House on Haunted Hill is a 1999 Warner Brothers horror movie, directed by William Malone, written by Dick Beebe and starring Geoffrey Rush as Stephen Price. Produced by Robert Zemeckis and Joel Silver, it is a remake of the 1959 classic of the same name directed by William Castle, borrowing elements from the 1973 classic Don't Look in the Basement. This film was the first for Dark Castle Entertainment. William Malone is an American filmmaker who directed such films as the 1999 remake of House on Haunted Hill. ... Gilbert Adler is a US film producer, writer and director. ... Joel Silver (born July 14, 1952) is a successful Hollywood film producer. ... Robert Zemeckis (born May 14, 1952) is an Academy Award-winning American movie director, producer and writer. ... Robb White was born on June 20, 1909 in the Philippine Islands. ... Geoffrey Roy Rush (born 6 July 1951) is an Academy Award- and Emmy Award-winning Australian actor. ... Famke Beumer Janssen (born November 5, 1965) is a Dutch actress and former fashion model. ... Taye Diggs (born Scott Diggs on January 2, 1971 in Rochester, New York[1]) is an American theatre, film and television actor. ... Peter Killian Gallagher (born August 19, 1955) is a Golden Globe award winning American actor. ... Christopher Lee Kattan (born October 19, 1970) is an American comedian, best known for his work on Saturday Night Live. ... Alison Elizabeth Ali Larter (born February 28, 1976) is an American actress and former fashion model best known for her screen roles aimed at teenage audiences. ... Bridgette Leann Wilson (born September 25, 1973), also known as Bridgette Wilson-Sampras, is an American actress. ... Jeffrey Alan Combs (born September 9, 1954 in Oxnard, California) is an American character actor best known for his horror film roles and his appearances playing a number of characters in the Star Trek franchise. ... Warner Bros. ... is the 302nd day of the year (303rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The year 1999 in film involved some significant events. ... Return to House on Haunted Hill is the direct to DVD sequel of the 1999 remake House on Haunted Hill. ... Year 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar). ... Warner Bros. ... DVD cover showing horror characters as depicted by Universal Studios. ... William Malone is an American filmmaker who directed such films as the 1999 remake of House on Haunted Hill. ... Geoffrey Roy Rush (born 6 July 1951) is an Academy Award- and Emmy Award-winning Australian actor. ... Robert Zemeckis (born May 14, 1952) is an Academy Award-winning American movie director, producer and writer. ... Joel Silver (born July 14, 1952) is a successful Hollywood film producer. ... House on Haunted Hill is a 1959 horror film. ... William Castle (April 24, 1914–May 31, 1977) born William Schloss, was an American film director, producer, and actor. ... The Forgotten (1973 film) (alternative title Dont Look in the Basement) is a movie about a psychiatrist that believes her patients deserve a chance to act out their frustrations unfettered, and this leads to disastrous consequences as the head doctor is murdered when a patient known as judge (an... Dark Castle Entertainment is a division of Warner Bros. ...

Made for around $20 million, the movie was mauled by the critics but grossed $15 million on its opening weekend and went on to earn over $40 million.

The film is often compared with The Haunting, another 1999 remake of a similar classic from 1963, based on the novel The Haunting of Hill House. Also worth noting, in comparison to the original, while William Castle's version leaves a degree of ambiguity as to the presence of ghosts in the building, the remake leaves no doubt whatsoever. The Haunting is a 1999 horror film directed by Jan de Bont. ... The Haunting of Hill House is a 1959 novel by author Shirley Jackson. ...

News recently surfaced that Dark Castle is planning to release a sequel of the film, entitled Return to House on Haunted Hill. Return to House on Haunted Hill is the direct to DVD sequel of the 1999 remake House on Haunted Hill. ...

Story

Billionaire theme-park mogul Steven Price (Geoffrey Rush) believes he is fulfilling the twisted wishes of his spoiled wife Evelyn (Famke Janssen) when he arranges for her birthday party to be held at the abandoned Vannacutt Psychiatric Institute for the Criminally Insane. The Institute was once the site of the most horrifying medical experiments in history, conducted by the late - and deranged — Dr. Vannacutt. Geoffrey Roy Rush (born 6 July 1951) is an Academy Award- and Emmy Award-winning Australian actor. ... Famke Beumer Janssen (born November 5, 1965) is a Dutch actress and former fashion model. ...

As the guests converge for the evening, Price realizes that, curiously, the five strangers are neither Evelyn's original invitees nor his own. He is unable to figure out who these people are, or how they received the invitations he intended for others. The guests themselves are equally mystified as to why they might have been included. In a spirit of mutual distrust, Steven and Evelyn Price greet their guests, each suspecting the other's motives and holding the other responsible for the strangers joining them. The actual reason this quintet has been convened will not become clear until much later.

Nevertheless, Price proceeds with the festivities, announcing that anyone who manages to spend an entire night in the house will win a substantial financial prize of five million dollars. He has secretly rigged the house with insidious devices designed to scare the guests out of staying, but his tricks soon become meaningless, as the mansion begins to generate terror on its own.

The house's lockdown mechanism mysteriously comes alive, trapping everyone inside and leaving them scrambling desperately to find a way out. Just as Watson Pritchett (Chris Kattan), the descendant of the building's original owners, had ominously predicted, the house begins to animate with the evil that breathes through the building. Before their night of terror is over, the desperate inhabitants will unlock the secrets of the house or suffer the wrath of the demonic evil that haunts the walls of the former insane asylum.

