There was no Preshow Entertainment, but the Random Movie was... THE HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL.
This is the 1999 version. One of 3 movies (THE HAUNTING, 13 GHOSTS) to come out in a 2 year time period about a haunted house, and they're all remakes. THE HAUNTING sucked. I haven't seen 13 GHOSTS, but hear it was equally as bad. But HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL was a pleasant surprise. Geoffrey "I won awards for playing David Helfgott in SHINE and now I'm doing this?" Rush stars as an amusement park owner/designer with a taste for faking disasters. His ex, Famke Janssen, a cold hearted bitch, and others are all sealed in a house located on a hill, hence the title. It's a former asylum where catastrophe struck years ago, killing all of the inhabitants. Now these people get to spend the night so they can win a million bucks. But will they all make it? Of course not, you idiot. What kind of movie would that be?
Well, it was actually a fun movie. I think we all gave it a thumbs up. Probably because it was a movie that knew what it was, and didn't try and be more. It was not heavy handed. There were cheesy effects that seem to have worked. There was Peter Gallagher in Clark Kent glasses. There was Taye Diggs playing the black slang. There was Max Perlich, one of our most underrated actors, working.
SPOILER! The biggest shock in the movie was that Chris Kattan didn't suck. He was actually, oh, okay, I'll just bite my lip and say it. He was funny. He played the part of Robert Downey, Jr. playing the part of the person who brings them to the house and gets stuck there with them.
Now, of course, I want to see the original 1958 version (I bet I did, I just can't remember) starring Vincent Price (The Price character played by Rush is named Steven Price).
