When the first movie, House on Haunted Hill was released in 1999, most audiences thought the film was a decent horror movie. Based on the 1959 horror classic by the same name (which starred horror legend, Vincent Price), the movie was about five people who agreed to stay in a haunted house known as Hill House. Those who could survive through the night without leaving early would receive a million dollars. One of the survivors is a woman named Sara Wolfe (Ali Larter).

Hill House was once an insane asylum. The doctor, Dr. Richard Benjamin Vannacutt (Jeffrey Combs), went crazy. Originally a well-respected doctor with many innovative techniques that were used to treat mental patients, at Hill House, Vannacutt went nuts, often using dangerous and deranged techniques. He practiced these techniques on his patients, sometimes going as far as to kill them or cause them inexplicable pain. Hill House was ultimately destroyed in a fire, and the souls of the doctor, his staff, and their victims/patients have remained trapped there, haunting the house and terrorizing anyone who enters.

In Return to House on Haunted Hill the story picks up with Sara’s sister, Ariel (Amanda Righetti). Ariel, who works for a magazine, is avoiding her sister, Sara. Sara has had a rough time since escaping from Hill House. Before Ariel can call her sister back, she receives a phone call that Sara has committed suicide. Riddled with guilt because she had avoided her sister, Ariel and her love interest/co-worker, the magazine photographer, Paul (Tom Riley) go to where Sara lived to try and figure out why she killed herself. It is assumed she did so because she went insane after escaping Hill House, but Ariel has to know the truth to ease her mind.

At Sara’s place, they run into an archeologist, Richard (Steven Pacey), who has been searching for an ancient relic, the Baphomet, which is said to be an object of pure evil. Richard has been searching for the relic for most of his life and Sara had contacted him with knowledge of its location, thanks to the diaries of Dr. Richard Vannacutt, which were in her possession. Sara was supposedly going to help Richard find it, but Ariel finds that hard to believe because Sara was so afraid of Hill House. Richard leaves them with a warning…be careful. The Baphomet statue is worth millions if it is found. He implies that Sara was murdered by someone greedy enough to kill her for access to the diary.

Paul and Ariel return to her home, and Ariel is in no mood for any company. After they kiss each other goodbye, Ariel enters her house where she finds a package waiting for her. Before Sara died, she sent the diary to Ariel. Outside Ariel’s house, a greedy group of individuals have attacked Paul. When Ariel gets a knock on her door, she thinks its Paul and cannot wait to tell him about the diary. As she opens the door, Paul calls out to her, but he is too late. The group, which is led by Desmond (Erik Palladino) enter Ariel’s home, where they find the diary. They hold the two at gunpoint, making them accompany them to Hill House.

Ariel is convinced the house is haunted, but Desmond is sure it is just in Ariel’s imagination. Besides, he is too greedy (greedy enough to kill) to care if it is haunted or not. Before they get locked in the house (it was an insane asylum so it has a lockdown system that can trap people inside), they are joined by Richard and his assistant, Kyle (Andrew Lee Potts). This is where the real meat of the movie begins.

There are some pretty cool special effects in Return to House on Haunted Hill. The house is, as you probably already guessed, haunted. Desmond’s group starts dying one by one so he sets out to get the relic and get out. He splits up with Ariel, Paul, Kyle, and Richard (who acquired one of Desmond’s guns) who are just trying to get out of the house alive. Richard is sad about not getting the relic, but Ariel convinces him he’ll die otherwise.

Return to House on Haunted Hill has some good moments, some bad moments, and some moments you won’t expect. While this film is an okay sequel, it just doesn’t live up to the enjoyment of the first one. While most of the effects are amazing and the way people die is inventive, there is one scene in particular, which is supposed to be a shining example of special effects (these patients/ghosts had been set on fire) that were so primitive they looked like something from a 1950s horror flick. I was really disappointed by this part of the movie.

Return to House on Haunted Hill is being released by Warner Home Video on October 16, 2007. At a run time of 81 minutes, this film is just long enough that you could watch it and enjoy it for the gore involved in it. However, if you’re looking for something with a stellar plot and exciting action then you might want to pass on this one. Fans of the first movie might enjoy the references to the original, but they might also be disappointed by the fact Return to House on Haunted Hill doesn’t quite live up to par with the House on Haunted Hill.

Despite the fact that this movie was somewhat disappointing, the quality of the movie was good. Warner Home Video, who is releasing Return to House on Haunted Hill, stopped at nothing in the transfer of this film to DVD. Return to House on Haunted Hill is presented in a letterbox widescreen format. The aspect ratio was preserved from that of the theatrical exhibition of the movie. The sound quality is crisp, clear, and audible with just the right amount of sound effects to send chills up and down your spine during certain scenes. It is presented in Dolby Digital 5.0 Surround Sound. This is pretty much the best you can get for any type of DVD quality.

The best part of Return to House on Haunted Hill, was Jeffrey Combs. He’s sadistic, he’s evil, and just looking at him is enough to give you the heebie-jeebies. In this film, you will get to see him do some interesting things to a face, and bash someone until their brains are starting to smear across the wall. You also get a look into his past as victims display the horrors he inflicted upon them during key moments of Return to House on Haunted Hill.

Bottom Line: If you like horror movies, especially gory ones, give Return to House on Haunted Hill a try. It is enjoyable enough that you can watch it, especially if you do not take it too seriously. However, don’t expect this film to be as good as its predecessor. If you can get past that, you will enjoy it.

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