30 Day Horror Challenge: Day 17

As a rule, I generally dislike remakes. Rarely do they offer any value other than to provide jobs for out of work actors. The recent trend of remaking any film that has ever been mildly successful makes me want to vomit. Some of these remakes are tolerable, but most I can definitely avoid. The remake of Halloween was tolerable. I liked the back story angle to flesh out Michael as a child, but it also took away what made the character scary. The Friday the 13th remake was pretty decent, but I would have rather seen the story continue on Earth 2. I couldn't make it through the Texas Chainsaw remake. The Elm Street remake was very decent, but Robert Englund's shoes are really tough to fill. To make a remake work, it has to improve upon a bad film. Otherwise, what's the point? You're better off watching a sequel.

Your favorite horror film remake.

The House On Haunted Hill (1999)

The original movie was a little boring and the story was a little cheesy. The only thing that the original had going for it was Vincent Price. I love Vincent Price, but let's face it, he's been in his fair share of stinkers. The original wasn't his worst film, but there was a lot of material that needed improvement.

The remake takes the original premise, recasts it and updates the story to modern day. In and of itself, this is not a drastic improvement. What works here is the special effects. The original would have been a much better movie if there was an effects budget that didn't smell of a seventies UHF channel Saturday matinee movie.

Inspired casting choices include Jeffrey Combs (Re-Animator), Geoffrey Rush (Quills), Peter Gallagher (American Beauty) and yes, even Chris Kattan (SNL). The film takes place in an abandoned asylum with a shady past. Of course someone want sto throw a lavish party in the location and a million dollar jackpot is offered to anyone who could stay the night.

Each guest was invited for a specific reason, but not to attend a party. The party is locked inside for the evening and the fun ensues. Who's responsible? Does anyone get the million dollars?

"Congratulations. On a scale of one to ten on the perversity meter you just hit a seventy three."