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House on Haunted Hill is a 1999 American supernatural horror film directed by William Malone and starring Geoffrey Rush, Famke Janssen, Taye Diggs, Ali Larter, Bridgette Wilson, Peter Gallagher, and Chris Kattan. The plot follows a group of strangers who are invited to a party at an abandoned insane asylum, where they are offered $1 million each by an amusement park mogul if they are able to survive the night. Produced by Robert Zemeckis and Joel Silver, it is a remake of the 1959 film of the same title directed by William Castle, and features special effects by famed make-up artists Gregory Nicotero and Dick Smith. The film is set in an abandoned asylum, 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 five) and burning the hospital.
Critics Reviews
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. House on Haunted Hill marked the producing debut of Dark Castle Entertainment, a production company that went on to produce numerous other horror films, including additional remakes. The film was remade as the 1999 film House on Haunted Hill, which had a 2007 sequel titled Return to House on Haunted Hill. The 1999 film was released to negative reviews but was a box office success, while the 2007 sequel was direct-to-video and widely panned. Frederick is convinced Annabelle tried to poison him to acquire his wealth, which Annabelle somewhat evasively denies, attributing his suspicions to paranoia and jealousy.
Casting
Shortly after, Pritchett is also killed by The Darkness, allowing Price to flee. Price tells Sara and Eddie that the only escape is through the attic. Price opens a window in the attic, then sacrifices himself to give the others time to escape.
Age rating
They are relieved to have escaped and won the money but are stuck on the roof of the house, unsure of how to get down. Dr. Marrow demands that everyone leave Hill House, but Hugh Crain's ghost traps them inside. Luke defaces a portrait of Crain, enraging his spirit to decapitate Luke. When Crain himself manifests, Dr. Marrow and Theo hide in the house while Nell distracts him. Realizing that he thrived on the fear he created in children, Nell declares she is not afraid of him. Her declaration weakens the ghost and he is cast into a decorative bronze door depicting distressed children in a purgatory-like scene.
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Eddie and Pritchett arrive and bring Sara upstairs, after which Evelyn approaches Price to gloat. Price, protected by a bulletproof vest and posing as dead, attacks Evelyn. As they scuffle, Evelyn is thrown through a decaying door, revealing the evil entity of the house – The Darkness. In 1931, the patients at the Vannacutt Psychiatric Institute for the Criminally Insane revolt with a prison riot against the staff, headed by the sadistic Dr. Richard B. Vannacutt.
Release
They have faked Evelyn's death, plotting to frame Price for the murders, hoping one of the guests will kill him in self-defense. Evelyn heartlessly kills Blackburn, adding another victim, then releases a delirious Price from the chamber. Sara finds Price, covered in blood and with Blackburn's severed head nearby, and shoots him.
As they are running up the stairs to the attic, Sara trips, and the Darkness uses Melissa's form to try, without success, 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 when Sara escapes out through the window onto the building's roof, the Darkness then severs the rope holding the iron gate, trapping Eddie inside. The House at Haunted Hill is a high-tech haunted attraction at a home in Woodland Hills, California. The attraction, technically a yard haunt, showcases a mixture of age-old tricks such as Pepper's ghost, and advanced special effects and multi-channel audio.
Filming
Development for The Haunting originally began as a collaboration between filmmaker Steven Spielberg and writer Stephen King, who together began writing a new adaptation of Jackson's novel, largely inspired by Wise's 1963 film version. After creative differences, the project was aborted, with King retooling his screenplay to form the 2002 miniseries Rose Red. Spielberg meanwhile commissioned a new screenplay for the project, written by David Self, to be produced under Spielberg's studio, DreamWorks Pictures. Frederick Loren, an eccentric millionaire, invites five people to a party he is throwing for his fourth wife, Annabelle, in an allegedly haunted house he has rented.
Nell's soul, along with those of the freed children, rises to heaven. She finds Crain's hidden office and learns that he extensively used child labor in his cotton mills. He tortured and killed several orphans in his home, then burned their bodies in the fireplace. She surmises that these children's spirits are trapped in the house, providing Crain with an "eternal family". Dr. Marrow is skeptical of Nell's claims and soon reveals his true fear study to the group, but after a statue tries to drown him, he realizes Hill House is haunted.
In 2007, the film was followed by a direct-to-DVD sequel, Return to House on Haunted Hill, which was released in both rated and unrated editions. Annabelle privately warns Lance that her husband is scheming something and that she suspects him of murdering his second and third wives after his first wife disappeared. The guests learn the party's rules downstairs, and each is given a Colt Model 1903 Pocket Hammer for protection. Having encountered further apparitions, Nora decides against staying the night, but the caretakers lock the doors five minutes early, taking that option out of the guests' hands.
Pritchett deduces that the spirits themselves hacked the guest list on Price's computer. The only exception is Blackburn, whose name does not appear among the staff. Pictures supplied promotional scratchcards to cinemas showing the film, offering ticket buyers a chance to win a money prize, similar to the movie's characters.
The film received negative reviews from critics, but was a commercial success, opening number one at the box office, and grossed $43 million worldwide. Lorimar Productions released the film on VHS cassette on CBS/Fox Video's Key Video in October 1985. Two major studios have released it on home video in remastered versions. Warner Home Video released the film on DVD as a tie-in to the release of the 1999 remake.
The Haunting of Hill House: How the Book and Netflix Series Compare - Esquire
The Haunting of Hill House: How the Book and Netflix Series Compare.
Posted: Thu, 25 Oct 2018 07:00:00 GMT [source]
All the patients died, their souls rumored to be trapped there forever. 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". Shortly afterward, the security gates are tripped, locking everyone inside and forcing them to remain there until the gates unlock in the morning.
The film received mixed-to-negative reviews from contemporary critics, but was a financial success, grossing $180.2 million worldwide against a production budget of $80 million. Aroused by the ghostly sounds, David concludes that the killer is about and proposes he and Frederick split up to search the house. Lance uncovers a secret room at the end of the second-floor hall, but the door shuts behind him once he enters, trapping him.
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