House on Haunted Hill is a 1999 American supernatural horror film directed by William Malone and starring Geoffrey Rush, Famke Janssen, Taye Diggs, Ali Larter, Bridgette Wilson, Peter Gallagher, and Chris Kattan.

The plot follows a group of strangers who are invited to a party at an abandoned insane asylum, where they are offered $1 million each by an amusement park mogul if they are able to survive the night.

In the tradition of William Castle's theater gimmicks, Warner Bros. supplied promotional scratchcards to cinemas showing the film, offering ticket buyers a chance to win a money prize, similar to the movie's characters.

Five guests arrive for the party: film producer Jennifer Jenzen, baseball player Eddie Baker, former television personality Melissa Marr, physician Donald Blackburn, and Pritchett himself.

Melissa subsequently disappears, leaving behind a massive trail of blood and a video camera that shows brief, ambiguous footage of her being dragged off-screen.

In Vannacutt's office, Sara and Eddie find a portrait of the hospital's head staff and realize that the Prices and invited party guests, with the exception of Blackburn, are descendants of the five survivors of the 1931 fire.

After Pritchett mentions that the massive spiritual energy in the house manifests and travels in many ways, Sara deduces that the spirits hacked the guest list on Price's computer through the Internet.

Price has a sudden realization that the attic might house the mechanisms used to operate the lockdown system and flees there, followed by Sara and Eddie.

"[5] The unethical psychiatry methods and experimental procedures featured in the film were loosely based on medical experiments conducted by the Nazis.

[9][10] Unlike in the 1959 film, in which a supernatural element was only hinted at (and ultimately revealed to be a ruse), the reality of paranormal forces attacking the party attendees was made explicit in Beebe's screenplay.

[14] Elizabeth Hurley was initially considered for the role of Evelyn Price, but by February 1999, Famke Janssen was ultimately cast in the part.

[15] Taye Diggs was subsequently cast as Eddie, the ex-professional baseball player attending the party, and agreed to appear in the film after Rush signed onto the project.

"[5] For the role of Dr. Vannacutt, the deranged head doctor of the hospital, singer Marilyn Manson was at one point considered,[17] but Jeffrey Combs was ultimately cast in the part.

"[5] Larter stated in an on-set interview: "The set is dark and dirty, and everyone's been sick, and [Taye Diggs] and Chris [Kattan] keep me laughing.

[20][22] Malone, struck by the appearance of the figure—which consisted of an eyeless, noseless human head with an enlarged mouth—was granted permission from Smith to use it in the film.

[19] The tentacular morphing mass of ghosts featured at the film's climax was designed by KNB Effects, and was inspired by the visuals of H.P.

[20] According to Malone, much of the visual elements were actually not computer-generated, and were actually made up of footage shot by the production crew, which was grafted together to form the mass.

[19] Other practical visual effects included the use of a spinning saw blade being held in front of a camera lens to achieve a fluttering look to the hallucinatory sequences experienced by Price in the Saturation Chamber.

Two versions of the scene were shot, during which Sara hands Jennifer a bag delivered for her; inside is a music box with a jack-in-a-box-trigger which cuts the handler's finger.

[23] After falling two stories below, Wolfe awakens in a subterranean crematorium filled with the ashes and corpses of the hospital's dead patients.

[24] The soundtrack for the film was commercially released on the label Varèse Sarabande, containing selections from the original score by Don Davis.

[26] Track listing The song "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" by Marilyn Manson is not on the soundtrack but plays during the scene lead up to the Asylum and end credits.

[28] Warner Home Video released House on Haunted Hill on VHS and a special edition DVD in April 2000.

[40] Kim Newman, writing for Sight and Sound, praised the "try-anything approach of writer-director William Malone" and observed that the film "manages to respect the original's intentions far more than such recent remakes as the 1999 versions of The Mummy and The Haunting...

The mix of laughs, shocks and gruesomeness is much the same as in the two Tales from the Crypt movies, but Malone coaxes a slightly fresher flavour, taking on board the influence of David Fincher and even Lars von Trier.

"[41] Eric Harrison of the Los Angeles Times praised the performances in the film, particularly those of Rush, Kattan, and Larter, but felt that the screenplay's tone was inconsistent, writing: "Humans do so many horrible things to each other in House on Haunted Hill that the ghosts don't stand a chance of keeping up, which may explain why the script makes such nitwits of the characters—if the spooks are going to make an impression, they need all the help they can get.

"[43] Joe Leydon of Variety gave the film a favorable review, noting its "cheap scares," but adding: "Given the irredeemable cheesiness of the original 1958 House on Haunted Hill, the makers of the remake had nowhere to go but up.

"[45] The Austin Chronicle's Marc Savlov echoed a similar sentiment, writing: "The nicest thing I can say about this remake of William Castle's 1958 shocker is that Geoffrey Rush, god bless him, sure can do a fine imitation of Vincent Price's original mustache, even better than John Waters's -- which is no mean feat.

[47] In 2007, the film was followed up with a direct-to-DVD sequel, Return to House on Haunted Hill, with Jeffrey Combs reprising his role as Vannacut and was released in both rated and unrated editions.