his films with a marketing gimmick, Warner Bros. and Dark Castle supplied movie theaters with scratch-off tickets that would be given to anyone who paid to see the film. The scratch-off ticket would give each movie patron a chance to win money much like the characters in the film.
Dark Castle had originally intended to release each of their films with a gimmick much like William Castle had done. They had considered releasing the remake Thirteen Ghosts in 3-D with special glasses similar to the ones used by the characters in the film. These plans were scrapped and House on Haunted Hill remains the only film released with a special marketing gimmick.
, this remake did quite the opposite. Based on 52 reviews (40 of which are negative), the film received a score of 23%. The reviewers agreed that it was an "unsophisticated and unoriginal film [that] fails to produce [any] scares".
Likewise, Metacritic
assigns a normalized score of 28 out of 100, based on a sample of 17 professional reviews.
The general audience's average score is 5.1/10, according to IMDb.
released the sequel Return to House on Haunted Hill
on DVD on October 16, 2007. In this film, Sara Wolfe has been found murdered and had Dr. Vannacutt's diary revealing secrets of the haunted house. Her younger sister, Ariel, must investigate the House on Haunted Hill to find out the truth behind Sara's death and related secrets.
, including all original scores by Don Davis.
Track listing
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
, directed by William Malone
William Malone (director)
William Malone is an American horror filmmaker who directed such films as the 1999 remake of House on Haunted Hill, Scared to Death and FeardotCom.-History:...
and starring Geoffrey Rush
Geoffrey Rush
Geoffrey Roy Rush is an Australian actor and film producer. He is one of the few people who has won the "Triple Crown of Acting": an Academy Award, a Tony Award and an Emmy Award. He has won one Academy Award for acting , three British Academy Film Awards , two Golden Globe Awards and four Screen...
, Famke Janssen
Famke Janssen
Famke Beumer Janssen is a Dutch actress and former fashion model. She is known for playing the villainous Bond girl Xenia Onatopp in GoldenEye and Jean Grey/Phoenix in the X-Men film series .- Early life and education :...
, Taye Diggs
Taye Diggs
Scott Leo "Taye" Diggs is an American theatre, film and television actor. He is perhaps best known for his roles in the Broadway musical Rent, the motion picture How Stella Got Her Groove Back, and the television series Private Practice...
, Ali Larter
Ali Larter
Alison Elizabeth "Ali" Larter is an American actress. She is perhaps best known for playing the dual roles of Niki Sanders and Jessica Sanders on the NBC science fiction drama Heroes as well as her guest roles on several television shows in the 1990s.Larter's screen debut came in the 1999 film...
and Jeffrey Combs
Jeffrey Combs
Jeffrey Alan Combs is an American actor known for his horror film roles and his appearances playing a number of characters in the Star Trek franchise.-Early life:...
. It also includes a cameo appearance by Peter Graves
Peter Graves (actor)
Peter Aurness , known professionally as Peter Graves, was an American film and television actor. He was best known for his starring role in the CBS television series Mission: Impossible from 1967 to 1973...
. Produced by Robert Zemeckis
Robert Zemeckis
Robert Lee Zemeckis is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Zemeckis first came to public attention in the 1980s as the director of the comedic time-travel Back to the Future film series, as well as the Academy Award-winning live-action/animation epic Who Framed Roger Rabbit ,...
and Joel Silver
Joel Silver
Joel Silver is an American Hollywood film producer, co-creator of the sport of Ultimate, co-founder of Dark Castle Entertainment and owner of Silver Pictures.-Life and career:...
, it is a remake
Remake
A remake is a piece of media based primarily on an earlier work of the same medium.-Film:The term "remake" is generally used in reference to a movie which uses an earlier movie as the main source material, rather than in reference to a second, later movie based on the same source...
of the 1959 film of the same name
House on Haunted Hill
House on Haunted Hill is a 1959 American B movie horror film from Allied Artists. It was directed by William Castle, written by Robb White, and starring Vincent Price as eccentric millionaire Fredrick Loren. He and his fourth wife, Annabelle, have invited five people to the house for a "Haunted...
directed by William Castle
William Castle
William Castle was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. Castle was known for directing films with many gimmicks which were ambitiously promoted, despite being reasonably low budget B-movies....
