It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

The remake of House on Haunted Hill was enjoyable. It had all the elements of a good horror movie, not to mention pretty good acting, especially by Rush.This sequel to that film was unnecessary and rather absurd.Spoilers below:If you saw the remake (and if you haven't, why would you be reviewing its sequel?), then you know the back-story about the asylum, which was perfect. This film just stretches for a reason to put people back in the house and then proceeds to kill them all off, except for 2...just like the original. They add a few things, like interactive ghosts (a couple of lesbians, a shirtless inmate, etc). The idea behind this was to tell more of the story about the abuses that Dr. Vannicut was guilty of. Not a bad plot element but completely different from what occurred in the first film.We do get to see a little more of the house, but it would have been cool to revisit some of the scenes from the first film (other than the entry room). It might have been creepy to see the blood-soaked medical room where Blackburn met his end, but still, the tour of the rest of the house was interesting.The first film's haunting wasn't concerned with sending a message to the living, the ghosts/entity was only concerned with consuming more souls. Additionally, the house in the first movie was alive and it was evil. In this movie, it wants to be saved from the mysterious source of that evil, which is an ancient demon relic. I felt like this completely ruined it. You want to leave some amount of mystery. I felt that Vannicut's crimes were enough to manifest the evil spirit of the house and there didn't need to be any "evil relic" that once removed would free the spirits. That's a tired trope of the horror genre and it failed in this film. The previous film got it just right.Over all, I wouldn't include this movie in a list of horror films I will never watch again, but it certainly isn't one of my favorites. If you haven't seen this yet, it is worth watching, if only for the cheap thrills; to be sure there is plenty of gore and ghosts, but don't expect anything that will blow you away.

When it comes to horror movies I'm something of a completist, I like to know WHY what's going on is going on. Hence I like 'Jason Goes to Hell' because we finally have an explanation for the Friday the 13th movies, I like 'The Curse of Michael Myers' because it finally gives an explanation for the Halloween series, 'Freddy's Dead' because it explains Nightmare on Elm Street etc I like this film for the same reason, in the first I wondered why all this was happening, in this film we have an explanation. Amidst all the gore and lesbian sex we actually have a moral fable, the doctor, his assistants and patients were never actually evil, they were possessed by the statue and that's why the house retains the ghosts. It always puzzles me in films when someone comes back from the dead to wreak vengeance why their victim's don't do the same against them (although Jeffery Rush's ghost in the original does do that to an extent, helping the survivors escape perhaps before he is corrupted by the evil of the house?)Good points? Some gorgeous girls, some truly frightening shocks and gore, a nice ending, not twee or OTT but believable, making sense within the scenario and you're happy for the survivors. The house is still an awesome set and looks great. Bad points? Jeffery Combs aside some pretty terrible acting and the scene where they decide to Scooby-Doo style split up and search for clues is ridiculous. I don't understand why they felt it necessary to confirm that Eddie and Sara escaped at the end of the first film and then arbitrarily kill off Sara off-screen 8 years later and introduce her sister as the main protagonist. Why not just bring back Sara? I always think if people survive one film they should be allowed to survive them all. Are we to believe that the ghosts were able to restrain themselves whilst the police carried out their investigation or had their evil been sated by their victims at the time? It also seems to be that people can just walk into it, shouldn't the house at least be locked up? The line I always expected was for someone to say they didn't fear death but feared dying in the house and having their soul trapped and corrupted there. So frankly if you watched the first film you should definitely watch this one for completeness sake if nothing else

Horror sequels are generally lazy attempts to cash in on a popular film's name, but "Return to House on Haunted Hill" hits a low that most franchises don't dip to until the fourth or fifth installment.After using a paper-thin premise to get a new lot of victims (complete with Geoffrey Rush and Famke Janssen wannabes) into the murderous house, the film dispenses with all attempts at characterization or suspense-building. Instead, it cuts straight to overacted deaths, lesbian ghosts, Mexican standoffs, and dialogue so bad hitting "mute" improves the film.Unfortunately, the money saved on screenwriters was not spent on special effects. Where the original film had half-seen figures jerkily moving across a screen in ways people don't, this has curvy girls in Halloween face paint that wouldn't have passed muster in 1982, pretending to be turned on and overcaffeinated.Upside: no 'cat scares.' Downside: no other scares, either.The filmmakers have no clue how to build tension by teasing viewers with hints and threats and things unseen, and instead just throw terrible effects on the screen every couple of minutes, or jump around to black-&-white footage of what they think passes for back story.Don't buy it. Don't watch it. For the love of all that is horror, don't encourage these hacks.

