Your Fave Was In That: Jeffrey Combs

I love House on Haunted Hill.  I’ve seen the original, original with RiffTrax, the 1999 remake, and now it’s time to dig into what I’m sure will be a cinematic masterpiece, Return to House on Haunted Hill.   

I also love Jeffrey Combs. In addition to being a brilliant voice actor, he’s basically THE genre character actor. Re-Animator is a lot of people’s favorite horror movie for good reason. It’s just the beginning of a long and diverse career of being a fan-favorite that includes repeated visits to the Star Trek Universe.  But I love him best in horror, so now I get to combine my love of House on Haunted Hill and Jeffery Combs. Win, right?

• Directed By: Víctor Garcia
• Written By: Robb White, William Massa
• Starring: Amanda Righetti, Erik Palladino, Jeffrey Combs

History of the Franchise

The original House is a bit of a murder mystery, as a wealthy feuding couple conspire to have each other killed while partying in a house with a supernatural reputation.  The late 90’s remake kept the warring couple, but amped up the supernatural factor by expanding on the backstory of the house, and adding a ghostly mad doctor, Vannacutt, played by Jeffrey Combs.  I’ve seen that movie several times, so I was ready for the sequel.

Return to House on Haunted Hill was a 2007 direct to DVD release, back when that was a thing. The DVD version included alternate, choose-your-own-adventure-style options for the viewer not available in the streaming cut. It failed to meet sales expectations, and they scrapped plans for a third movie.

Recap and Review – Spoilers Ahead

One of the survivors of the incident in the first movie, Sara, shoots herself after trying unsuccessfully to get ahold of her sister Ariel, played by Amanda Righetti. Ariel was too busy at work to take her calls so, filled with guilt, she goes to Sara’s apartment with her boyfriend Paul to find out what was troubling her.

There, she sees a vision of her sister shooting herself. The ghost of her sister tells her to help “them”.

A professor of history, named Richard Hammer, shows up and tells them that Sara found Dr. Vannacutt’s infamous journal.  Setting aside any unfortunate nicknames here, the modern House movies have a history of naming characters after horror icons. I find it both cheesy and kind of nice. Turns out, Sara was going back to the house to find a valuable, and probably evil, statue of Baphomet.

So Much Information

This lore dump is super-fast; we don’t even have time to react to the ghost of Sara before all this happens. Then we’re back at Ariel’s fancy house, where she has just received a package and learned that someone is following her and Paul. Sara sent her the journal before she died. Before she can read it, the people following her have broken in and taken them hostage.

Turns out these people are treasure hunter Desmond and his mercs. He killed Sara for the journal and faked her suicide. So now it’s been like 10 minutes, and we have a haunted house, mercenary antique dealers, and evil statues. Everyone is bundled up and rushed to the house so they can get to work searching for this statue! Desmond leaves Paul and Samuel, one of the mercs, outside to stand guard while the rest go inside.

Professor Hammer and his students Michelle (who he is sleeping with) and Kyle (who is funny), are also breaking into the house to find the statue. I do love a bad movie with a huge cast. A lot of these people better die horribly enough to justify the unrated label.

But We’re Not Done Yet

The movie does have some clever dialogue as we get to know some of the potential body count. The two grad students are funny in their own way. The mercs have just enough personality to make me want to see them die. The house, a character in its own right, is just as big and imposing as in the first movie. Sadly, the exterior shots look like CGI, which takes away from its imposing nature. Things have to look real to be frightening.

Hammer and Desmond know each other, and it turns out Melissa was working with Desmond the while time.   As the group bickers about her betrayal, the house starts to go into lockdown. Desmond doesn’t believe in the supernatural and seems convinced he can stop it.

But the walls have started bleeding, and the music is getting loud and creepy. So, I’m thinking it’s not looking good.

The mercs stop the lockdown by firing machine guns at iron gears. I’m going to assume ghosts stopped the ricochets. The mechanism breaks and, in fantastic bit of sound editing, lets out a burst of steam that sounds like a scream.

Are You Really Splitting Up?

Hammer reads the journal to find clues about the statue, and the group splits up. Kyle and one of the mercs are a group, while a ghostly nurse tags along with them for funsies. Hammer and Melissa get some alone time to fight about their relationship. It’s a weird bit of character development that really goes nowhere, to the point where it feels like a dropped storyline.  They both seem honestly hurt in their argument; it seems like their relationship should have been deeper, but I don’t think they interact again.

Another merc, Warren, is on his own, which is a terrible idea. He chisels into a wall, and we get our first look at Combs, as the spirts of the house reach through the wall into Warren’s stomach. He sees flashbacks of the horrors the patients experienced as the ghosts rip his organs out. They then pull what’s left of him through the wall.  It’s not a nice moment, but certainly not unrated-worthy.

More Dead Mercs

The female merc, Harue, is also alone in a surgical suite when she is confronted by what is clearly the unrated part of this movie: sexy, naked, lesbian ghosts. Before we venture too far into the realm of titillation, we learn their fate. These were women who were subjected to extreme experiments because of their orientation. This is by far one of the most interesting flashbacks yet, as it touches on a historical horror we’re not that far removed from.

After escaping the women, she encounters the real danger: Vannacutt, who skillfully and honestly comedically, removes her face with a scalpel. As good as the sound effects were earlier, they’re that silly here.  I’m not 100% sold on face removal as being lethal, but since she was left in Vannacutt’s care, whatever happens next wouldn’t be good.

Ariel and Desmond are exploring their hallway when she gets pulled into a patient room to experience more visions of the treatment the patients got, and their eventual revenge on Vannacutt. After seeing this, he still doesn’t believe in ghosts.