.
House on Haunted Hill marks the producing debut of Dark Castle Entertainment
Dark Castle Entertainment
Dark Castle Entertainment is a division of Silver Pictures, a production house affiliated with Warner Bros. It was formed in 1999 by Joel Silver, Robert Zemeckis, and Gilbert Adler...
, a production company
Production company
A production company provides the physical basis for works in the realms of the performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, and video.- Tasks and functions :...
that went on to produce Thirteen Ghosts and House of Wax
House of Wax (2005 film)
House of Wax is a 2005 horror film directed by Jaume Collet-Serra. It shares the name of a 1953 horror film, which was a remake of the 1933 film Mystery of the Wax Museum. It was released in theaters on May 6, 2005 to negative reviews, but a financial success...
, two films which were also remakes. The film was followed by a sequel
Sequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
, Return to House on Haunted Hill
Return to House on Haunted Hill
Return to House on Haunted Hill is a 2007 horror film and sequel to the 1999 remake of House on Haunted Hill. Directed by Víctor García, the film depicts a group of people searching for a mysterious idol hidden inside a haunted psychiatric asylum...
, which was released in both rated and unrated editions on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
in 2007.
Plot
The film is set in an abandoned asylumPsychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental hospitals, are hospitals specializing in the treatment of serious mental disorders. Psychiatric hospitals vary widely in their size and grading. Some hospitals may specialise only in short-term or outpatient therapy for low-risk patients...
, the Vannacutt Psychiatric Institute for the Criminally Insane, where numerous murders were committed in the past, mainly the 1920s. The head of the facility, Dr. Richard B. Vannacutt (Jeffrey Combs
Jeffrey Combs
Jeffrey Alan Combs is an American actor known for his horror film roles and his appearances playing a number of characters in the Star Trek franchise.-Early life:...
), performed grotesque experiments and medical procedures on the patients, killing many in the process. The hospital was closed in 1931 after the patients escaped from their cells, killing almost the entire staff (all except 5) and burning the hospital. All the patients died, their souls rumored to be trapped their forever. Vannacutt had rigged the building with numerous iron gates, activated by cranks and levers, to serve as barriers to keep patients from leaving the building, should they escape; some of these were controlled by huge, clock-like timers that wouldn't open for twelve hours. During the fire, he released these gates, keeping the inmates, employees and the fire itself contained. After several unexplained deaths during reconstruction of the facility, it was dubbed "The House on Haunted Hill".
The story revolves around the disintegrating marriage of Evelyn Stockard-Price (Famke Janssen
Famke Janssen
Famke Beumer Janssen is a Dutch actress and former fashion model. She is known for playing the villainous Bond girl Xenia Onatopp in GoldenEye and Jean Grey/Phoenix in the X-Men film series .- Early life and education :...
), a spoiled trophy wife
Trophy wife
Trophy wife is an expression used to describe a wife, usually young and attractive, who is regarded as a status symbol for the husband, who is often older and affluent.-History:The term's etymological origins are disputed...
, and Stephen Price (Geoffrey Rush
Geoffrey Rush
Geoffrey Roy Rush is an Australian actor and film producer. He is one of the few people who has won the "Triple Crown of Acting": an Academy Award, a Tony Award and an Emmy Award. He has won one Academy Award for acting , three British Academy Film Awards , two Golden Globe Awards and four Screen...
) ("Price", as well as Rush's appearance, is a nod to actor Vincent Price
Vincent Price
Vincent Leonard Price, Jr. was an American actor, well known for his distinctive voice and serio-comic attitude in a series of horror films made in the latter part of his career.-Early life and career:Price was born in St...
, who played the same character [Frederick Loren] in the original film), an amusement park
Amusement park
thumb|Cinderella Castle in [[Magic Kingdom]], [[Disney World]]Amusement and theme parks are terms for a group of entertainment attractions and rides and other events in a location for the enjoyment of large numbers of people...
mogul with a wicked sense of humor, each of whom would gladly kill the other. Evelyn fancies spectacular parties, so Stephen leases the house from the owner, Watson Pritchett (Chris Kattan
Chris Kattan
Christopher Lee "Chris" Kattan is an American actor/comedian, best known for his work on Saturday Night Live.-Early life:Kattan was born in Sherman Oaks, California. His father, Kip King, was an actor and voice actor who appeared on the series Reno 911! as Larrie Plum. His mother, Hajnalka E....
