RETURN TO HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL
One of the hallmarks of a good sequel is how well it manages to improve upon its predecessor. THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, THE GODFATHER PART II, and THE ROAD WARRIOR are all rightly considered to be superior to their first installments, and while a really good sequel takes the audience to new and different places (STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN) some are just basically a retread and a wink at the audience (PSYCHO II). To a certain extent, Victor Garcia’s RETURN TO HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL falls into the latter camp, though it is not entirely without merit. A made-for-video sequel to 1999’s theatrical HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL, which itself was a remake of William Castle’s 1959 film of the same name which turned movie theaters into funhouses as Castle liked to play with his audiences, RETURN TO HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL appears to be Garcia’s feature debut (he’s currently directing SLAUGHTER with Shawnee Smith and Dominique Swain, due out in 2008), though the film looks as though it was shot directly on video when one regards the considerable cost incurrence of shooting on film. In HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL, a strange guy with too much money and too much free time invites a group of people to spend an entire night in a haunted house. If they stay the entire night, they win a nice chunk of change. As the film progresses it becomes apparent that the house is the long-abandoned “Vannacutt Psychiatric Institute for the Criminally Insane”. The hospitable owner then tries frightening his guests to death (think Tom DeSimone’s superior HELL NIGHT), and naturally the ghosts of the abandoned asylum do come back to kill the guests. Nearly ten years on, RETURN TO HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL now introduces us to Ariel Wolfe (played by Amanda Righetti, who has the coincidence of sharing her real name with a character in Dario Argento’s PROFONDO ROSSO), a successful magazine editor. Ariel’s sister, Sarah (played in the original by HEROES’ Ali Larter), survived the first film, and her character briefly shows up in the sequel, the victim of a “suicide”. It turns out that Sara owned a diary written Doctor Vannacutt, who was killed by his patients. The diary discloses the whereabouts of a valuable statue called the Bashomet idol which is a sort of Pandora’s Box. The statue is the Holy Grail of archeologists and is worth millions to the right person. Ariel and her photographer friend Paul (Tom Riley) are ambushed at her post-modernistic house by Desmond (Erik Palladino) and his entourage of malicious thugs who have clearly killed Sara because she wouldn’t tell them where the idol was. They threaten Ariel with a similar fate unless she leads them to the idol. Unlike Richard’s (Steven Pacey) interest in the idol, which he has been chasing for over 20 years for historical reasons, Desmond’s interest is strictly financial. Ariel and Paul are taken by force to the house to find the idol. The rest of the film consists of them spreading out to find the idol and running into some awful experiences along the way.The film contains the usual ingredients that the public expects of a film of this sort: a good-looking cast, wise-cracking one-liners, and fast editing. Amanda Righetti resembles Jennifer Garner of TV’s ALIAS and even does some ass-kicking of her own, and the bad guys all meet horribly painful deaths. There is even a strange sort of seduction of one of Desmond’s hot-looking female hoods who is seduced by some nude female ghosts. Cerina Vincent is good as the student who’s hot for her teacher and ultimately double-crosses him, and she meets an interesting demise.
The house itself is creepy in that abandoned building-looking way.
The picture and sound on the DVD are just fine. The special features contain a “Characters Confessionals Gallery” wherein each character tells the audience why they want the idol, a cute idea in theory but in practice goes on a bit too long; “The Search for an Idol: Dr. Richard Hammer’s Quest” gives the audience a little background on idolatry; there are some additional scenes which don’t add much to the film and seem to be included to satisfy the “Special Features” moniker; and lastly there’s a music video.
The film is a nice respite from the “torture horror” of late and is definitely worth a look to show off a nice home theater system. A high definition release is also available.
[Note: This review is of the UK release of the DVD.]
