The House on Haunted Hill (1999)
This thoroughly enjoyable remake of William Castle's 1958 cult classic is about five strangers, portrayed by Taye Diggs, Ali Larter, Bridgette Wilson, Peter Gallagher, and Chris Kattan, who are assembled by eccentric theme park owner Steven Price (Geoffrey Rush) for his wife's (Famke Janssen) birthday bash. They are all mysteriously invited, due to someone's change in the guest list...perhaps it was ghosts! Price boasts that if anyone survives and stays the entire night, they will all receive one million dollars. The house, unfortunately, has a dark past. Years ago, it was a mental hospital for the criminally insane. A demented doctor performed many excruciating experiments on his patients. The inmates struck back though, only five of the staff remaining.
Following many of Price's not-so-funny jokes, many of the party guests start to disappear. Who is doing this? Everyone turns against each other and many twists evole, surrounding the mayhem of the house and its deadly revenge.
I found this to be one of the best remakes around these days, which is filled with mind-blowing special effects and very weird illusions. It was pretty thrilling, and I thought it was very entertaining as all of the characters meet their untimely demise in creative but gruesome ways. Musician Lisa Loeb has a small part as a news reporter. The DVD release is very impressive, with various extras, such as deleted scenes, documentaries, trailers, and a creepy photo collage. Definitely worth checking out if you enjoy scary movies, especially if you like haunted house films.
