The house is back to capture and kill everyone who inhabits it. This time the people visiting the house are on a hunt for hidden treasure, driven by money, just like before. More monsters, and flashbacks into the all their deaths. The main character is the daughter of one of the survivors in the prequel. The movie isn't as scary as the previous one, not at all.

The scenes are more gory, the events all take place quickly after one another and the house seems less insane than it did previously, now it's just haunted, and with a good will. The ghosts aren't ghosts, they're walking corpses, solid figures. Through the story all the events are explained, the people on the treasure hunt try to give reasons as to why things happened as they did, and the crazy doctor himself doesn't seem as mad as he did before.

Everything is nicely filmed, and sure, it has some horrifying moments in it, but basically it's just the first part once more, with everything different. The creators have been careful to switch all previous styles of murder, methods of escapes and means of intrusion to something new, and it just makes everything so predictable, all except the ending. The characters have shallow personalities, the storyline is a simple one and it just doesn't have the same amount of suspense as the prequel.

In this one it's just all blood, guts and murder. Feels like they made a sequel based simply on popular demand, the new one is just here to sell and generate cash, not to terrify or inspire. No creativity in this one. The atmosphere isn't the same as in the first, it's much brighter, much clearer, and the special effects seem even crappier than they did in the last one. Even the music has a more adventurous style to it, not one of despair and darkness. If you've seen the prequel, don't expect much of this. If you haven't seen the first one however, this will probably give a you a great deal of entertainment. It's a good movie, just not a good sequel. Sequels are supposed to be better.

At the very least, they're supposed to be as good as the original.

 rated 3/5: not bad

June, 2021

I watched the first House on Haunted Hill again recently, and was positively surprised that it held up almost beyond my expectation/memories of it even to this day, even if the final special effects maybe didn't. Figured I'd see this one again too. Maybe I'd feel similarly. I remember feeling like it was just sub-par, a disappointment after the original, but...

It was.

They didn't capture the atmosphere at all. Lousy scripting. Simple special effects. An added sense of clarity or need for elaboration that sometimes goes too far and destroys the atmosphere. Focus on the grotesque to the point that it's shock value over horror. But the sensual bits... they did manage those pretty well. You can see some of the main bit above. Sex appeal though. That sells too. There's more of that than there used to be, though now in a direct and often much less classy/suitable way for a movie of the sort. And what happened to the Asian lady? Did she escape? I don't remember her getting killed at all.

I do appreciate the double ending though. I appreciate some bits here more than I remember. The filming wasn't bad, just sub-par compared to the previous. The experience just nowhere near as memorable as it was the first time around. Cliche much. Unfortunately. That's where it ends.

 rated 3/5: not bad