RiffTrax: House on Haunted Hill - from the stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000! $9.95
If an eccentric millionaire were to offer you a large sum of money to you spend a night in a haunted house, you might think to yourself, "How did I wind up in an episode of Scooby Doo? Or perhaps a Simpson's Halloween special? Or any one of the countless other TV shows or movies that have employed this hackneyed plot device?" But every cliche has its origins somewhere, and House on Haunted Hill may be the very first movie where a random assortment of guests are summoned to a haunted house. In this case, the haunted house just happens to reside in the Haunted Hill district of town, and it's presided over by a ghoulish master of ceremonies played by Vincent Price. Murder, mayhem and clumsy romance ensue. Fortunately, three of the guests at this party are Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett of RiffTrax.com and Mystery Science Theater 3000 fame, on hand to heckle the House on Haunted Hill!
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Last updated: August 22, 2009, 7:55 am
RiffTrax: House on Haunted Hill - from the stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000! Cusomter reviews:
Average Rating: 4.5 Total Reviews: 3
(Michael Valdivielso, 2009-08-18) House In Haunted Hill is the first of many movies by that name. The plot is simple, we all know it. People are invited to stay in a haunted house and will get paid 10,000 dollars if they last the night. Vincent Price is in it and I happen to like him, so that's good. Now, if you want you can watch the movie as is OR switch to the commentary with Mike Nelson, Bill Corbett and Kevin Murphy, who I think also does the little song they play over the DVD menu. They really do a good job, with all kinds of cultural references. One of the characters, for example, is named Nora. So of course they tossed in a Thin Man reference. There is also a Scooby Doo reference that made me choke on my food. Warning: don't eat food while watching this DVD. The characters are kind of stupid when you think about it - would it not be better to just all stay in the same room for the next six hours or so? Why this need to split up and make it easier to kill people? Don't they watch horror movies? I didn't notice anything that would make this unsuitable for kids, no adult language or adult jokes. It is kind of a cross between the Film Crew and MST3K. They play themselves and seem to keep it clean. Mostly clean. Somewhat clean.
(Petite Fleur, 2009-07-24) As a fan of old black and white "B" horror movies, I've always loved "House on Haunted Hill." It's pretty lame by today's blood & gore standards, but I saw it as a kid and found it scarey. I have quite a few DVD's of this movie, bought for a mere $1 during Halloween. That said, I'm also a fan of the good-ole MST3K nitwits, and this was my first Rifftrax rental. Don't expect the MST3K stuff like skits, shadows of the guys watching the movie, or even an introduction! The movie starts and the guys immediately riff in the background. You simply just HEAR, but never see them! When the movie ends, they sign off. I thought the riffing was good, especially for the two lame-brained leads who (of course) always place themselves in danger. "Lance" is always just one step away from the next concussion. They barely touch Vincent Price, but he's such a good actor and one of my favorites, so that's okay with me. I'm happy to hear the guys, even if I can't see them. That's probably why the Rifftrax DVD's are more affordable.
(David Starner, 2009-07-01) This is a nice high-quality DVD of House on Haunted Hill. It was touch spartan; there's no subtitles of either the movie or the riffing, there's no MST3K-style video introduction (which would have been nice; would it have been hard to put a five minute pre-movie warmup, using whatever set came to hand), there's no shadows on the screen (which I've seen done with just subtitles, on the Ghostbusters DVD, IIRC), and there's not even a coming/available advertisement. There's just the movie, and two soundtracks, one with and one without riffing. As for the meat of the material, House on Haunted Hill is a fairly classic old movie and moderately riffable. I'd place the riffs here about average for an MST3K and there was enough classic horror movie shtics and movie-specific jokes to make it worth my while. But it is a good classic horror movie, and well worth your time watching it unMST3Ked before ruining all the surprises in the comedic mode. If you've got the DVD and haven't seen the movie, take the time to watch the original first.