Plot

The film sets the action in an abandoned asylum, The Vannacutt Psychiatric Institute for the Criminally Insane, where mass-murders were undertaken in the past. The head of the facility, Doctor Richard B. Vannacutt (Jeffrey Combs), performed grotesque experiments and medical procedures on the patients, killing many of them in the process. The hospital was shut down when many of the so-called "patients" escaped, killing the entire staff and burning the hospital. Vannacutt had rigged the building with numerous iron gates actuated by cranks and levers to serve, for the most part, as barriers to keep patients from leaving the building, should they escape. Some of these barriers are subject to huge clock-like timers that would not open for twelve hours. He released these gates keeping the inmates, employees and the fire within the building. After several unexplained deaths during reconstruction on the house, mostly the owners of the house, it was dubbed The House on Haunted Hill. A psychiatric hospital (also called, at various places and times, mental hospital or mental ward), is a hospital specialising in the treatment of persons with mental illness. ... Jeffrey Alan Combs (born September 9, 1954 in Oxnard, California) is an American character actor best known for his horror film roles and his appearances playing a number of characters in the Star Trek franchise. ...

The story centers around the disintegrating marriage of Evelyn (Famke Janssen), a spoiled trophy wife who defines high maintenance and Steven Price (Geoffrey Rush), an amusement park mogul with a wicked sense of humor, each of whom would cheerfully kill the other. Evelyn fancies spectacular parties, so Steve leases the house from the owner, Watson Pritchett (Chris Kattan) descendant of the house's owners, for her Halloween birthday bash. Steven was supposed to send out the invitations from the two-page list of names given him by Evelyn. However, invitations were sent to only four people - Jennifer Jenzen (aka Sarah Wolfe) (Ali Larter), Eddie Baker (Taye Diggs), Melissa Margaret Marr (Bridgette Wilson) and Dr. Donald Blackburn (Peter Gallagher). When the guests arrive, neither Evelyn nor Steven 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 their money added to the winners' pot. Famke Beumer Janssen (born November 5, 1965) is a Dutch actress and former fashion model. ... Category: ... Geoffrey Roy Rush (born 6 July 1951) is an Academy Award- and Emmy Award-winning Australian actor. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Christopher Lee Kattan (born October 19, 1970) is an American comedian, best known for his work on Saturday Night Live. ... Alison Elizabeth Ali Larter (born February 28, 1976) is an American actress and former fashion model best known for her screen roles aimed at teenage audiences. ... Taye Diggs (born Scott Diggs on January 2, 1971 in Rochester, New York[1]) is an American theatre, film and television actor. ... Bridgette Leann Wilson (born September 25, 1973), also known as Bridgette Wilson-Sampras, is an American actress. ... Peter Killian Gallagher (born August 19, 1955) is a Golden Globe award winning American actor. ...

Shortly after, the security gates are tripped, sealing itself shut and locking everyone inside, forcing them to remain there until the gates reopen in the morning. Initially this is a gimmick orchestrated by Steve and Schecter (Max Perlich), a company employee who develop a series of harmless traps meant to scare the guests. But this of course is not the case, when everyone begins to see the house come alive. What follows is the slow, and often bloody, demise of several of the guests and hosts in various ways, courtesy of the evil spirits of the house. It is discovered that the spirits in the house created the party list to include the descendants of those who were employed at the hospital when it burned. Max Perlich at the Hollywood premiere of New Lines Blow Character actor Max Perlich spent many years playing bit parts on television and in teen films such as Cant Buy Me Love (1987) and Lost Angels (1989); his roles usually were of the slacker or juvenile delinquent variety. ...

Deleted Scenes

One of the deleted scenes was not shown in the deleted scenes list in the bonus features of the DVD. It was where Melissa Margaret Marr was wandering through the first floor maze of hallways with her camcorder and went by an elaborate painting of a gothic demon done in anamorphosis and the demon tried to reach for her with its arms. DVD (Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc) is an optical disc storage media format that can be used for data storage, including movies with high video and sound quality. ... Public hedge maze in the English Garden at Schönbusch Park, Aschaffenburg, Germany A small maze A maze is a tour puzzle in the form of a complex branching passage through which the solver must find a route. ... Sony DV Handycam A camcorder is a portable electronic device for recording video images and audio onto an internal storage device. ... Look up Gothic, goth, Goth in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... “Fiend” redirects here. ... Andrea Pozzos painted ceiling in the Church of St. ... “Fiend” redirects here. ...

Music

The score was composed by Don Davis, and features large string sections, an organ, as well as a violent chorus. Marilyn Manson's 1995 cover of "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)" was also used extensively in the film. Don Davis, at his piano Don Davis is a film composer, best known for his work on The Matrix trilogy where he collaborated with Juno Reactor for the final two films. ... Brian Hugh Warner (born January 5, 1969), better known by his stage name Marilyn Manson, is an American musician and artist known for his outrageous stage persona and image as the lead singer of the eponymous band. ... Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) is Eurythmics first commercial breakthrough following several flops. ...

External links

• House on Haunted Hill Official Website
• House on Haunted Hill (1999) at the Internet Movie Database
• House on Haunted Hill (1999) at Rotten Tomatoes
• House on Haunted Hill (1999) at Box Office Mojo