The sister of the survivor from the first film must go to the house on haunted hill... (technically, the only people returning are us, since all the characters are new). She has a connection to the house (much like her sister did) and the inmates there. Also, a professor and a bounty hunter are in search of an ancient relic.

I will say that the plot was good. There was an actual reason to go in the house, and I found it plausible -- well worth waiting nearly a decade for a sequel. The working in of the Knights Templar and the Baphomet statue was very nice, and will appeal to those who like the occult. I imagine a lot of horror fans also enjoy the works of Eliphas Levi and Aleister Crowley and will feel at home with the references -- it was certainly nothing new to me. (Although, historically, the Knights did not really worship Baphomet as the myth goes.)

Jeffrey Combs returns, and has a sizable role here. Not a large role, no real dialogue, but more than the five minutes he's had in other films the past few years ("Satanic" comes to mind). So his fans will appreciate that. And if you're a horror fan, you're probably a Combs fan. That man has really milked his success ever since 1986's "Re-Animator" and I see no signs of it slowing down yet. Put his name on the cover of a film and I'll rent it.

This film's strength is in the plot, and somewhat so in the acting. The characters are nothing special (they all have very one-dimensional motives) but they are acted superbly. Many will also enjoy the high blood content -- a man gets quartered, for example. And that's not the worst of it. There's even a death by refrigerator! Not quite creative on the level of, say, "Superstition" or even "2001 Maniacs", but not bad.

All you really need to know is if you liked the first film, you'll love this. Many reviewers have commented this is the better of the two, and I'm inclined to agree (although I'll still watch the original Vincent Price version over either of them). Solid story, good acting, blood... this is a horror film that goes above and beyond the typical straight-to-video schlock.

You can have all the CGI effects you want and ear busting sound effects, but if you don't have a decent script or likable characters, you don't have a film and in the case of this direct-to-video sequel to a 1999 pointless remake of a classic horror film, what you get is a film that is easy to hate from the very start. I saw the remix when it first was released on video, and found it disturbingly gross and pointless and filled with anger.

This long unneeded sequel is 10 times as bad, filled with lousy acting and characters so deserving I'm being pushed into the vat of acid from the original film that you feel you might want to stick around you just to see it. But is it really worth the waste of your not your time? That question is in the eye of the viewer, and I try to give a film at least an hour before I decide if I want to proceed towards that conclusion.

This film doesn't last much more than an hour and even then, it is difficult and all of the characters just makes you hate it all the more. It doesn't have anything that you haven't seen in a mockbuster made by the hideous direct-to-video movie studio Asylum, and watching this makes you wish you were in one to where you didn't have access to horrible movies like this. The film doesn't have any motivation other than to gross-out the viewer, and with nothing a value, it isn't even worth using as a hot drink coaster. Simply skip it and go back and see the original 1959 version which may be campy and unintentionally funny but it's at least entertaining. This film is pure compost.

The editor of a fashion magazine Ariel Wolfe (Amanda Righetti) receives many calls from her sister Sara, but she does not return. When Sara is found dead, apparently after committing suicide, Ariel goes to her apartment with her friend and photographer Paul (Tom Riley). She meets Professor Richard (Steven Pacey),who is seeking Sara's journal to find a lead to the statue of the evil god Baphomet for a museum. Later, Ariel and Paul are kidnapped by the gang of the treasure hunter Desmond (Erik Palladino),who intends to find and sell the statue to a private collector for five million dollars. They go to the house, where they meet Richard, his assistant Kyle (Andrew Lee Potts) and the student Michelle (Cerina Vincent),but the criminals dominate the group. However, the house suddenly closes all the exits and they find trapped inside with vision of ghosts that are reliving their final moments in the place they died.

"Return to House on Haunted Hill" is another "trapped in a haunted house" predictable and forgettable movie. The story uses the same common clichés and it is very easy to foresee the next sequence. The unknown Amanda Righetti and the sexy Cerina Vincent are extremely gorgeous and have good performances in the role of the heroine Ariel and the treacherous Michelle. The cult Jeffrey Combs has a ham performance in the role of the sadistic and evil Dr. Richard Benjamin Vannacutt. The special effects are great but the cinematography and the sound effects are annoying. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "De Volta a Casa da Colina" ("Return to the House on the Hill")