House on Haunted Hill was a huge failure with critics, but at 50th in the 1999 box office, and having made back its budget, it was a reasonable commercial success. It opened number one during Halloween weekend, likely finding an audience in moviegoers eager for anything spooky (and it is pretty spooky...)
A remake of William Castle’s 1959 film starring Vincent Price, this House on Haunted Hill was directed by William Malone with a written by Dick Beebe, who also penned Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2) with effects by the legendary Greg Nicotero and Robert Kurtzmann.
With a delightfully loopy, hammy performance from Geoffrey Rush and pretty great supporting cast who all understood the assignment, House on Haunted Hill is an imperfect but genuinely enjoyable horror thrill ride.
It's also a favorite of our guest Stephanie Gagnon, host of the horror book podcast Books in the Freezer, who joined us way back in Round 1 for The 6th Sense and rejoins us to talk mustaches, Chris Kattan, bad endings, and which is the best Scream movie.
Check out Books in the Freezer here: https://booksinthefreezer.com/