House on Haunted Hill, my first rated R movie I saw in the theater, huge deal since I was only 13 at the time. But anyways, House on Haunted Hill is of course remake of the same title, back in the day the original star of the movie was Vincent Price, it was spooky and creepy, the only problem? The original has some what lost it's effect it had on people, don't get me wrong, it's still an excellent film, but compared to a lot of horror films of today, it seems rather tame. So of course, you know what that means… Let's remake the story and add tons of computer CGI and gore! But was this remake really that bad? Actually I'd say that I did enjoy it, it had good suspense and very grizzly images that will stay in your head. It's a pretty decent update of this chilling ghost story and never lets go.

The film is set in an abandoned asylum, where numerous murders were committed in the past. The head of the facility, Dr. Richard B. Vannacutt, performed grotesque experiments and medical procedures on the patients, killing many in the process. The hospital was closed when some of the patients escaped, killing almost the entire staff and burning the hospital. We then meet Evelyn, a spoiled trophy wife, and Steven Price, an amusement park mogul with a wicked sense of humor, each of whom would gladly kill the other. Evelyn fancies spectacular parties, so Steven leases the house from the owner, Watson Pritchett, for his Halloween birthday bash. Evelyn gives Steven a guest list two pages long; he shreds it to spite her and then creates one of his own. The five people who show up for the party: Jennifer Jenzer, Eddie Baker, Melissa Margaret Marr, Dr. Donald Blackburn and Pritchett himself — aren't the ones he invited. 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. Of course this isn't any easy task as the ghosts are about and ready for a bloody good time.

While I would recommend for nostalgic reasons to stick to the original as it is a true classic, I say that this remake is still worth the look. It's definitely worth it in the dark, I can't tell how much this one scene frightened me beyond compare… when the reporter is filming in the basement to get an idea of what the asylum was like and the ghosts only appear on camera, she sees them torturing a patient and they look up at her and goosebumps are the least of your worries at this point. All in all, this is a very decent remake compared to other sad remakes we had that year like The Haunting. But still I wonder what Vincent Price would say if he was able to see how they updated the story… maybe even do his little "rap" Thriller style! You know I had to get that in.