While exploring the labyrinthine basement, Jennifer confesses to Eddie that her real name is Sara Wolfe, the recently fired assistant to the real Jennifer. Jennifer, Eddie and Pritchett search the basement for the control panel. The building's security system is mysteriously tripped, locking everyone inside – a stunt which Price blames on Evelyn. Despite this, Price continues the party's advertised theme, offering $1 million to each guest who remains in the house until morning those who flee forfeit their $1 million to the others.

The guests are not the ones Price invited and neither of the Prices know who they are. Five guests arrive for the party: film producer Jennifer Jenzen baseball player Eddie Baker former television personality Melissa Marr Donald Blackburn, a physician and Pritchett himself. The building's owner, Watson Pritchett, is convinced it is evil, having lived there as a child when it was converted to a private residence. At Evelyn's insistence, Price stages her birthday party at the long-abandoned hospital. In 1999, Evelyn Stockard-Price is in a disintegrating marriage with Steven Price, an amusement park mogul. The patients start a fire which engulfs the building, killing all of the inmates and all but five of Vannacutt’s staff. In 1931, the patients at the Vannacutt Psychiatric Institute for the Criminally Insane revolt against the staff headed by the sadistic Dr. In 2007, the film was followed by a direct-to-DVD sequel, Return to House on Haunted Hill, which was released in both rated and unrated editions. The film received middling reviews from major critics, but was a commercial success, opening number one at the box office and grossing over $40 million domestically. supplied promotional scratchcards to cinemas showing the film, offering ticket buyers a chance to win a money prize, similar to the movie's characters. In the tradition of William Castle's theater gimmicks, Warner Bros. House on Haunted Hill premiered on Halloween weekend in 1999. House on Haunted Hill marked the producing debut of Dark Castle Entertainment, a production company that went on to produce numerous other horror films, including additional remakes. Produced by Robert Zemeckis and Joel Silver, it is a remake of the 1959 film of the same title directed by William Castle, and features special effects by famed make-up artists Gregory Nicotero and Dick Smith. The plot follows a group of strangers who are invited to a party at an abandoned insane asylum, where they are offered $1 million each by an amusement park mogul if they are able to survive the night. House on Haunted Hill is a 1999 American supernatural horror film directed by William Malone and starring Geoffrey Rush, Famke Janssen, Taye Diggs, Ali Larter, Bridgette Wilson, Peter Gallagher, and Chris Kattan.

House on haunted hill 1999 trailer