Review of Return to House on Haunted Hill (2007) by Bo K — 29 Oct 2007

What an awful load of shit and garbage and shit thrown in to the garbage to make shit garbage this movie was. I rented it thinking - the first HoHH was flawed, but compelling... maybe the second will stick to themes, and improve on concepts. No such luck, as it was infinitely worse - with huge hits to quality coming on all levels (acting, effects, dialog, editing, general scariness, directing, art direction, etc.). And this degredation was gratuitous, not just an expected 'direct to dvd' natural budgeting downgrade - trust me in that my expectations were fair.

The most awful part of all was that this movie stabs the heart of the franchise, leaving no room for recovery (unless it is completely dropped from continuity). The 'evilness' of the asylum is attributed not to the horrific acts of cruelty and resulting suffering it has seen, but to some fucking statue (a pathetic, children's television style plot device). Simple rule to follow in horror: what we don't understand is scary - what can easily contemplate becomes expected, neutered, joyless, and harmless. Why add an all encompassing explanation, and a lame one at that, when what is truly unnerving originates from the audience's own imagination? Its the difference between Casper the Friendly Ghost and The Grudge I'm talking here.

Whoever the director of this one needs to stick to porn.