As some of you may of noticed I have already written ops on Dark Castle Entertainments 'Thir13en Ghosts' & 'Ghost Ship' so here is my op for their first outing.
Back in 1959 B-Movie Horror director William Castle released the cult-classic 'The House on Haunted Hill' a movie which using shock tactics in the theatres scarred the pants off cinema goers.
But with todays audiences, movie makers have to go the step further to make cinema goers even jump slightly and with the remake of William Castle's classic, Dark Castle Entertainment have succeded in producing a film that makes you jump, swear and even hide behind a pillow, ok, so not everyone will, but believe me if you turn of the lights out and watch the movie in the dark, it certainly puts a chill down your spine.
SO WHAT'S THE FILM ABOUT?
One night twisted theme park millionaire Steven Price (Geoffrey Rush) plays a twisted party for his wife (Femke Janssen) at an abandoned istitute for the criminally insane. But unknown to Price, the guest list that he made is changed by someone or something, upon arrival to the house, with a twisted version the 'These Dreams' performed by Marilyn Manson, the nervous caretaker takes the five guest up to the house, now this is where the fun begins, the house locks down and the guests are trapped, with only each other and the house to contend with.
Price informs them if the survive the night they'll be rich, IF they survive......
HAS IT GOT SPECIAL FX AND SOUND?
The special effects in 'House on Haunted Hill' are quite spectacular with the gore been gory and at times you expect something to happen and it doesn't and just as you relax it happens, throwing you right of guard, much like 'Thir13en Ghosts'. The DD5.1 mix is used very well, filling your room with sounds from the house, such as screams and whispers coming from all around you and at times I swear you can hear the house breathing, creepy.
As the film progresses you can feel the tension building up between the characters and after a while you really start to feel for them as they are picked off one by one, the acting is really good and not wooden, which a change for a horror movie.
The only problem with any film like this is once you've seen it the shock value goes and the second time you watch it, it's not so jumpy, but, it's still an enjoyable film, the story really plays well and it's having a good story that makes you watch 'House on Haunted Hill' more than once.
WHAT ABOUT THE SPECIAL FEATURES?
Ok, here we go, sadly there aren't that many special features on this DVD besides some interesting Behind-The-Scenes Documenteries and deleted scenes there isn't that much, Filmographies, Trailers and that's about it really.
Shame really but saying that, not everyone buys the DVD for it's special features, they are really just a bonus with the film, that's my point of view anyway.
OVERALL
I would personally say that 'House on Haunted Hill' is the best of the Dark Castle movies so far, it's going to take a bit for Dark Castle to top this one as the other movies, 'Thir13en Ghosts' & 'Ghost Ship' seemed to have gone a bit lame compared to this one, but overall I highly recommend 'House on Haunted Hill' for horror fans everywhere, even if you not a horror fan 'House on Haunted Hill' is a fun, scary, jumpy roller coaster (no pun intended to the Price character intended) ride that is strangely enough, enjoyable, or maybe that's just me.
Thanks for reading... Karen *(;o)
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Production Year: 1998 - Horror - Director: Steve Miner - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Michelle Williams, Adam Arkin, Adam Hann-Byrd, Janet Leigh, L.L. Cool J.
I can't believe you've given dire rubbish like this five stars - still a detailed and concise opinion. Alboy
zoobremia 08.12.2005 12:34
Well, I changed rating, because trailers and the rest in here isn't that much for a description, anyway I still disagree like I wrote before, but made a mistake in reading before ...
zoobremia 08.12.2005 12:28
Hi Karen, well, I like watching films with Geoffrey Rush, he's a great actor, anyway, I still haven't seen this one ... Why helpful ? There's only small information on the bonus, also I disagree with Your opinion, well, I don't need DVD's when there's no bonus on it, I have thousands of cassettes with films, so there's no need to buy an expensive DVD without having any specials or quiet a few on them, the only exception on this are the personal favs of films ... Best regards, Sven (Zoobremia)
House on Haunted Hillis one of the new breed of waste-no-time thrill machines, likeDeep ... more
Blue Sea, and a particularly effective example at that. The plot is pure contrivance: For a party stunt, a wealthy amusement-park manufacturer (Geoffrey Rush) offer...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
House on Haunted Hillis one of the new breed of waste-no-time thrill machines, likeDeep ... more
Blue Sea, and a particularly effective example at that. The plot is pure contrivance: For a party stunt, a wealthy amusement-park manufacturer (Geoffrey Rush) offer...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Unspeakable things happened at the Vannacutt Psychiatric Institute for the Criminally ... more
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 masque...
christianfilmcritic 07.02.2006 (07.02.2006)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of House On Haunted Hill (DVD)
christianfilmcritic 07.02.2006 (07.02.2006)
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Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of House On Haunted Hill (DVD)
![House On Haunted Hill [DVD] [2000]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78527435.jpg "House On Haunted Hill [DVD] [2000]")
Apr 15th, 2005
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