Another Dark Castle production, this time a sequel to a remake that nobody asked for in the first place. RETURN TO HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL sees a group of disparate types holing up in a haunted mansion one night, hoping to claim a jackpot but falling foul of the usual malignant spirit forces. This one is even further away from the fun spirit of the Vincent Price original than the first film was.The plot is entirely negligible here except to offer a group of unlikeable characters trapped and wandering around a single location. Evil doctor ghost Jeffrey Combs is the only cast member to return from the original, but he only has a scene or two. Instead, the film offers endless scenes of CGI-augmented gore to the viewer; bodies are pulverised, ripped limb from limb, and people have their faces cut off. It's all unbelievable, unremarkable, and quite uninteresting. The director goes out of his way to scare the viewer with jump scares and CGI ghosties floating about, but overkill is the order of the day here and as a result the film is a bit of a joke.

Eight years after the release of the House on Haunted Hill remake, this little film came to home video. It pretty much is direct-to-video trash, offering a few thrills, but nothing substantial.The best that can be said is that the film has some very wicked scenes of blood and gore, and some rather arousing nude scenes. Unfortunately, the film does drag at spots, and it feels uneven.The film does its best to build on its predecessor, as it uses the same settings, same production design, and going so far as bringing back Jeffrey Combs to play the same bad guy as in the first film. One other valuable aspect is that, as the ghosts kill off all the hapless characters, the film uses some really wicked flashbacks to explore more of the house's violent history.Unfortunately, that's all the good that can be said about it. The film employs some rather dull, lifeless characters who serve as little more than crazy-ghost-fodder. The story doesn't have much of a structure or point at all, and it's especially dumb in the way it explains away the hauntings with a mere demonic statue (which also serves as a rather weak and uninspired McGuffin).The film doesn't look too bad in terms of filming and editing. Acting and writing aren't anything worth praising though. This production has okay-looking sets, props, and costumes, and some rather weak special effects. Music isn't really great either.2.5/5 (Entertainment: Average | Story: Poor | Film: Poor)

As far as cheap, unrelated, straight-to-video sequels to dubious horror classics go, you could probably do a lot worse than this. I mean, obviously it's nowhere near a decent movie, but you still get about what you'd expect. First of all you'll get to see some decent gore scenes, including some dude who gets torn apart by sheets or something like that. It's not a convincing scene, but it is a very entertaining one. Furthermore the main actress appears to be pretty hot, as we learn through about eight hundred close-up shots of her body parts. Subtlety is not this movie's strength, and why the hell should it be? The plot is also really silly, though not always in a good way. Never thought it was possible, but I'm getting kinda sick of secondary characters in horror movies wandering of from the group for absolutely no reason whatsoever. Wow, this house sure is haunted, now to walk into a random hallway all alone without telling anyone. Still, if you happen to fish this out of the bargain bin, I guess there are dumber ways to spend a buck.

Return to House on Haunted Hill is set in Los Angeles where glossy magazine editor Ariel Wolfe (Amanda Righetti) is informed her sister Sara has committed suicide, looking around Sara's apartment Ariel discovers Professor Richard Hammer (Steven Pacey) there who is searching for the journal of a Dr. Vannacutt (Jeffrey Combs) that Sara had & reveals the location of the lost Idol of Baphomet. Back at her house Ariel finds that her sister Sara sent her the journal in the post, thief Desmond Niles (Erik Palladino) also wants the valuable Idol in order to sell it for four million dollars & kidnaps Ariel, her boyfriend Paul (Tom Riley) & takes the journal. The journal reveals that the Idol is hidden in an old mental asylum on a hill that is supposedly haunted, Desmond takes Ariel & his team to the haunted house where the ghosts of abused & murdered patients & Dr. Vannacutt himself kill them off...This direct to video sequel to the modest yet pretty good House on Haunted Hill (1999) was directed by Victor Garcia & is short on plot & depth but as far as gory haunted house horror flicks Return to House on Haunted Hill isn't a bad effort at all. The whole set-up is rather silly with an armed team looking for a valuable Idol, they kill without a second thought so why they just just rob a bank or something, it would be far less complicated than trying to find a lost Idol which may or may not exist & the kidnapping of Ariel, the splitting up of the team & the exposition is clunky. Cut lots of wandering around dark corridors, quick flashes of ghosts & silly jump scares which to be fir are done quite well here & add the cool gore scenes & a touch of nudity the whole thing is reasonably entertaining on a basic level. With a short 80 odd minute duration Return to House on Haunted Hill at least moves at a cracking pace but at the obvious loss of plot & character depth & development as virtually every character has some connection to another but it all comes to nothing, but then if you adjust your expectations accordingly this is a fairly good haunted house flick that is nowhere near a masterpiece but is a good enough film in it's own right. Keep watching as the end credits roll as after they finish there's an extra little scene on a beach that features even more nudity. I actually brought a second hand Blu-Ray of this & it has this option of changing the events of the film by choosing certain things that happen & the box claims there are 96 possible story lines but although a novel idea I am not sure if I would have the patience to find them all out.The connections to the original House on Haunted Hill don't really go beyond the setting, the ghosts of mental patients doing nasty things to people & of course Dr. Vannacutt reappears. The real highlight of Return to House on Haunted Hill are the gore scenes, available in 'R' rated & 'Unrated' versions make sure you get the Unrated cut as it contains more gore including a man pulled into a very small hole & gets bent in two, a face is sliced off in a cool bit, someone is ripped apart, there's blood & guts, heads are bashed in, people with half their heads missing & the real highlight is when a guy has the top of his head sliced off exposing his brain before Dr. Vannacutt rips it clean out of his skull. There's some nudity too with what starts out as a threesome with some good looking girls turning nasty as two of the turn into rotting naked zombies. I did like the exploitation & gore elements of Return to House on Haunted Hill & it's a shame that more time & effort wasn't put into the treasure hunt for the Idol & the little back-stories, divided loyalties, rivalries & back stabbing that went with it. The CGI computer effects are decent & there's a good atmosphere as a lot of it takes place in a period asylum with dark dank corridors, rooms full of menacing & dangerous looking medical instrument's & the nice period exterior design of the building is cool as well.Probably shot on a decent if not exactly big budget Return to House on Haunted Hill is set in Los Angeles but was filmed in Sofia in Bulgaria. The acting is alright, I mean there's nothing great here but it's alright.Return to House on Haunted Hill is a decent little haunted house horror flick with pleasing amounts of blood, gore & nudity. This was a watchable enough film if you don't expect too much depth. The Blu-Ray has these alternate storyline feature which sounds alright if a little limited.