Following in the footsteps of movies like THE HAUNTING and PSYCHO, here we have another attempt to improve on those old B&W horror flicks, using, not only CGI and modern "talents, but also color! This bastion of computer imagery is actually fairly well done in my belief, using definite influence from JACOB'S LADDER mixed with the naturally odd looking Jeffrey Combs for some "herky jerky ghost walk" scenes that honestly freaked me out! Or, maybe it was just Combs's moustache... As for the rest of the movie, it starts with introducing the house mentioned in the title, which I could swear I saw in an episode of "Batman: the Animated Series"... Fan boy cartoons references aside, it turns out the ominous house was once a sanitarium operated by the mad Doctor Vannacutt (also one of the "Top Ten Grizzliest Mass Murderers in History" in both "GQ" and "Seventeen" magazines!). Dr. V and his fellow "doctors" used to make a hobby out of hacking up their patients, whether for perverse pleasure or some odd medical research, I'm not sure. Eventually the crazy people broke free though, rebelling against the evil doc and burning all the devilish M.D.s in a big 1930s fire, which killed all but 5 people. Hop, skip, and pole vault ahead about 65 years to the present, where renowned amusement park tycoon Steven Price has decided to turn the old burnt out asylum into a Haunted House. The theme is, each of the five guinea pigs he's invited to the place (in addition to his bitch gold digger wife and the estate's caretaker, Pritchett) will receive $1 million, provided they stay at the house until dawn. Easy right? Well, they don't really have a choice, when the house's old security system short circuits, and everyone is forced to stay inside, like it or not! Also, to add to the weirdness, the five people who show up are NOT who either Steven or his wife Evelyn (Famke Janssen, who later plays Jean Grey in X-MEN) invited! Now, the question they all ponder is: Is this a hoax by Price to scare everyone shitless, or is there something else going on? We, the viewers learn though, that the whole security lock down was NOT part of Price's plan! Soon, everyone is disappearing one at a time, leaving behind nothing more than trails of blood. When Price goes to check on his engineer who's supposed to be running the tricks (yep, that was originally Price's plan), he finds the guy is missing a little more head than he can handle! Also, he witnesses the awkward Dr. Vannacutt doing some really bizarre movements, as witnessed by the security cameras! Mrs. Price is then supposedly electrocuted, which pisses off Steven (even though he hated her), who starts waving guns at the others! They beat his profusely though, then lock him up in some old deprivation chamber leaving the Greg Proops look-a-like to guard him. Thanx to our other guests doing a little poking around, we discover that the 5 people who survived the fire of 1930 are each related to a corresponding member of the group... all selected by the possessed house, courtesy of the phone lines/internet! We also find out that, not only is Mrs. Price not dead, but she's also in cahoots with the Greg Proops guy! They plan to work together and stage an elaborate hoax to cover up Mr. Price's death and... oh wait, Evelyn then stabs the other guy repeatedly with a scalpel. This is what's known as a "double cross". She then also sets up Steve to take the blame for the murder(s), which gives one of the girls reason to blow Mr. P away, since he IS covered in blood after all. But, this too was a hoax, designed to get the grieving and greedy Evelyn to reveal her plan to Steve's "corpse". After the confession, he gets up, smacks her around, and throws her through a wall, which leads into a dungeon type of place, where Evelyn is then decayed and mutilated by some wraith! The wraith is the collection of all the unhappy people who have been killed at the house over it's long history. It's next victim is going to be Steve, but it settles for Pritchett first, leaving our final heroes as Steve and 2 of the guests. Prices proceeds to make an all too convenient mistake and opens a window, then sacrifices himself so the other 2 can escape the nightmare... complete with ALL five of the $1 million checks! Great CGI effects and excellent job by the cast, mostly Jeffrey Combs (is a sadly non-speaking role) and Chris Kattan (possibly the funniest of the "new" "Saturday Night Live" cast) as Pritchett, the alcoholic pessimist. However, Geoffrey Rush (the guy who played Steven Price) seems to try to hard at being a James Woods impersonator than actually making his own persona. Also, the story was simply rehashed, nothing new, and the majority of the characters were simply fodder, earning no sympathy or interest what-so-ever. Now, as for the moral of today's story, no one plays Peter Graves like Peter Graves! Wahoo! Go Peter Graves!

DVD X-tras: First and foremost for this awesome DVD is the menu, which takes us through the rooms of the house, starting with the big open reception area, complete with that creepy stained galss window! Okay, for the special crap we get the "Extras" sections, which includes a cast and crew listing (with director William Malone the only one getting any bio or filmo feature), a behind-the-scenes section that features "making of" segments for some of the more notable scenes as well as a music video preview for another Malone movie, CREATURE. Also in the "Extras" section are a commentary track for the film (featuring Malone only)and a bio and filmo package for William Castle (who directed and produced the original THE HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL from '59). Other special features besides the "Extras" section include "the Chamber", which is supposed to give us a visual idea of what it's like inside the deprivation chamber; trailers for both the '59 and '99 HAUNTED HILL films; 3 deleted scenes, including an epilogue that would've featured another snipette of Jeffrey Combs footage(!); and finally, the short special "A Tale of Two Houses", which not only compares the two movies and their content, but also counts as a "making of" of sorts for the '99 movie. LOTS o' extras for an okay flick! If you feel you must own HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL, deffinately go for the DVD.

Sequels: Nope

If You Liked This Flick, Check Out: THE HAUNTING or the original HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL