House On Haunted Hill Review

"Are you dying to party?" Good pun on the theme of the movie, but hardly suitable. And why? There's no party in the first place. Weird storyline and excellent graphics are the hallmarks of this movie, and it's hard to tell which gets to you more!

The story begins at the Vanacutt Institute for the criminally insane, where Dr. Vanacutt performs all sorts of mad experiments on his patients, supposedly trying to cure them. In other words, your typical mad doctor. As expected, the 'patients' eventually rebel, and the whole place burns down. After that, the house gets the not-so-distinguishing label of 'haunted'.

Steven Price (Geoffrey Rush) is an entertainment theme park baron who's made his millions from thinking up amazing rides and scare-you-to-death thrills. His wife Evelyn Stockard Price (the stunning Famke Janssen) hates his guts but loves his money. In fact, the hate is pretty much mutual. He holds a birthday party for his wife at the abandoned haunted house, with another of his twisted ideas - the aim of the game is to be alive in the morning and whoever is gets a million dollars cash.

Steven hires a guy to manage specially created effects in the house, but pretty soon things that were not part of the plan start happening. The usual thriller story follows, with people dying, people coming back to life... you know the rest! The only thing keeping you in the seat will be the curiosity to find out who wins the money in the end.

For those who like to follow the story of movies that they watch closely, there are like a zillion loopholes in this story. For those who like blood and gore, it's quite literally all over the place. For people who like to be thrilled - sorry guys, this one's not likely to do much for you. The special effects are worth mentioning, and the climax is not bad. But the ending of the movie is downright ridiculous.

The best way to go for this movie would be without expectations. Weak hearts needn't worry, but weak stomachs might face a challenge!