Evil loves to party...

Unspeakable things happened at the Vannacutt Psychiatric Institute for the Criminally Insane- experiments that brought human torture to new depths of depravity... secrets that died with their victims and the practitioners of the demonic acts that masqueraded as medicine.



Now there are no living witnesses. Nothing survived Dr. Vannacutt's excesses; nothing endures except the building in which they occurred. But that building holds all the secrets of its terrible past. Decades after the Vannacutt Insititute was shuttered, five strangers are invited to spend a night there. Their reward is a million dollars each. All they have to do is stay alive. It's going to be a long night.

---

Interesting facts

This was the first film to be made by Dark Castle Entertainment, a company run by Joel Silver and Robert Zemeckis.

The film was released in theaters across the US on October 29th, 1999.

This film is a remake of William Castle's 1959 classic horror film, House On Haunted Hill, starring Vincent Price and Carol Ohmart.

The rollercoaster in the beginning of the movie is The Incredible Hulk at Universal's Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Florida.

Co-producer Terry Castle is the daughter of William Castle, who directed the 1959 version of the film.

Cindy Crawford was considered for the role of Melissa Marr.

Famke Janssen performed her own stunt when the glass ceiling breaks. It was extremely important for Janssen to remain where she was and very still, yet even with her basically glued to the spot, the shard hit with so much impact that it bounces her head off the table some as you can see on close inspection of the scene.

The directors of both the original version and the remake are named William.

The only character in both the original and the remake of this film is the caretaker, Watson Prittchet.

The names of Director William Malone and Producer Gilbert Adler appear on Price's guest list. (Before it is deleted.) In addition, the name Vlademar Tymrak is on the list before it is deleted. He is the serial-killer and evil spirit character in the "Tales from the Crypt" (1989) (episode "Report from the Grave") which was also directed by "House on Haunted Hill" director William Malone.

Geoffrey Rush's character's last name is Price. This is a reference to the original House on Haunted Hill (1958) in which Vincent Price played the main character.

---

click here to view the original movie poster

main