Return To The House On Haunted Hill

Simply awful and boring. This sequel takes place 8 years after the events in the first (and far more superior) film. Ariel Wolfe (Amanda Righetti) is stunned to learn of her estranged sister Sara (not played by the lovely Ali Larter) has taken her life. The murders of the previous film had been blamed on Steven Price and no believed Sara's insistence that it was the act of ghosts.

Ariel meets archaeologist Richard Hammer who insists that Sara was planning to go back to the house to find a priceless idol. Ariel doesn't believe him until she finds a journal that her sister mailed her prior to her death. However Ariel and her boyfriend are kidnapped by evil archaeologist Desmond (Erik Palladino)and taken to the house. Richard, his lover, and his assistant are also in the house looking for the idol. The house wakes up and wackiness ensues.

While the deaths were creative, the characters are too boring to root for. This film lacks the suspense of the first one as well as the creative casting. The idol storyline seems forced and really brings to movie down. The ending was predictable as hell complete with the tacked on ending threatening the viewers with another sequel.

A major annoyance is that they do not even hint at what had happened to Eddie Baker (Taye Diggs) who had also survived the film alongside Sarah. It's called continuity people.

Resident Evil: Extinction

I have to go right out and say it I hated Resident Evil: Apocalypse. I found it boring, over convoluted, and a seemingly tacked on ending. What made it all the more offensive was that I adored the first Resident Evil.

When I heard there was a three I faced it with mild trepidation. It could be a great movie that totally makes up for the Apocalypse or it could bomb royally making me regret shelling out the money to see it. Thankfully it was the latter.

The movie's plot borrows a lot from the video game Resident Evil: Code Veronica. It has been 8 years since the last film (though at one point it is stated as only 5). The T-Virus has spread all over the world turning the planet into a desert wasteland. Alice is now on her own trying to hide from The Umbrella Corporation who is tracking her every move. Meanwhile Dr Sam Isaacs is cloning Alice in the hopes of finding a cure for the T-Virus. The casting is top-notch Milla Jovovich is as awesome as always, Oded Fehr and Mike Epps return to their roles from the previous sequel. New characters include singer Ashanti as Nurse Betty, the always wonderful Ali Larter as Claire Redfield, and a great debut by unknown Spencer Locke who plats K-Mart.

The movie is action-packed, fun, and definitely a good movie to see. It has a cliffhanger ending that actually makes you yearn for a Resident Evil 4. My only quibble has to do with the whereabouts of Jill Valentine and Angela Ashford who not mentioned at all in the movie despite the returns of L.T. and Carlos.

But all in all it is a movie I heartedly recommend.