Oh, Sheet

Upstairs, Norris and Kyle are waiting for the group when sheets trap Norris and rip his arms apart.  These deaths are happening so quickly. We do get the flashback to their connection to the treatment of patients in the asylum days, but here it feels tenuous at best.  There is a lot of blood, but the unrated cut is underwhelming.

The group gathers to compare notes. Desmond is not convinced that anything supernatural is happening, which at this point just makes him dumb. The lockdown starts again, and Ariel manages to escape, only to discover Paul has been lured into the house.  The house calls her back in.

Bye, Sam

Samuel wanders off, where he meets the ghost nurse who kindly wheels him into the darkness.  Back in the lobby, everyone’s phones start ringing. Dr. Vannacutt is giving Samuel extreme brain surgery, and everyone gets to hear it.  Btw, they are doing all of this to sell the statue for 5 million dollars. Inflation is a bitch.

After a tense standoff, the good guys get the guns and the upper hand. But there are still too many people alive. So, before they can finish their escape plan, they have to bring up finding the idol one last time.  Greed is good.

Hammer manages to turn down temptation, and they make their way to the exit. On their way, they discuss the statue and the theory that it corrupted Vannacutt. Wonder if it’s going to corrupt anyone else?

Do The Math

At this point, there are 30 minutes left in the movie and six people left alive; I need a least three of those people to die to feel like I got my money’s worth out of this.

They have to pass by a water tank used for hydrotherapy.  A fight breaks out again, and Desmond and Melissa end up with the map as unconscious Kyle ends up in the water. Ariel jumps in to save him. As they wait for further rescue, ghosts begin to rise to the surface.

One grabs Ariel, and we see the reality of Vannacutt’s treatment; this was little more than drowning with extra steps. Kyle attacks the spirit to save her and is pulled down into the darkness.  I liked Kyle.

Literally Fridged Her

Desmond and Michelle argue when he becomes paranoid that she is working with someone else. He opens fire on her, sending her running deeper into the house. Michelle is trapped in a room with floating furniture. She is knocked to the ground as the furniture falls around her. Vannacutt appears before the final item can drop: a giant fridge. It lands on her head, ending her. I complained before about the sheets killing Norris but here, we don’t even get a flashback to the asylum days. This is by far the worst death in the movie and completely breaks character for Vannacutt in why he kills.

The same ghost that trapped Ariel before shows her that the only way to escape is to break the statue. Of course, to find the statue they have to crawl through a crematorium. After making their way there, they discover a room with organic tissue growing around it. Hammer immediately becomes captivated by the statue. He snaps out of it but this seems like it’s going to be a problem.  They can’t destroy the statue, so they decide to remove it and get it away from the house using the sewer system.

They pull the statue down, and Vannacutt and Desmond both show up looking for the statue. Desmond finally gets to experience what everyone has been telling him about. Just before the ghosts show up and throw him in an incinerator.

Hammer Time

Paul stays behind to lure the ghosts away. Ariel pauses dramatically before dropping the statue in a sewer grate, giving Hammer enough time to attack her, having fallen under the statue’s influence. Ariel fights him long enough to get through to him again. Just in time for Vannacutt to show up.

Vannacutt throws Ariel around until Hammer intervenes, sacrificing himself but buying her enough time to finally drop the statue through the sewer grate.  Vannacutt looks pissed and then worried, as the sprits he’s held hostage turn on him again before finally vanishing as the house comes out of lockdown.

Ariel and Paul reunite as the sun shines through the now-open doors. Of course, now there is a very evil idol loose in the world. But that’s not their problem.

Is Return to House on Haunted Hill a Good Movie?

No. It’s kinda fun though. The actors are far better than the script, which really fails to deliver on any horror elements. I didn’t hate watching it, but at the same time, I kept thinking of things I would have done differently. My biggest issues are pacing related. There is a focus on set pieces rather than all-pervasive dread, which makes this come across like an action movie, not a horror film.

End Major Spoilers

Was Jeffrey Combs Any Good?

He isn’t given much to do other than stand around looking evil, which he does quite well.  Return to House on Haunted Hill is not the best film to highlight how good his delivery is or the vast range of characters he can play. What it does showcase is how much he can convey without a word of dialogue.  He smirks, glares, and scowls his way through his scenes, delivering wordless menace. This thing I enjoyed the most about his performance is how much Vannacutt seemed to quietly enjoy torturing the mentally ill. This is not a movie that needed gore or nudity. The horror comes from Combs being too pleased with his work.

Navigational Cinema

The movie was written with a branching narrative feature that allowed the viewer to drastically change the outcome of the story. There were up to 96 different endings. As both a former game dev and a writer with experience on chose-your-own-adventure-style books, I can speak to how ambitious undertaking this was. It also makes for a bit of an odd viewing experience on streaming, since some of the better-looking sequences are only in the branching narrative. This could also explain some of the character inconstancies and dropped plot threads.  They put together one “true” path for streaming, but is it the best one? I’m not sure.

Final Thoughts

Overly heavy on plot but low on scares and internally inconsistent, Return to House on Haunted Hill is exactly what I would expect from the direct to DVD days. Which is almost a step up from some streaming fare. The unrated version doesn’t justify its existence with extra content or gore, but it didn’t cost extra. Decent actors make this movie more fun than it should be, even if it under-uses Jeffery Combs.

Return to House on Haunted Hill is available to rent on streaming, but I would try to find the DVD for the Navigational Cinema Features.

Check out other Your Fave Was In that Entries:

• Robert Englund
• Lin Shaye
• Barbara Crampton