The House on Haunted Hill
There are not many films where you remember the title credits specifically, so this film stands out right from the beginning. The technique is just visually disturbing enough to set the right tone for the film immediately. You will have to see it to understand what I mean.
This is a fun romp of a film with a good dose of chills thrown in. It is actually a remake of an old b/w horror flick starring Mr. Vincent Price. However, unlike most remakes, this one is actually superior to the original, no slur against Mr. Price intended.
In the original film, we are left with something of a cliffhanger, with nothing resolved and the feeling that the movie ran out of money so they simply tacked "The End" on it and released it. But the 1999 remake finishes up the story nicely, albeit with a cliffhanger of a different sort. (How are they going to get down, one has to wonder...)
At first the characters are in danger of being a bit two-dimensional, but they soon flesh out nicely. Perhaps in honor of the original star, one of the leads is named Mr. Price, and has a passing resemblance to the master of horror. All the actors perform good to excellent, but the "house" is the real star.
The fun begins almost immediately, with a great rollercoaster scene that has to be experienced on the big screen. There are moments of true horror, such as when the maniacs get loose and vivisect the hospital staff in the flashback scenes. There is another good moment involving a video camera that sees what the human eye cannot. But some of the most chilling scenes are where the face of the murderous ghost is just a blur and it stalks in a very unnatural way. (This "face blurring" effect has been adopted in several movies and commercials since then, but this is where I first saw it and the impact was high.)
Good movie with lots of twists and chills. Rent or buy this puppy, get some friends over, pop some popcorn, turn out the lights and have fun!
