Castle Vanian Halloween Special: Haunted Houses: House on Haunted Hill (1999)

I’m excited for this week’s category because haunted house films are my favourite type. I’m even more excited because a couple of them are what you would call “my era,” late 1990s/early 2000s. Movies from that time have a very distinct look and feel… how would you describe the style of a horror movie from that era?

There’s no one thing, it’s like you say, just a look and feel. It’s like when you see a Hammer film, you know exactly what it is, straight away. The limited technology is a pretty big giveaway for the time period, and it does date the movie.

I think I would have gone with trippy grunge, but okay.

House on Haunted Hill is a remake, of course. We really struggled with deciding whether the remake or the original would make it into the list because they’re both just so good. In the end, we opted for the remake. Why was that?

The gore, mostly. Because there was more gore, and it was a more adult film. A 1960s film can’t compete with that. It becomes very tame in comparison.

It was a hard decision to make. I love the original version so much but this one just feels more like home to me. But not in a literal, I’d-live-there sense. I think I would have been with Pritchett (Chris Kattan,) trying to get the fuck out the second I’d stepped foot inside.

The plot of House on Haunted Hill is more or less the same as the original: a wealthy couple, The Prices (a nice nod to Vincent Price from the original,) host a birthday party in a house that’s supposedly haunted. The couple don’t get along at all – to the point that the wife tries to fake her own death to get away from the husband. All of that stayed the same but this version cranks it up about a thousand times. What do you like about the remake over the original?

It’s a very clever update on the original story. There are a lot more twists and turns, especially with the Stephen Price character – like when you think he’s been killed but he really has thought of everything. Well, almost everything.

There are some great jumps in this one and, like you said, some of the gore is pretty in-your-face. Even though I’ve seen House on Haunted Hill so many times, it still really unnerves me when the ghosts are moving around in the TVs and cameras. Was there anything about the movie that got you?

Not at all. I didn’t find it jumpy. It’s a stylish remake and I love the soundtrack but for scares? It doesn’t have those for me.

We were both laughing when they approached the rollercoaster at the beginning because we knew what was coming. I think watching JamesMarsters nearly soil himself in the elevator is one of my favourite scenes. Did you have any favourite moments?

I think that was the first time I’d actually seen Marsters, you know...

There are a few good moments in House on Haunted Hill but, for me, it’s that moment when Evelyn (Famke Janssen) is telling what she thinks is Stephen’s corpse that she only ever cared about his money, and he grabs her because he’s been waring a bulletproof vest. The Prices been making out through the whole thing that they hate each other but, when the darkness comes, he proves that he does care about her.

I’m not really a massive fan of Famke Janssen but I do love Ali Larter. Geoffrey Rush is a freaking Oscar winner. There’s some talent at the table, which you don’t always get with horror movies. What were your thoughts on the acting? Any favourite characters?

I think it was the first time I’d seen Geoffrey Rush too. I did recognise Famke Jansen and Ali Larter – it’s weird that they were more recognisable to me than Geoffrey Rush. Isn’t it funny, mind, that someone so big in the horror genre, Jeffrey Combs, didn’t even have a speaking role?

Huh. I didn’t even think about that… He is a horror icon and it’s a pretty small role for him.

Any last thoughts?

You can’t fault the production value. The CGI was pretty ropey, but that was just the year it was made. It beat out some terrific movies up for consideration, so you know it’s got to be good.