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Twenty five years ago, on October 29, 1999, Dark Castle Entertainment launched with a remake of William Castle’s The House on Haunted Hill. Penned by Dick Beebe from Robb White’s original 1959 story and directed by William Malone, the 1999 remake relocated to a foreboding psychiatric hospital for its haunted setting. This time the ghosts were very real and very vengeful. At the center of it all, though, was a very inspired performance by Geoffrey Rush. One that deserves a space in horror’s hall of fame.

Rush played amusement park mogul Steven Price, the rich host to his wife’s birthday party that offers up $1,000,000 to anyone who can endure a night-long stay in the haunted hospital. This was the precise same role Vincent Price played in the 1959 original film, and the character was renamed in reference. The irony, though, is that Steven Price wasn’t initially meant to look like...

From one 1999 horror remake to another. After rewatching The Haunting with eyes that were both more critical and 25 years older, it got me thinking about the other remake that came out that year. One that was a remake of a far sillier movie and that was the first effort from a new studio, namely Dark Castle Entertainment. The original was from a far less dark castle in that of schlock and gimmick purveyor William Castle and it starred Vincent Price as a man offering strangers money to stay in an allegedly haunted house for a night. While The Haunting failed on multiple levels to improve with age, how does House on Haunted Hill (watch it Here) look after a quarter of a century? Does its cheesy yet graphic tone feel at home in the time of A24 and elevated horror or should it forfeit its 1 million dollar check and leave the cursed grounds forever.

Whether you love or hate them, remakes have been around for a long time, and they’re not slowing down anytime soon. An update on The Crow is set to arrive this summer, with Hollywood’s version of Speak No Evil not far behind, just as two upcoming examples.

While not all remakes can hold a candle to the original, there’s been no shortage of fantastic movies that reworked genre favorites in thrilling new ways. Some of which even managed to eclipse the original classics, like 1986’s The Fly or 1982’s The Thing.

This week’s streaming picks are dedicated to horror remakes that set themselves apart from the source material, either through expanded storytelling or heightened, visceral horror.

Here’s where you can stream them this week.

For more Stay Home, Watch Horror picks, click here.

The Blob – Tubi

Chuck Russell and Frank Darabont’s remake of...

This sequel to "The Blair Witch Project" boldly eschews nearly everything that made the original film a phenomenon. None of the original characters returns -- which makes sense because the first movie assumes their demise -- the no-budget, faux documentary conceit is completely dropped, and an entirely new story is created. In other words, "Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2" is a conventional horror flick.

It's better made than the original, and its writing contains subtlety and wit the original film lacked. However, these pluses may be minuses for "Blair Witch" fans. After all, what they liked about original film was its rule-breaking approach and crude production technique. This sequel seems almost perversely designed to be liked by those who hated the original.

"Shadows" is destined to win terrific opening-weekend numbers. But a movie that looks like a traditional horror film might well act like one at the boxoffice, with a sizable drop-off in the second week. Artisan will do fine once all the numbers are in from ancillary business, but "Blair Witch" fans might feel disappointment that an anticipated confrontation with the Witch never takes place.

One curiosity is that the film marks the feature directorial debut of documentary filmmaker Joe Berlinger, whose "Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills" tells the true story of teenage boys in a small Southern town accused of gruesome ritualistic murders.

The movie begins with an amusing mini-documentary about the first film and the impact it has had on the mythical small town of Burkittsville, Md. The story then picks up five characters who are obsessed with the first movie.

Jeff (Jeff Donovan), newly released from a mental institute (but of course), has turned "The Blair Witch Project" into a business. He sells memorabilia on the Internet and takes adventurers on a tour of the Witch's Black Hills sites.

His clients include grad students Tristen (Tristen Skyler), fretting over her unwanted pregnancy, and her anal boyfriend Stephen Stephen Barker Turner). The two are writing a book about the Witch but can't agree on a theme. Others include Erica (Erica Leerhsen), a practicing witch, and Kim Kim Director), a goth aficionado with psychic abilities.

The quintet is afflicted with a time-honored horror-movie disease, rampant stupidity. Spooky signs fail to dissuade them from camping for the night at one of the Witch's more sinister sites and, worse, getting loaded on pot and beer.

They wake up to the realization they cannot account for five hours during the night. All of their camera equipment has been trashed, but Kim the psychic immediately finds the tapes buried nearby. After a quick trip to the hospital so Tristen can take care of her miscarriage, they retreat to Jeff's home in an abandoned warehouse. Here they replay the tapes to recapture what happened.

Soon, the little group unravels. They are plagued by weird skin rashes, strange visions of bloodshed and images of the Witch herself. Vicious fights break out. Then the tapes reveal them to have participated in orgiastic rites. When the police discover that another group of Blair Witch tourists was gruesomely slaughtered in the woods, the quintet are immediate suspects.

Berlinger, working from his and Dick Beebe's well-structured script, turns the story into a nifty essay on mass hysteria.

The film is not without its stylish flourishes as Berlinger mixes in bits of digital video, Hi-8 video and computer graphics. In fact, without revealing too much, one can say that the key to the plot and its resolution revolves around the difference between video and film.

BOOK OF SHADOWS:

BLAIR WITCH 2

Artisan Entertainment

Artisan Entertainment

and Haxan Entertainment

Producer: Bill Carraro

Director: Joe Berlinger

Screenwriters: Dick Beebe, Joe Berlinger

Executive producers: Daniel Myrick,

Eduardo Sanchez

Director of photography: Nancy Schreiber

Production designer: Vince Peranio

Music: Carter Burwell

Costume designer: Melissa Toth

Editor: Sarah Flack

Color/stereo

Cast:

Jeff: Jeff Donovan

Tristen: Tristen Skyler

Stephen: Stephen Barker Turner

Erica: Erica Leerhsen

Kim: Kim Director

Sheriff Cravens: Lanny Flaherty

Running time - 90 minutes

MPAA rating: R...