Case File 041: House on Haunted Hill (1999)

July 28, 2021 / Christopher Schrader

The horror genre was experiencing an interesting transition in the late 90s/early aughts. The resurgence of teen slashers that had been kicked off by Scream was fizzling out and in its place were films that placed more of an emphasis on supernatural scares.

It was during this time that the production company Dark Castle Entertainment was formed with the goal of producing glossier remakes of classic William Castle horror movies from the 50s and 60s. For their inaugural outing, they chose House on Haunted Hill.

On this episode, we're accepting an invitation to spend the night in this cavernous asylum so that we can determine if its dark forces still pack the same punch they did two decades ago.

Topics include: the original 1959 version of House on Haunted Hill and William Castle's legacy, how this movie compares to the other Dark Castle films from this era, whether or not they reveal the ghosts too early, the wasted potential of Dr. Vannacutt as a villain, concept vs execution of the big finale, the straight-to-video sequel, and more!

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