), for Evelyn's Halloween
Halloween
Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
birthday bash. Evelyn gives Stephen a guest list two pages long; he shreds it to spite her and then creates one of his own. The five people who show up for the party - Jennifer Jenzen (aka Sara Wolfe) (Ali Larter
Ali Larter
Alison Elizabeth "Ali" Larter is an American actress. She is perhaps best known for playing the dual roles of Niki Sanders and Jessica Sanders on the NBC science fiction drama Heroes as well as her guest roles on several television shows in the 1990s.Larter's screen debut came in the 1999 film...
), Eddie Baker (Taye Diggs
Taye Diggs
Scott Leo "Taye" Diggs is an American theatre, film and television actor. He is perhaps best known for his roles in the Broadway musical Rent, the motion picture How Stella Got Her Groove Back, and the television series Private Practice...
), Melissa Margaret Marr (Bridgette Wilson
Bridgette Wilson
Bridgette Leann Wilson-Sampras is an American actress, singer and model. A Miss Teen USA in 1990, Wilson holds several acting roles in television and movies, including the role of Veronica Vaughn in the movie Billy Madison, the role of Elsa Shivers in the movie I Know What You Did Last Summer, and...
), Dr. Donald Blackburn (Peter Gallagher
Peter Gallagher
Peter Killian Gallagher is an American actor, musician and writer. Since 1980, Gallagher has played many roles in numerous Hollywood films. He starred as Sandy Cohen in the television drama series The O.C. from 2003 to 2007...
), and Pritchett himself - aren't the ones he invited. Neither Evelyn nor Stephen know who they are. Despite this, Price continues the party's theme, offering a million dollars to anyone who stays in the house and survives until morning, with any person not making it having his money added to the pot.
Shortly afterward, the security gates are tripped, locking everyone inside and forcing them to remain there until the gates unlock in the morning. Price scolds Carl Schecter (Max Perlich
Max Perlich
-Biography:He was born in Cleveland, Ohio. His mother was a teacher and his father, Martin Perlich, a writer and radio programming director and announcer, worked for a time with the Cleveland Orchestra. The Perlich family moved to Los Angeles, California when Max was four...
), a company employee - who has developed a series of harmless traps to scare the guests— for not letting him know he planned to pull a stunt like that. Schecter said it wasn't him who did it. Price is then convinced his wife did it somehow. Shortly after, Melissa is killed by one of the ghosts when she wanders off into the basement of the house. It's revealed that the spirits themselves created the guest list specifically to include the descendants of five members of Vannacutt's staff who didn't die in the long-ago fire. Also, it is revealed that Evelyn and Blackburn are working together to bring down Stephen. Evelyn then kills Blackburn and uses his body to frame Stephen. Sara comes across an incoherent Stephen in the basement, and believing that he is Blackburn's murderer, shoots him when he approaches her. After the others return upstairs, Evelyn approaches Stephen to gloat, and Stephen, protected by a bullet-proof vest, attempts to kill Evelyn. The two scuffle and accidentally unleash the Darkness of the house when he throws her through a decayed door. The Darkness is a dark, shape-shifting creature composed of the spirits in the house; this force pursues and tries to kill the remaining guests. It starts by assimilating and corroding Evelyn into itself, killing her while Price watches in horror.
The Darkness reveals that the souls that comprise it want to feed on all those "who are responsible". Upstairs, Pritchett, Eddie and Sara are trying to open one of the iron gates on the windows when they hear Price's screams from down the hall. Pritchett investigates, and The Darkness kills him while Price temporarily evades it. Price runs through the hall while Sara and Eddie follow. He figures that the only way to get out is to go to the attic and try to escape through there. Price runs ahead of them to find an escape route while Sara and Eddie stay behind. The Darkness seeps through the house and tries to kill them.
As they are running up the stairs to the attic, Sara trips, and the Darkness uses Melissa's form to try to lure her to it. Price by then has activated a pulley that reveals an opening in the window of the attic. Eddie and Sara arrive in the attic, while the Darkness seeps up the cracks of the wooden floor. Price sacrifices himself to give Sara time to escape, but the Darkness then severs the rope holding the iron gate, trapping Eddie inside.
