Director Adam Gierasch's remake of the trashy 1988 B-movie horror is more technically adept and better acted by an experienced cast (that includes American Pie's Shannon Elizabeth and Terminator 2's Edward Furlong). Yet it's still a brash, utterly stereotypical and pointless exercise in slimy gore set to loud punk rock that will prove a complete turn-off to many. The plot is virtually identical to Kevin Tenney's cult original: a Halloween party in a haunted house turns deadly when drooling demons knock off drunken revellers. Cue the standard-issue bimbos and jocks getting possessed, only here it's by the more extreme horror means of deviant sex and drugs. Gierasch attempts to inject some irony into the mindless mayhem, and the sepia-toned silent movie-style flashbacks into the Broussard mansion's cursed history are nicely atmospheric. But patience with the braindead script's predictability runs thin as the pacing slackens off and the contrived sickness continually fails to shock.

Angela is throwing a decadent Halloween party at New Orleans' infamous Broussard Mansion. But after the police break up the festivities, Maddie and a few friends stay behind. Trapped inside the locked mansion gates, the remaining guests uncover a horrifying secret and soon fall victim to seven vicious, blood-thirsty demons.