everyday is halloween!

 house on haunted hill [1999]

there is a look, a style, an aesthetic in these old movies from the late 1990s/early 2000s that i didn't appreciate when they were current & oh so new.  but with a perspective of a couple of decades, with the '20s as we observe them now, there was a sheen to this turn of the millennium horror films that define their era.  a slickness of production, certainly.  a kind of mad haunted house design too.  a cast of very pretty people as well wearing the coolest clothes.  the lighting & editing too that screams of a style so common to films of the late '90s.  you gotta see 'em to get 'em!  

but you might wonder why this remake rather than the original william castle pic?  as much as i love castle's movies i have a hankering for that turn of the millennium vibe so well executed by this remake.  a haunted house movie par excellence.  here goes: geoffrey rush is a madman millionaire theme park owner cum designer.  he's been trying to murder - why? - his wife, played by famke janssen.  & the best way to kill her is to invite a few people to her birthday party in a former insane asylum that's been shuttered since the 1930s when the inmates took over & killed the staff.

oh boy!  but the asylum has its own plans.  somehow it hacks into rush's email & sends out RSVPs to a group of strangers that include taye diggs, ali larter & peter gallagher among others.  why them?  because the house wants revenge & will take it out on the relatives of those that had once done harm to the long dead insane asylum patients.  so far so good.  oh yes, rush's character offers each of these invitees 1 million dollars - i feel the need to put my pinky to my lips & laugh maniacally a la dr. evil in the austin powers movies - if they can survive the night in the asylum now house.

well now, we get ghosties, creepies, ghoulies, & all other sorts of nasties that torment our guests.  this was a time in horror movies when one of the creepies, to prove how fucked up they were, would violently spin their head in a fast blur while everything else in the frame stayed still.  creeeeepy!  at any rate, this is a fun film for the Spooky Season directed by william malone, from a script by dick beebe [original story credited to robb white] & with fx by gregory nicotero et al.  

& but who survives?  the house?  one or two of the guests?  the hosts?  does it matter since we are all in for a treat of a movie that asks us to drop all our conceits & critical acumen, grab a beer or two, maybe smoke a bowl as well, & a big bucket of popcorn & strap in for the ride.  yes, this halloween movie is that much fun!

boo!