13 Nights of Hallowe'en 2010: Night #7 House on Haunted Hill (1999)

We're at around the halfway mark now. Tonight I give you the remake of House on Haunted Hill. A group of people are invited to ahaunted house and offered a lot of money to spend he entire night. I have to tell you I felt severely let down by the original, even thought it had Vincent Price in it. This remake isn't without its flaws, but I still think it is a great remake and it's a movie I like to re-watch. For one thing it is jam packed with nameable actors and actresses. Let's start with Geoffrey Rush as the tongue-in-cheek named Stephen H. Price. Then there's Famke Janssen as his wife. There's a bit part for musician Lisa Loeb and the one and only James Marsters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Taye Diggs is in it as a party invitee along with Ali Larter--from Final Destination 1 and 2, among other things. Then we have la pièce de resistance, Jeffrey Combs, man of horror.

William Malone directed this House on Haunted Hill, as well as fear dot com, and Parasomnia--all three of which have Combs in them, which sure says something to me. Robb White wrote the original House on Haunted Hill and the original Thir13een Ghosts, and The Tingler for William Castle. Dick Beebe wrote the new Haunted Hill screenplay, as well as wrote on Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2. It's quite the collection of horror people that was all made possible by Dark Castle Entertainment. One of my favourite little things in this movie is the basement area with the Honoré Fragonard-style flayed cadaver art. In general it's cool that the house used to be a psychiatric institute, and that is something that gets even more coverage in the sequel--which is available paired with this film in the sales link above. Go now, and enjoy!

Mood: cheery.

Music: Haunted by Evanescence. MP3s

13 Nights of Halloween: Night #5: Ghost Ship

Tonight's movie is from those grisly horror-meisters at Dark Castle Entertainment. You've probably heard of them, and of this movie. If you haven't, well boy are you in for a treat. The movie is called "Ghost Ship". Despite rumours it is not a remake of any single film though it may bear some resemblance in spots to similar themed movies and may be an amalgam of classic story types. These guys and gals at Dark Castle know how to rock a horror movie and you can bet money as soon as I see that they're involved in a film it is going on my wish list without so much as a single review or moment's thought to check it out first.

This movie has to have one of the best beginnings of a horror movie ever. It makes me drool just to think about it. K.N.B. EFX Group does an absolutely stupendous job as always on practical special effects. It's hard to believe I never really noticed that group's name on movies until only recently. They're a staple of the horror industry going back years and years. The company has their name on 149 movies in the IMDB for special effects. They range from today back to 1973. Of course they are not the only reason to see this movie. It's always good to see Gabriel Byrne in a movie, and Julianna Margulies was just excellent.

Mood: chillaxin.
Music: Meet the Creeper by Rob Zombie.