Return to House on Haunted Hill

Return to House on Haunted Hill
Directed by	Víctor García
Written by	William Massa
Produced by	Joel Silver Robert Zemeckis
Starring	Amanda Righetti Erik Palladino Cerina Vincent Tom Riley Andrew Lee Potts Steven Pacey and Jeffrey Combs
Music by	Frederik Wiedmann
Country	United States of America
Language	English

Return to House on Haunted Hill, directed by Víctor García, is the 2007 sequel to the 1999 remake House on Haunted Hill.

Production

Filming began in Burgas & Sofia, Bulgaria on September 11, 2006, where they used various sets and an old bathhouse as locations that substituted the house in the 1999 remake.

Jeffrey Combs will reprise his role as Dr. Richard B. Vannacutt. He has stated that he will have a larger role in this film, and whilst he has no lines, this will make his character "more menacing". He then went on to say that much of the film will be in the lower floors of the house. Combs did however, do voice-overs after the initial filming.

Plot

The legacy of terror at the House on Haunted Hill began in 1931 when sadistic doctor Richard Vannacutt and his staff died in a fiery inferno caused by a patient uprising at his hilltop asylum. Rumors persist for decades that the building is haunted by the spirits of those who died there. The horror continues when Billionaire Theme Park Mogul Steven Price and his guests are gruesomely slaughtered at a party in the refurbished mansion in 1999. Though the authorities blame Price for the murders, survivor Sara Wolfe claims that ghosts were responsible for the brutal deaths.

The Film starts off present day 2007, 8 years after the first film. Sara's sister Ariel is a succesful editor at a fashion magazine. When Ariel is about to go to work she notices a lot of voice messages from Sara on her mobile. After listening to one she chooses to ignore it and goes to work. When she's at work her Assistant tells her that Sara called last night. "I'll shoot her an email when i get the chance" Ariel states. While Ariel is visiting photographer Paul at a Photo Shoot Ariel gets a call from her mother notifying her that Sara has committed Suicide. That night Ariel and Paul go to Sara's apartment, which is full of news reports about Price and the Baphomet Idol. While they are there Archeologist Richard Hammer comes to the apartment. He warns Ariel to be careful as the Diary of Vannacutt is missing and other parties could be after the Baphomet idol.

When Paul drops Ariel home she finds Vannacutt's diary has been sent to her by Sara. Outside Paul sees a bright light approaching. Inside Ariel hears a thump at the door. When Ariel opens the door a group of men and one woman come in with guns. One of the men is holding Paul at gunpoint. The group are after Vannacutt's diary and it's revealed the leader of the group Desmond faked Sara's suicide for not cooperating. Desmond and his group kidnap Ariel and Paul.

Meanwhile Richard Hammer and two of his students, Kyle and Michelle arrive at the house. When they go inside they see the grand foyer, still with the glass on the floor when it collapsed on Evelyn Price. The inside of the house has become dirty and dusty and most of the furniture has sheets covering it.

When Desmond and his group arrive he tells one of his men, Samuel, to stay in the car with Paul and the rest of the go into the house. When the group go in it's revealed that Michelle is dating Desmond and Ariel, Kyle and Richard are now all prisoners. First to make sure the house won't lock up on them they destroy the lock down mechanism. Desmond then makes everyone split up to find the idol believed to be hidden deep in the basement. Outside Samuel is called by Desmond to come back into the house. After hearing gun shots and two people already dead the others go back to the grand foyer. Norris Boz and Kyle arrive there first and Norris is ripped apart by the sheets covering the furniture. Desmond, Ariel, Richard and Michelle come back upstairs and find a distraught Kyle. Then they all hear a clanking sound and the house begins to go into lock down. Ariel runs towards the door and escapes to the outside, happy to be free. She goes down to the car and finds Paul gone and know's she can't leave him in there. The front door opens itself and she can hear it calling her inside. Ariel run to the back of the car and grabs one of the guns and returns to the house.

Paul and Samuel come upstairs. Desmond is suprised to see them and ask what they are doing here. As Ariel comes back into the house she states that the house told Samuel to come inside. Soon after Samuel disapears and is killed by Vannacutt whilst his nurse films it. Upstairs Ariel aims her gun at Desmond and Michelle aims her gun at Ariel. Just as Desmon is about to shoot Ariel Kyle grabs his gun. Richard fights with Michelle and gains control of her gun.

