Web posted on:
Friday, October 29, 1999 6:20:57 PM EST

By Reviewer Paul Clinton

(CNN) -- The dripping-wet prints of "The House on Haunted Hill" are now in a cineplex near you. The special effects used in the film were finished late. Final prints were then rushed out across the country to get this campy horror flick in front of audiences in time for Halloween. So, here you go, and by the way -- boo!

The film is co-produced by Terry Castle as homage to her late father William Castle. He directed 1958's "House on Haunted Hill" and this new film maintains the spirit, if not the substance, of that original. While his name isn't widely known, from the 1940s until his death in 1977, William Castle made his mark with more than 50 horror films, some of which helped define the genre.

His true claim to fame may have been the outrageous promotional gimmicks he used in selling tickets to those films. They included parking an ambulance and several medical attendants in front of theaters in case an audience member was "scared literally to death!" He was also known to hot-wire theater seats to make them vibrate when the lights went out.

When Castle prepared for the release of "House on Haunted Hill," he arranged for skeletons to appear to fly off the screen and over the audience's heads. For better or worse, no such gimmicks are planned for the release of this remake. The new film stars Academy Award-winner (for "Shine" in 1996) Geoffrey Rush in the role once occupied by the legendary Vincent Price.

"The House on Haunted Hill" originated in 1958 as a story by Robb White --it's not to be confused with "The Haunting of Hill House," a book recently updated as "The Haunting" with Liam Neeson. For "The House on Haunted Hill," screenwriter Dick Beebe has gone back to the source for his inspiration -- and has added plenty of flippant and clever dialogue, including a lot of random profanity. The plot is intact.

The Vannacutt Psychiatric Institute for the Criminally Insane has been left abandoned since 1931, when the inmates took over the asylum and killed everyone in sight. That ugly scene opens the film. The building still holds the memories of unspeakable horrors, including human torture (there are vivid flashbacks), perpetrated under the guise of medical care by the deranged Dr. Vannacutt. Flash forward to present day, and the place has now become the bizarre locale for a private party and our movie.

Rush plays billionaire theme-park mogul Steven Price, a last name that's undoubtedly a nod to Vincent -- the mogul was named Frederick Lauren when Price played him in 1958. Rush also sports a thin Price-esque moustache in this film.

The character Steven Price has arranged a birthday party for his pampered wife Evelyn (Famke Janssen). Their marriage is mostly a verbal battle, and they never miss an opportunity to slip in the barbs. It's at her insistence that the party is held at the site of horrifying medical experiments -- just the place for a festive little gathering.

When the guests arrive, they turn out to be five strangers, people invited by neither Steven nor Evelyn. They're played by Taye Diggs (currently starring in "The Best Man"); Ali Larter (UPN's "Varsity Blues"); Bridgette Wilson; Peter Gallagher (now on-screen in "American Beauty"); and Chris Kattan (NBC's "Saturday Night Live").

As the party begins, Price announces that anyone who can spend an entire night in the house will win $1 million dollars. In his attempt to blow the minds of his party guests, he secretly has rigged the joint with little scary devices from his theme parks. But soon, his pathetic tricks are overshadowed by the house itself -- a lockdown mechanism comes to life and terror takes over.

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Most of the major behind-the-scenes participants in this film have a background in the horror-film genre. Director William Malone is an old hand at filming things that go bump in the night. His first movies were titled "Scared to Death" and "Creature." He's also directed numerous episodes of the TV series "Tales From the Crypt."

But he's never had a budget that allows for the special effects used in this remake. His work here is fairly straightforward and well-paced. He didn't overdo the effects as was the case in "The Haunting."

Malone's director of photography, Rick Bota, is also an alumnus of "Tales From the Crypt." The special effects in the film are fairly clever and are the brainchildren of the Academy Award-winning team of Bob and Dennis Skotaks -- who gave audiences "Aliens" in 1979 and "Terminator 2: Judgement Day" in 1991.

"The House on Haunted Hill" is campier than it is frightening. There's heavy use of the f-word, for no apparent reason, and lots of fake blood, which looks fake. But Rush seems to be having a swell time chewing the scenery, and if nothing else you may find it amusing to try guessing who's going to come out of this film alive.

"The House on Haunted Hill" is rated R with a running time of 115 minutes.

"The House on Haunted Hill" is a production of CNN Interactive sister company Warner Bros., a Time Warner property.