Retour à la maison de l'horreur

Blood and guts everywhere... "What is this stuff?" "It appears to be organic."

It's direct to video and all the common flaws are present... silly dialog, layers upon layers of clichés, dramatic lines delivered flatly, characters acting like stupid characters in a horror movie rather than like real people and logical inconsistencies in the plot (why would the ghosts direct you to do something and then attack you once you've done it?).

Amanda Righetti delivers her lines flatly and was apparently hired as a Jennifer Garner lookalike rather than for her acting ability. Cerina Vincent manages to shine so dreary is the remainder of the cast. Jefferey Combs is given so little to do that anyone capable of fogging a mirror could have performed as admirably.

The special effects are good for a direct to video production. Nothing you're going to remember but nothing you'll criticize too harshly. The plot, oh who cares, you aren't really watching this for the plot are you? Garcia is a special effects director and it shows as the film basically moves from one special effects scene to the next at the expense of a coherent storyline. The movie does have some good gore and manages to be mildly entertaining.

Apparently the HD-DVD version has an interactive menu system that allows you to choose some actions of the characters. I can't imagine it being anything but a gimmick with little effect on the storyline but here's hoping.

Stay through the end credits.

A very poor update of the classic i have a few problems with this film -The doctor was seen too much, i feel in the original his presence was more weird, unknown and frightening, in this one he even talks..lame! -Effects were overused and looked unrealistic, along with an annoying squelching sound that wasn't really scary, more like squeezing silly putty. CAuses of death were unimaginative and to quick.

-NO suspense -Cliches made me cringe , use of firearms was as messed up as ever. the use of an special team was also kinda gay.

I would usually really like a movie like this but i was not scared and could not get involved with the movie on any level. what the director was thinking i will never know. the original had suspense, slow, scary atmosphere and scary medical equipment. this movie = cow pat

Survivor Sara Wolfe from the 1st movie dies in an apparent suicide. Her sister Ariel (Amanda Righetti) wants to find the cause of her sister's obsession. Professor Richard is seeking a statue of the evil Baphomet. They get kidnapped by a group of treasure hunters looking for the same statue.

The story isn't that great. It's messy and filled with unlikeable characters. The gore and the grotesque do make it a different movie than the original. The first one was more of a cartoon. This one is much more uglier and grittier. The FX works quite well. The one thing that's obviously inferior is the caliber of actors. This is strictly straight to video. I cared nothing about the characters, but I liked the FX.

While special effects were pretty outstanding the over use of them, in my opinion made the sequel much weaker than the original. I also felt the character development was a bit shy of interesting. I can't help but compare it to the original which also had spectacular effects however hit a higher level of suspense in between the more gruesome scenes, also the sex, in particular that which went on in one pretty gross lesbian scene with mutilated ghosts, really served no purpose in my mind to the general plot which is of course about helping out the poor trapped souls, who still long for release from the insane asylum doctor's fortress on the hill. There was a lot less use of the simple terrifying look of vintage medical equipment and an old asylum in this film as well although there were glimpses of the old asylum which had a lot of lighting designed much later than the art-deco period the hospital was supposedly from. All in all I think there were some good actors practicing their craft and a weak location with a lot of skilled prop people trying to take the viewer to a scary old hospital. It must have been tough following the previous cast which had a real Oscar winner on board. This film is way to gruesome for the kids, and if you were impressed with the first one you may be a little disappointed with this obviously lower budget sequel. Still it was something to watch.

The editor of a fashion magazine Ariel Wolfe (Amanda Righetti) receives many calls from her sister Sara, but she does not return. When Sara is found dead, apparently after committing suicide, Ariel goes to her apartment with her friend and photographer Paul (Tom Riley). She meets Professor Richard (Steven Pacey), who is seeking Sara's journal to find a lead to the statue of the evil god Baphomet for a museum. Later, Ariel and Paul are kidnapped by the gang of the treasure hunter Desmond (Erik Palladino), who intends to find and sell the statue to a private collector for five million dollars. They go to the house, where they meet Richard, his assistant Kyle (Andrew Lee Potts) and the student Michelle (Cerina Vincent), but the criminals dominate the group. However, the house suddenly closes all the exits and they find trapped inside with vision of ghosts that are reliving their final moments in the place they died.

"Return to House on Haunted Hill" is another "trapped in a haunted house" predictable and forgettable movie. The story uses the same common clichés and it is very easy to foresee the next sequence. The unknown Amanda Righetti and the sexy Cerina Vincent are extremely gorgeous and have good performances in the role of the heroine Ariel and the treacherous Michelle. The cult Jeffrey Combs has a ham performance in the role of the sadistic and evil Dr. Richard Benjamin Vannacutt. The special effects are great but the cinematography and the sound effects are annoying. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "De Volta a Casa da Colina" ("Return to the House on the Hill")