Trying to find a way out they all go down to the Hydro Pool room. When there guard is down Desmond grabs the gun off Richard and knocks Kyle into the water. Ariel jumps in after him and Desmond and Michelle escape. The souls of the patients awaken inside the pool and try to attack Ariel and Kyle. Kyle is pulled underneath the water and drowned and Ariel escapes.

Desmond and Michelle keep searching for the idol and Desmond believes Michelle is working for someone else and trys to chase her. While Michelle is hiding in a dining area all of the furniture goes up onto the roof and begins to fall down. Michelle is knocked to the ground and Vannacutt stands before her. He looks up and sees a fridge on the roof and it collapses on her head.

Ariel, Richard and Paul find a sewer grate and attempt to get down it. The soul of the man who lead the uprising against Vannacutt tells Ariel she must destroy the Baphomet idol. The idol is the only thing keeping the souls trapped in their painful last moments of life. They find the idol at the bottom of the House in it's living organ. Unable to damage it, they have to find another way to get rid of it, the sewer grate.

As they are about to exit the crematorium they find Desmond demanding they hand over the idol. Before they can Desmond is thrown into a furnace by the ghosts and burned alive. Ariel, Richard and Paul run but Paul slips and is surrounded by the fiery ghosts. He tells Ariel and Richard to keep going and run back down to the house's organ.

When Ariel and Richard get back to the Sewer grate Richard knocks the idol out of her hands. The idol's power begins to corrupt him and he starts choking Ariel. All the souls begin to adavnce on them but Vannacutt signals them to stay still. Ariel gets free of Richards grip and goes back to the idol. Vannacutt comes up to her and throws her against the wall. Richard tries to attack Vannacutt but Vannacutt grabs him and smashes him against the wall. Ariel see's the idol lying on the ground and drops it through the grate.

Downstairs Paul is surrounded by ghosts and they start to disapear. Whilst upstairs Vannacutt is attacked by at the patients as they disapear and the house opens up again, free from the evil. Ariel finds Paul upstairs and they leave the House. "Baphomet's evil's been locked in that House for over 50 years, we set it free", Ariel states. "You're saying, the House wanted us to succeed?" Paul asks. Ariel replies that she doesn't know and they get into the car and go home.

Official Movie Deaths

Warren: Gets his organs ripped out and sucked into the wall by a patient.

Harue: Face Cut off by Vannacutt.

Norris Boz: Ripped apart with sheets by the Patients.

Samuel: Brain cut out by Vannacutt.

Kyle: Taken underwater by the patients and drowned.

Michelle: Decapitated by a fridge collapsing on her.

Desmond: Burnt alive in a furnace.

Richard: Smashed into walls by Vannacutt.

Cast

• Amanda Righetti - Ariel Wolfe

• Erik Palladino - Desmond Niles

• Cerina Vincent - Michelle

• Tom Riley - Paul

• Andrew Lee Potts - Kyle

• Steven Pacey - Richard Hammer

• Jeffrey Combs - Dr. Richard B. Vannacutt

• Andrew Pleavin - Samuel

• Chucky Venice - Warren

• Clyta Rainford - Harue

• Laia Gonzalez - Nurse

• George Zlatarev - Malcom

• Gil Kolirin - Norris Boz

Releases

Soon after the film's completion it was revealed that the DVD would be released on September 27, 2007 for North America and in a separate news article, the coming October 3rd for Australia. Dark Castle Entertainment however decided to push the release date to October 16, 2007 and October 10, 2007 for North America and Australia respectively. For North America there will be rated and unrated releases, the 'rated' is Rated R for strong bloody horror violence, language and brief sexuality/nudity, but the extra content on the 'unrated' and other subsequent discs, means that it will go unrated. The Australian version of the film is the same as the US Unrated Version.

There will also be Blu-ray and HD DVD versions, also unrated, both including Navigational Cinema, a feature enabling viewers to interact with the storyline when at certain points it allows you to choose from two different paths. It will include seven viewer choices leading to 96 possible storylines, according to Joel Silver in a recent 'Return to House on Haunted Hill' featurette. In another interview, Silver announced the film will have four alternate endings, which can be achieved through the different choices you must make throughout the film.

External Links

• Return to House on Haunted Hill Official Site
• Return to House on Haunted Hill MySpace page
• Return to House on Haunted Hill at IMDb
• Return to House on Haunted Hill Clips
• Return to House on Haunted Hill Exclusive Clip