To follow up my all-time favourite movie, I'll do a review of my favourite shlock-horror. But, at the same tame, to me, the creepiest genuine horror flick that is around. Yes, that means, to me, creepier than The Ring. This also sets it apart from masterpieces like Braindead - which is bloodier, but at the same time just a big farce with no scares.
Ok, The Deer Hunter is a masterpiece, no ifs and buts. But this, WTF?!?! How is this better than any run-of-the-mill flicks that pummel us at the movies every other week or so? How is this scarier than The Ring?
Well, I'll answer this one right away: because everything in it is slanted, crooked and ever so slightly off-kilter. Until the very typical and yes, stereotypical ending. This is the main difference to The Ring (which, as you can see by the number of times I am quoting it, I hold to be one of the best horrors of recent years) is very straight-set. A lot of the suspense comes not only from the "horror" but the "thriller" elements in it, the mystery story, where the horror elements basically just set a limited time-frame, during which the whole thing has to be resolved.
Back to HoHH - the slanted viewing experience is achieved in the way the camera moves, the way the supernatural antagonists are portrayed and set in scene, the sick over-the-top soundtrack and the way the dominating characters ham it up. Which is another thing that definitely totally moves this movie up several notches in any sort of rating.
Ok, before I go on into some details, I'll cover the basics: House on Haunted Hill was made in 1999 - the same year as The Haunting of Hill House. Which was renamed The Haunting, because of the similarity of titles. And happened to be the most atrocious movie of that year. I went to that with a good friend and we laughed our heads off. Totally. And it was even more hilarious because the rest of the cinema was like "Oh, gosh - this is scaa-reeee!" - the insanity of it.... That was a reason why I only watched HoHH, which was released somewhat later, a couple of years afterwards, on video. And I was totally pissed off that I had discovered this gem so late!
The comparison of the two haunted house movies is good in another way, apart from seeing the difference in a Mickey-Mouse scary house and one of gritty, pulpy and organic feel. The work the actors give. In The Haunting the undoubtedly good actors tried playing it straight - which left the viewer looking at cheap stereotypes of characters - Liam Neeson playing the disbelieving man of science, Catherine Zeta-Jones the uppity bitch that so resembles most of her roles, Lily Taylor the rabbit-eyed scared heroine. Owen Wilson just turns in his usual shtick - which happens to be the only performance that suits that movie.
So, what is the situation in HoHH? Well, Geoffrey Rush was recruited to star in it. A great character actor who is often found in serious roles, but undoubtedly has a wicked sense of humour, he goes totally over the top. Playing a humorous sadist who laughs his way through all hard-ships. It has to be said here that HoHH is a remake of a 50s classic by the great horror director William Castle. It is very funny to think that Rush, actually going for a John Waters (that crazy, gay [not in a derogatory sense - it just adds to the character] director) look, ended up looking very much like the late, great Vincent Price, who played the lead in the original. Famke Janssen plays his wife, a perfect foil.
The storyline: In the 30s, a Dr Vannacutt used a mental instituion as a front to do Dr Mengele type shit with some poor fuckers. They revolted and broke free, but before being torn limb from limb, Vanacutt sealed the whole building, meaning that (almost) everyone died in the ensuing fire.
Jump 60-70 years to the present. Rich bitch Evelyn (Janssen) sees a TV special about that house and decides for her birthday party to be held there. Her husband is Stephen H. Price (Rush), a horror-theme-park mogul. They love to hate each other (introductory scene - Reporter to Rush: "So Mr Price, business or pleasure?" - "Neither. My wife."). Anyway, he organises it for her ("Congratulations. On a scale of one to ten on the perversity meter you just hit a seventy three") - but deletes her guest list and makes up a new one with a bunch of people whom he knows to be in hateful relationships with his wife. As he leaves his office, we see the computer deleting even that 2nd guest list and composing another, totally different list.
Anyway, what follows could be fairly standard fare. It is night, the guests arrive, Price tells them, after initial surprise (thinking that his wife had changed the list again - she thinks the same of him) that they will each get $ 1 million if they survive one night in the building. It is clear that he has some surprises planned. But then the building shuts itself down, traps them inside, things go out of control for Price and suddenly we find ourselves with a rising death-toll until the demons of the house finally reveal themselves and only few escape.
So, again, how does it set itself apart? Well, for one, there is the excellent relationship between Rush and Janssen. Thankfully, quite a bit of the down-time (as in: when the ghosts aren't causing havoc) is devoted to their verbal sparring matches. They hate each other. They love to hate each other. It has become a sport. He wants to fuck her up, and she knows it, and he knows she knows. However, she also wants to fuck him up, and he knows too, but possibly not the full extent, and she knows he suspects but also maybe not to the full extent. Does that make sense? Well, it certainly sounds entertaining, right? What elevates Rush's preformance to the divine is the fact that through all the tomfoolery and then later the running for their lives part, he does actually show that he has a memory of having once loved that heinous bitch.
The other players are pretty much run-of-the-mill. Not one but two TV bitches, a sports jock, a businessman. And the caretaker, played by Chris Kattan. Now, usually he is an annoying fuck. But here, he fits right in with the over-the-topness of it all. Basically as the only man who suspects the true evil of the house. Hitting us with great quotes after being locked in the place he'd least like to be, we are always entertained, while never losing the dread: (after being locked in) "Oh, so then we'll just stay here 'til morning." - Pritchett (Kattan) "I'm sure we'll be mutilated beyond recognition by then." or, later on "That, what just happened to you there, that was nothing. You've just been playing with the ghosts. Wait til somebody lets out the real darkness in this place, thats... thats a whole new bunch of crazy shit! You'll hate that shit!"
Which brings me to what prevents this movie from being a timeless masterpiece: That very darkness. Once that is inevitably released, the body-count rises too high too quickly and it becomes a very one-dimensional chase. Though still kinda creepy, the last 10 minutes or so are nowhere near as good as the rest of the film. Which doesn't really matter too much when looking back because you're still on a high from what happened before, but really, seeing the potential, it is a hell of a let-down.
What happens before is great, though. The atmosphere is so thick you could cut it with a knife. The house itself is of great design, the walls themselves are creepy. The group splits up, there are prespective changes. An early death merely hightens the tension (and is pretty much one of the creepiest things I've ever seen). Then there are several levels of players. Ok, the house ain't cosher. But what are Stephen and Evelyn up to? How much of everything is their doing? Why are the people who are there, well, there? And are the right people there, even going by the last list? And why?
Really, you don't get all that. And again, atmosphere, atmosphere. The group later decides Stephen is the baddy so they lock him away. In a room? Noooo! They lock him in a device that was made to drive people nuts (following the line of thought that it would turn insane people normal). I mean, what movie does that? It is sadisitic in itself! Oh, and visible baddy, the ghost of Vannacutt, is a bad mofo, the way he looks, the way he moves - a mix between slow-motion, stop-motion, and fast-forward movement. Creepy as all hell.
Now, I realise this is a personal thing. You have to get into it, play ball. I did, and always do, and there is no movie that I have seen yet which will fuck my shit up with such unerring regularity. My girlfriend finds it silly and boring - but then, she is scared by stupid shit like Jeepers Creepers.
(c) Johannes Heidler, September 13th 2005
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