10 Movie Remakes That Are Actually Worth Watching
3. House On Haunted Hill
The Original: Vincent Price plays Frederick Loren, a millionaire who offers six people $10,000 each to spend the night in a haunted house. Courtesy of the gimmick “Emergo”, the onscreen ghosts were manifested in theatres as wire-supported inflatable skeletons that emerged at crucial moments to frighten the audience.
The Remake: William Malone’s 1999 version ditches the inflatable skeletons, soups up the special effects and keeps its tongue firmly in its cheek as “Steven Price” (Geoffrey Rush) invites six people to his haunted mansion, unaware that one of them has an ulterior motive.
Made in the spirit of William Castle’s wonderful original, this is one of the most most loving tributes to a “B” picture you’ll ever see. Full of atmosphere, in jokes and most of all, fun, House On Haunted Hill is part ghost train ride, part ghost movie parody and never less than entertaining. Given Hollywood’s current fixation with blah remakes of ghost movies (Poltergeist), it already looks like a classic.