House on Haunted Hill 1999

As the clock struck midnight on October 31st, 1931, a sense of chaos erupted at the Vannacutt Psychiatric Institute for the Criminally Insane. Inmates, driven by a primal urge for freedom, rose up against their sadistic captors, led by the notorious Dr. Richard B. Vannacutt. The ensuing prison riot would leave a trail of destruction and death in its wake, engulfing the very building that had once served as a sanctuary for the broken-minded. By the time the flames were extinguished, every last patient had perished, along with all but five of Dr. Vannacutt’s staff.

Fast-forward to 1999, where Evelyn Stockard-Price found herself trapped in a marriage that was rapidly disintegrating. Her husband, Steven Price, an amusement park mogul with a penchant for mischief, seemed more interested in conjuring tricks than salvaging their relationship. It was against this backdrop of domestic discord that Evelyn convinced Steven to stage her birthday party at the long-abandoned Vannacutt hospital. The building’s owner, Watson Pritchett, a man haunted by his own dark past, warned Steven of the property’s cursed nature, having once called it home during its brief tenure as a private residence.

As the night wore on, five unexpected guests arrived at the party: film producer Jennifer Jenzen (or was she?), baseball player Eddie Baker, former television personality Melissa Marr, physician Donald Blackburn, and Pritchett himself. It soon became apparent that neither Evelyn nor Steven had invited these particular individuals, yet they continued to play along with the advertised theme, dangling a tantalizing $1 million prize for each guest who managed to survive until morning’s dawn. Those who fled would forfeit their claim to the prize, leaving it to the remaining guests.

As the night wore on, a sense of unease settled over the partygoers. The building’s security system, seemingly triggered by an unseen force, locked all doors and windows, trapping everyone inside. Steven blamed Evelyn for the malfunction, as tensions between the couple continued to escalate. Amidst the chaos, Jennifer (or was it Sara Wolfe?), Eddie, and Pritchett ventured into the labyrinthine basement in search of the security system’s control panel.

It was during this excursion that Sara confided in Eddie about her true identity - a recently fired assistant to the real Jennifer. Her deception had been motivated by a desire to win the prize money. Little did she know, however, that a malevolent force was lurking beneath the surface, waiting to strike. As they delved deeper into the basement’s depths, Sara found herself on the receiving end of a gruesome attack, nearly drowning in a tank of blood at the hands of an Eddie impersonator. The real Eddie arrived just in time to save her from certain doom.

Melissa would soon vanish without a trace, leaving behind a trail of blood and a camera that captured the horror she had faced. As the night wore on, Steven paid a visit to his assistant Schechter, only to find him brutally mutilated. The surveillance monitor revealed a chilling sight: Dr. Vannacutt’s ghostly visage, armed with a bloody saw, stalked the hospital’s corridors, its presence a harbinger of further terror to come.

As the eerie silence settles over the abandoned asylum, Evelyn’s seemingly lifeless body lies motionless on the electroshock therapy table, a ghastly tableau that sends shivers down the spines of the remaining partygoers. Price, his rage and grief boiling over, brandishes a gun, demanding to know who is responsible for his wife’s apparent demise. But before he can exact revenge, Eddie swiftly intervenes, disarming him and securing Price within an antiquated zoetrope device known as the “Saturation Chamber”, a relic of Vannacutt’s archaic treatment methods for schizophrenia.

As the others depart to leave Price to his own private hell, Blackburn volunteers to stand guard, ensuring that the chamber remains operational. Unbeknownst to him, he is about to unleash a torrent of torment upon Price’s psyche, as the device unleashes a barrage of ghostly hallucinations and moving images, ultimately inducing a seizure in the desperate man.

Meanwhile, Sara and Eddie stumble upon Vannacutt’s office, where they uncover a haunting portrait of the hospital’s former staff. The revelation sparks a chain reaction of discoveries, as they begin to realize that the party guests are, in fact, descendants of the five survivors who narrowly escaped the 1931 inferno. Pritchett cleverly deduces that the spirits themselves manipulated Price’s computer to ensure their inclusion on the guest list – with one notable exception: Blackburn, whose name inexplicably fails to appear among the staff.

As it becomes apparent that Blackburn is Evelyn’s clandestine lover, they concoct a sinister plan to fake her own demise and frame Price for the murders, praying that one of the guests will inadvertently eliminate him in self-defense. But when Evelyn brutally dispatches Blackburn, adding yet another victim to the gruesome tally, she then releases a delirious Price from his tormenting chamber.

Sara, finding herself face-to-face with the bloodied and bedraggled Price, shoots him down. Eddie and Pritchett rush to her aid, whisking her upstairs as Evelyn approaches Price’s lifeless form, reveling in her apparent triumph. But unbeknownst to her, Price dons a bulletproof vest and assumes the guise of death itself, striking back at his tormentor with calculated ferocity.

As they grapple, Evelyn is flung through a crumbling door, revealing the malevolent essence of the house – The Darkness – in all its twisted glory. This shape-shifting entity, comprised of the very spirits that haunt the asylum’s walls, consumes Evelyn, adding her spirit to its ghastly mass. Price then discovers Melissa’s mangled corpse, and his worst fears are realized as The Darkness turns its attention to him.

Pritchett falls prey to the entity’s wrath, giving Price a narrow window of opportunity to flee. He confides in Sara and Eddie that their only hope for escape lies through the attic. As they make their way upward, The Darkness pursues them relentlessly, driven by an insatiable hunger to consume all that remains.

In a desperate bid to give his companions time to escape, Price sacrifices himself, opening a window in the attic that allows Sara to flee – albeit temporarily, as The Darkness seals off her path with an iron gate. Eddie, now trapped, is left to face the darkness alone, as the entity closes in for the kill.

As The Darkness zeroes in on Eddie, a shocking revelation is unearthed: he’s not a direct descendant of the original staff, but rather a product of adoption. In this pivotal moment, Pritchett’s ghost materializes, creaking open the iron gate with an otherworldly presence that momentarily captivates The Darkness. This brief respite provides Eddie the opportunity to make his escape, as the ghost and The Darkness disappear into thin air. As Sara and Eddie bask in the warm glow of dawn’s arrival, they stumble upon a mysterious envelope perched precariously on a ledge, containing the long-awaited checks - all five of them, made payable to cash. With their predicament resolved and fortune within reach, the duo finds themselves stuck atop the house, grappling with the daunting task of finding a safe passage down.

In a haunting post-credits epilogue, the tormented spirits of the 1931 patients reappear in monochromatic hues, exacting a terrible vengeance upon the Prices - a grim reminder that some souls are doomed to suffer eternal torment, trapped in the abyss of the afterlife.