When The Darkness confronts Eddie about his ancestor's actions, Eddie screams that he was actually adopted. Pritchett's ghost appears and opens the iron gate, and Eddie escapes. Pritchett's ghost and the Darkness then both fade away. As Sara and Eddie sit in exhaustion over the night's events, they notice an envelope halfway through the gate. It contains five checks for $1 million each.
In an epilogue
Epilogue
An epilogue, epilog or afterword is a piece of writing at the end of a work of literature or drama, usually used to bring closure to the work...
, a film is shown with the patients torturing Evelyn and Price in what appears to be "the other side".
Cast
- Geoffrey RushGeoffrey RushGeoffrey Roy Rush is an Australian actor and film producer. He is one of the few people who has won the "Triple Crown of Acting": an Academy Award, a Tony Award and an Emmy Award. He has won one Academy Award for acting , three British Academy Film Awards , two Golden Globe Awards and four Screen...
as Stephen H. Price - Famke JanssenFamke JanssenFamke Beumer Janssen is a Dutch actress and former fashion model. She is known for playing the villainous Bond girl Xenia Onatopp in GoldenEye and Jean Grey/Phoenix in the X-Men film series .- Early life and education :...
as Evelyn Stockard-Price - Taye DiggsTaye DiggsScott Leo "Taye" Diggs is an American theatre, film and television actor. He is perhaps best known for his roles in the Broadway musical Rent, the motion picture How Stella Got Her Groove Back, and the television series Private Practice...
as Eddie Baker - Peter GallagherPeter GallagherPeter Killian Gallagher is an American actor, musician and writer. Since 1980, Gallagher has played many roles in numerous Hollywood films. He starred as Sandy Cohen in the television drama series The O.C. from 2003 to 2007...
as Donald W. Blackburn M.D. - Chris KattanChris KattanChristopher Lee "Chris" Kattan is an American actor/comedian, best known for his work on Saturday Night Live.-Early life:Kattan was born in Sherman Oaks, California. His father, Kip King, was an actor and voice actor who appeared on the series Reno 911! as Larrie Plum. His mother, Hajnalka E....
as Watson Pritchett - Ali LarterAli LarterAlison Elizabeth "Ali" Larter is an American actress. She is perhaps best known for playing the dual roles of Niki Sanders and Jessica Sanders on the NBC science fiction drama Heroes as well as her guest roles on several television shows in the 1990s.Larter's screen debut came in the 1999 film...
as Sara Wolfe/Jennifer Jenzen - Bridgette WilsonBridgette WilsonBridgette Leann Wilson-Sampras is an American actress, singer and model. A Miss Teen USA in 1990, Wilson holds several acting roles in television and movies, including the role of Veronica Vaughn in the movie Billy Madison, the role of Elsa Shivers in the movie I Know What You Did Last Summer, and...
as Melissa Margaret Marr - Max PerlichMax Perlich-Biography:He was born in Cleveland, Ohio. His mother was a teacher and his father, Martin Perlich, a writer and radio programming director and announcer, worked for a time with the Cleveland Orchestra. The Perlich family moved to Los Angeles, California when Max was four...
as Carl Schecter - Jeffrey CombsJeffrey CombsJeffrey Alan Combs is an American actor known for his horror film roles and his appearances playing a number of characters in the Star Trek franchise.-Early life:...
as Dr. Richard Vannacutt - Lisa LoebLisa LoebLisa Anne Loeb is an American singer-songwriter and actress. She launched her career in 1994 with the song, "Stay ". She was the first artist to have a number one single in the United States while not signed to a recording contract.Loeb's efforts now include music, film, television, voice-over...
as Channel 3 reporter - James MarstersJames MarstersJames Wesley Marsters is an American actor and musician. Marsters first came to the attention of the general public playing the popular character Spike, a platinum-blond yobbish English vampire in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off series, Angel from 1997 to 2004...
as Channel 3 cameraman - Janet Tracy KeijserJanet Tracy KeijserJanet Tracy Keijser is a Canadian actress known for her comedy and horror films.Keijser has appeared in such films as Zombie Chronicles filmed in 3D, Dead Seven and Killer Story...