Return to House on Haunted Hill is set in Los Angeles where glossy magazine editor Ariel Wolfe (Amanda Righetti) is informed her sister Sara has committed suicide, looking around Sara's apartment Ariel discovers Professor Richard Hammer (Steven Pacey) there who is searching for the journal of a Dr. Vannacutt (Jeffrey Combs) that Sara had & reveals the location of the lost Idol of Baphomet. Back at her house Ariel finds that her sister Sara sent her the journal in the post, thief Desmond Niles (Erik Palladino) also wants the valuable Idol in order to sell it for four million dollars & kidnaps Ariel, her boyfriend Paul (Tom Riley) & takes the journal. The journal reveals that the Idol is hidden in an old mental asylum on a hill that is supposedly haunted, Desmond takes Ariel & his team to the haunted house where the ghosts of abused & murdered patients & Dr. Vannacutt himself kill them off...This direct to video sequel to the modest yet pretty good House on Haunted Hill (1999) was directed by Victor Garcia & is short on plot & depth but as far as gory haunted house horror flicks Return to House on Haunted Hill isn't a bad effort at all. The whole set-up is rather silly with an armed team looking for a valuable Idol, they kill without a second thought so why they just just rob a bank or something, it would be far less complicated than trying to find a lost Idol which may or may not exist & the kidnapping of Ariel, the splitting up of the team & the exposition is clunky. Cut lots of wandering around dark corridors, quick flashes of ghosts & silly jump scares which to be fir are done quite well here & add the cool gore scenes & a touch of nudity the whole thing is reasonably entertaining on a basic level. With a short 80 odd minute duration Return to House on Haunted Hill at least moves at a cracking pace but at the obvious loss of plot & character depth & development as virtually every character has some connection to another but it all comes to nothing, but then if you adjust your expectations accordingly this is a fairly good haunted house flick that is nowhere near a masterpiece but is a good enough film in it's own right. Keep watching as the end credits roll as after they finish there's an extra little scene on a beach that features even more nudity. I actually brought a second hand Blu-Ray of this & it has this option of changing the events of the film by choosing certain things that happen & the box claims there are 96 possible story lines but although a novel idea I am not sure if I would have the patience to find them all out.The connections to the original House on Haunted Hill don't really go beyond the setting, the ghosts of mental patients doing nasty things to people & of course Dr. Vannacutt reappears. The real highlight of Return to House on Haunted Hill are the gore scenes, available in 'R' rated & 'Unrated' versions make sure you get the Unrated cut as it contains more gore including a man pulled into a very small hole & gets bent in two, a face is sliced off in a cool bit, someone is ripped apart, there's blood & guts, heads are bashed in, people with half their heads missing & the real highlight is when a guy has the top of his head sliced off exposing his brain before Dr. Vannacutt rips it clean out of his skull. There's some nudity too with what starts out as a threesome with some good looking girls turning nasty as two of the turn into rotting naked zombies. I did like the exploitation & gore elements of Return to House on Haunted Hill & it's a shame that more time & effort wasn't put into the treasure hunt for the Idol & the little back-stories, divided loyalties, rivalries & back stabbing that went with it. The CGI computer effects are decent & there's a good atmosphere as a lot of it takes place in a period asylum with dark dank corridors, rooms full of menacing & dangerous looking medical instrument's & the nice period exterior design of the building is cool as well.Probably shot on a decent if not exactly big budget Return to House on Haunted Hill is set in Los Angeles but was filmed in Sofia in Bulgaria. The acting is alright, I mean there's nothing great here but it's alright.Return to House on Haunted Hill is a decent little haunted house horror flick with pleasing amounts of blood, gore & nudity. This was a watchable enough film if you don't expect too much depth. The Blu-Ray has these alternate storyline feature which sounds alright if a little limited.