The House on Haunted Hill vs. The Haunting
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Two of the worst films I have ever seen.
The Haunting had CZJ going for it, but even her "cool" hottie act failed to keep my attention from straying to the pair of ants engaged in mortal combat mere feet from my couch. The DVD has some good extras, but they are negated by the tragedy that is the film.
HOHH was truly repugnant. One of the single worst movies I've seen, with gratuitous gore and MTV flash. I saw it on a plane. I survived the fuzzy pink salmon mousse, but the film made me ill. Utter shizite.
The Haunting had CZJ going for it, but even her "cool" hottie act failed to keep my attention from straying to the pair of ants engaged in mortal combat mere feet from my couch. The DVD has some good extras, but they are negated by the tragedy that is the film.
HOHH was truly repugnant. One of the single worst movies I've seen, with gratuitous gore and MTV flash. I saw it on a plane. I survived the fuzzy pink salmon mousse, but the film made me ill. Utter shizite.
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HoHH wins, IMO...
The Haunting tried too hard to be a 'serious'
horror movie, whereas HoHH just sat back, let a bit o' camp roll, and managed to be a fun experience, with a couple of good jump-scares thrown in for good measure. Some of the dialogue is atrocious, but I recommend it as a purchase, especially now that the MSRP has dropped to $9.99 (!).
I didn't find either film to be particularly scary.
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The Haunting tried too hard to be a 'serious'
horror movie, whereas HoHH just sat back, let a bit o' camp roll, and managed to be a fun experience, with a couple of good jump-scares thrown in for good measure. Some of the dialogue is atrocious, but I recommend it as a purchase, especially now that the MSRP has dropped to $9.99 (!).
I didn't find either film to be particularly scary.
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Isn't this kind of like asking "Which would you rather have: Leprosy or Ebola?"
Both films are terrible, especially if you compare them to the original versions. If forced to pick, I would say that "House On Haunted Hill" was the better movie, as it wasted the talents of only one talented actor (Geoffrey Rush), while "The Haunting" wasted the talents of three talented actors (Lili Taylor, Liam Neeson, and Owen Wilson).
jim
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Both films are terrible, especially if you compare them to the original versions. If forced to pick, I would say that "House On Haunted Hill" was the better movie, as it wasted the talents of only one talented actor (Geoffrey Rush), while "The Haunting" wasted the talents of three talented actors (Lili Taylor, Liam Neeson, and Owen Wilson).
jim
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"I don't mind if you don't like my manners. I don't like them myself. They're pretty bad. I grieve over them on long winter evenings."
-The Big Sleep (1946)
#6
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First, let me say that both remakes pale terribly in comparison with the originals. Though of the two remakes, HOuse is better than The Haunting. I thought that the opening scene of House was pretty unsettling. The first 1/2 - 3/4 of the film was very good, IMO. Geoffrey Rush was outstandingly hilarious as a Vincent Price-esque character. (I'd love to see Rush play other Price roles...with better scripts than the House remake) The last quarter pretty much destroyed what had been built up to that point. So instead of an admirable remake, we get current day trash.
As for The Haunting all I can say is that it looks like someone got a new CGI workstation and had some spare time on their hands.
As for The Haunting all I can say is that it looks like someone got a new CGI workstation and had some spare time on their hands.
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If i had to kill myself with a gun or a sword, i would pick the gun... thus, HoHH. it had fun with it.. the haunting was just boring as hell
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quote:<HR>Originally posted by Jackskeleton:
If i had to kill myself with a gun or a sword, i would pick the gun... thus, HoHH. it had fun with it.. the haunting was just boring as hell<HR>
I agree, The Haunting is a total borefest!
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#10
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They both sucked as remakes!!I liked the originals better!!Even though they had state of the art special effects. the story in each movie could not save from becoming a big special effects movie!!
#11
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Neither were good movies, but I found HOHH to be the more entertaining of the two. As someone said earlier, it didn't take itself too serioiusly, while the haunting did. That made The haunting seem much dumber than HOHH. Also, HOHH was a little scarier. Not that the Haunting was scary (it wasn't in the least), but HOHH had some unsettling images. While the Haunting had boring, non-believable CGI effects. Not scary at all.
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At least HoHH was only a re-make of a William Castle B-picture, that was produced quickly and cheaply as a programmer. Not to say that I didn’t like the Price version, it has some wonderfully crisp black and white photography and an archetypal performance from Vincent Price who is always good value and interested parties should check out The Tingler also available in anamorphic widescreen on DVD. The remake was entertaining in a throwaway manner but done with enough wit and verve (great "House on the Hill") to transcend it’s MTV style by throwing in a few twists that even folks who had seen the original wouldn’t have known about. Geoffrey Rush was a truly inspired choice in the Price role and his relish in playing the part was obvious.
The Haunting by Jan one-hit wonder De Bont however , laughably tried to re-make one of the best, if not the best, haunted house movies ever. To list all the reasons why this tragic re-make was bad could fill a 400 page book, suffice it to say a good rule of thumb is, if Catherine Zeta Jones is in it you know there’s a 90% chance of it being a stinker. I’m only saying that because Mask of Zorro was pretty entertaining but hardly purely because of her decorative contribution. My personal take is that the only reason some people like The Haunting was because it’s available as a DTS disc and reportedly is excellent demo material. Well I’m sorry but this movie isn’t even fit for landfill and that they had the temerity to even call it The Haunting angers me greatly. If for no other reason than the appalling CG work at the end and the ridiculous "scary" portrait, this film doth verily suck like no other.
Ironic that the remake of what was more or less a drive in flick ends up being easily superior to a remake of an all-time cinema classic.
I guess the moral is you can’t improve something that’s already perfect.
[This message has been edited by jonathan.e (edited September 29, 2000).]
The Haunting by Jan one-hit wonder De Bont however , laughably tried to re-make one of the best, if not the best, haunted house movies ever. To list all the reasons why this tragic re-make was bad could fill a 400 page book, suffice it to say a good rule of thumb is, if Catherine Zeta Jones is in it you know there’s a 90% chance of it being a stinker. I’m only saying that because Mask of Zorro was pretty entertaining but hardly purely because of her decorative contribution. My personal take is that the only reason some people like The Haunting was because it’s available as a DTS disc and reportedly is excellent demo material. Well I’m sorry but this movie isn’t even fit for landfill and that they had the temerity to even call it The Haunting angers me greatly. If for no other reason than the appalling CG work at the end and the ridiculous "scary" portrait, this film doth verily suck like no other.
Ironic that the remake of what was more or less a drive in flick ends up being easily superior to a remake of an all-time cinema classic.
I guess the moral is you can’t improve something that’s already perfect.
[This message has been edited by jonathan.e (edited September 29, 2000).]
#15
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I think that House on Haunted Hill is a very cool movie. Good creepy visuals. Too bad the ending went way off the rails. Still a good movie and worth owning. It's a very fun movie to watch with friends.
I guess I'm a ***** , but I thought that it was rather scary the first time I saw it.
The Haunting just plain down sucks. Damn addiction made me buy it.
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I guess I'm a ***** , but I thought that it was rather scary the first time I saw it.
The Haunting just plain down sucks. Damn addiction made me buy it.
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