The Official Website of Jeffrey Combs

Today, (and already for you fortunate Aussies!), Return to House on Haunted Hill (sequel to William Malone’s remake, House on Haunted Hill) is out on DVD!!!

Jeff reprises his role as the menacing Dr. Richard Benjamin Vannacutt, the former head of the Vannacutt Institute, who had a history of performing disturbing and destructive “experiments” on his subjects, which he is still performing from beyond the grave.

Film Info

There is an official website with great pictures, the official trailer, AIM icons, and a screensaver, all featuring Dr. Vannacutt! The film also has a MySpace page.

There was a premiere screening last night and I was able to see the film with the navigational cinema feature…and Jeff was there too!!! He guided us through the navigational cinema and was so wonderful and hilarious! It was such a wonderful surprise! Thanks, Jeff!

Jeff has some absolutely amazing scenes that just blew me away! Vannacutt has a far larger role in this sequel and the film itself is pretty darned good!

There are some awesome scenes from the film here. Click on the 4th movie down to see an AMAZING Vannacutt clip!!!

Read on for more information!

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The Plot

Sarah Wolfe was the only living survivor from the massacre at the Vannacutt Mansion, but no one believed her claims that ghosts were responsible for the gruesome murders that took place there. Now her recent and questionable suicide leaves her sister, Ariel, no choice but to devote herself to finding out who - or what - was responsible for her death. Ariel discovers that Sarah sent her the diary of the sadistic Dr. Vannacutt just before she died, offering clues to the diabolical evil that resides within the house. But the diary also makes Ariel a target in a deadly treasure hunt that leads a group of unwitting victims back to the Vannacutt Mansion, reawakening the terror imprisoned within the house on the hill.

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DVD Info

First off, here’s the confusing (yet exciting) bit about this DVD – it’s being released in several different formats. It will come in rated, unrated, HD-DVD, and Blu-Ray versions.

Both the HD-DVD and Blu-Ray versions will feature a new DVD technology premiering first on this movie called “Navigational Cinema.” Essentially, it’s the ability to “choose your own adventure.” You can control how the movie will play out and choose from different options at certain points which will determine the final outcome of the film.

There are 96 possible combinations of storylines, and Jeff is in many of them, so at least a few of us will be holed up for weeks (in our spare time!) trying to discover them all!

There is a great featurette on how this technology works here

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Here’s the breakdown of the extra features for each DVD release:

Rated version - will have limited, if any extra material or features.

Unrated version - will feature these extras, without the “navigational cinema” feature:

• Additional Scenes
• Character Confessions: Return to House on Haunted Hill Confessionals
• The Search for an Idol: Dr. Richard Hammer’s Quest
• Mushroomhead Music Video Simple Survival

Blu-Ray and HD-DVD versions - will feature all extra material as listed in the unrated version plus the aforementioned “navigational cinema” technology

NOTE: Blu-Ray and HD-DVD discs do not work in regular DVD players and you would need a special HD or Blu-Ray disc player to view either of them. Now I have to somehow find a player that I can afford!

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TRIVIA

- This movie was shot in Bulgaria last October. Jeff shot several more scenes for the navigational cinema earlier this year in Los Angeles.

- Jeff is one of very few actors to reprise a role after so many years. Others include Jamie Lee Curtis (in Halloween) and Sean Connery.

SPOILERS

***I have some small “spoilers” about this DVD that I will place under a “black bar.” Simply highlight the area you can’t see to read the spoilers. This goes for anytime there are other spoilers in this blog as well.

• On the HD and Blu-Ray versions, Dr. Vannacutt SPEAKS several lines!!! Woo hoo!!!

• On the HD and Blu-ray versions, if you choose to answer the cellphone, Jeff voices a character named Mr. Perkins, who is interested in buying the Statue of Baphomet from one of the bad guys. He speaks several lines and sounds like a cross between The Question and Dr. Ek. Just…incredible!

• During the film, Vannacutt gets to ”beat the crap out of the one of the bad guys before he bites it, so that was kind of satisfying.” Thanks to an unnamed source for this spoiler.

VANNACUTT’S FUTURE HAUNTING

According to a brand new interview with SciFi Wire here, Jeff mentions another possible House movie possibly entitled The Revenge of Vannacutt “where he [Vannacutt] will come back and get his pound of flesh for what happened to him,” Jeff says. “He will come back like the Terminator, no matter how many times you kill him.” (thanks to SciFi Wire for the quote)

Let’s hope he’ll be baaaack!

Acknowledgements

Several of my friends are diehard House on Haunted Hill fans and have been awaiting this sequel for years. One of those friends, Tynele, I have to thank for much of the information in this blog post. Being from Australia, she got the DVD first, and she deserves it!