as Girl on wires - Peter GravesPeter GravesPeter Graves may refer to:* Peter Graves , American actor* Peter Graves, 8th Baron Graves , English actor and peer* Peter Graves , English cricketer...
as Himself - Marc BlucasMarc BlucasMarcus Paul "Marc" Blucas is an American actor, known for playing Riley Finn in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.-Early life:...
and Ivana MilicevicIvana Milicevic-Early life:Miličević was born in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina to a Croatian family, the daughter of Tonka, a homemaker, and Damir Miličević, a slaughterhouse worker and entrepreneur. She emigrated to the United States at the age of five and was raised in Michigan...
(deleted sceneDeleted sceneIn Entertainment, especially the film and television industry, Deleted scenes are parts of a film removed or censored from or replaced by another scene in the final "cut", or version, of a film...
s) as Period film actors - Debi MazarDebi MazarDeborah "Debi" Mazar is an American actress, perhaps best known for her Jersey Girl-type roles; as sharp-tongued women in independent films; and for her recurring role as press agent Shauna Roberts on the HBO series Entourage.-Early life:...
(uncredited, DVD only) as the real Jennifer Jenzen
Promotion
In keeping with the spirit of William CastleWilliam Castle
William Castle was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. Castle was known for directing films with many gimmicks which were ambitiously promoted, despite being reasonably low budget B-movies....
's tradition of releasing each of his films with a marketing gimmick, Warner Bros. and Dark Castle supplied movie theaters with scratch-off tickets that would be given to anyone who paid to see the film. The scratch-off ticket would give each movie patron a chance to win money much like the characters in the film.
Dark Castle had originally intended to release each of their films with a gimmick much like William Castle had done. They had considered releasing the remake Thirteen Ghosts in 3-D with special glasses similar to the ones used by the characters in the film. These plans were scrapped and House on Haunted Hill remains the only film released with a special marketing gimmick.
Reception
In comparison of the original's overwhelmingly positive score of 95% on Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, this remake did quite the opposite. Based on 52 reviews (40 of which are negative), the film received a score of 23%. The reviewers agreed that it was an "unsophisticated and unoriginal film [that] fails to produce [any] scares".
Likewise, Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
assigns a normalized score of 28 out of 100, based on a sample of 17 professional reviews.
The general audience's average score is 5.1/10, according to IMDb.
Sequel
Warner PremiereWarner Premiere
Warner Premiere is the direct-to-video label of Warner Home Video, itself the home video unit of Warner Bros.In 2006, Warner Home Video announced they would enter the market of releasing original direct-to-video films, a market that has proven lucrative for studios over the past few years...
released the sequel Return to House on Haunted Hill
Return to House on Haunted Hill
Return to House on Haunted Hill is a 2007 horror film and sequel to the 1999 remake of House on Haunted Hill. Directed by Víctor García, the film depicts a group of people searching for a mysterious idol hidden inside a haunted psychiatric asylum...
on DVD on October 16, 2007. In this film, Sara Wolfe has been found murdered and had Dr. Vannacutt's diary revealing secrets of the haunted house. Her younger sister, Ariel, must investigate the House on Haunted Hill to find out the truth behind Sara's death and related secrets.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack for the film was commercially released on the label Varèse SarabandeVarèse Sarabande
Varèse Sarabande is an American record label, distributed by Universal Music Group, which specializes in film scores and original cast recordings. It aims to reissue rare or unavailable albums as well as newer releases by artists no longer under a contract...
, including all original scores by Don Davis.
Track listing
- Main Title
- Pencil Neck
- Hans Verbosemann
- House Humongous
- Piano Quartet in G Minor Opus 25 - Johannes BrahmsJohannes BrahmsJohannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
- Funky Old House
- No Exit
- Gun Control
- Surprise
- Price Pestiferous
- Misty Misogamy
- Coagulatory Calamity
- Melissa in Wonderland
- Sorry, Tulip
- Struggling to Escape
- Soirée a Saturation
- On the House
- Dead But Nice
- Blackburn's Surprise
- Encountering Mr. Blackburn
- The Price Petard
- Epiphanic Evelyn
- The Corpus Delecti Committee Meeting
- Price in Perpetuity
- The Beast with the Least