Annabelle enters the room and apologizes to her guests, then asks Frederick to pay them and allow them to depart. Abruptly, however, Jonas and his wife bolt, locking the group into the house. Nora refuses to remain in the house and as it is a few moments before midnight, Frederick agrees that she may depart. Nora hastens to the living room where Frederick introduces the others to the servants, Jonas Styles and his wife, who Nora recognizes as the man in the hallway and the woman in the cellar. When she runs into the hall panicked, a dark figure grabs her and cautions her to leave before she is murdered. Moments later, Nora returns to her room and is horrified to find a severed head in her suitcase. Frustrated that Lance does not believe her, Nora returns upstairs where she meets Annabelle, who cautions Nora and Lance that she believes Frederick may be trying to harm her. Determined to learn what happened in the cellar, Lance returns to the basement later with Nora, where she sees the woman again, who disappears before Lance can see her. Lance is discovered knocked out but unharmed in a small room and David treats a cut on his head. After Lance abruptly disappears into a small room, Nora is frightened by the vision of a wild-haired old woman. When the others leave the cellar, Lance and Nora linger behind to explore. Watson gives the guests a tour of the house, detailing the gruesome deaths that occurred in several rooms, including the wine cellar where a jealous husband murdered his wife by pushing her into a vat of acid that still exists beneath a large trap door. Later, Frederick introduces himself to the others and explains that at midnight the servants will lock them into the mansion for twelve hours and that all communication with the outside will be cut off.

In private, Frederick and Annabelle argue about the party, which Frederick admits is a ploy to force Annabelle into revealing that she only wants access to his fortune. Watson then reveals that there have been seven inexplicable, brutal murders in the house, including that of his brother, and he believes the victims' ghosts continue to haunt the premises. Shortly after their arrival, Lance prevents Nora from being struck by a falling chandelier. Although puzzled by the invitations, the guests are in need of the money and agree to participate.

Frederick bribes the guests, test pilot Lance Schroeder, newspaper columnist Ruth Bridges, physician David Trent, secretary Nora Manning and Watson, by promising ten thousand dollars to each if he or she spends the entire night at the mansion.

Wealthy former playboy Frederick Loren rents the haunted mansion of Watson Pritchard for one night and invites five strangers on the pretense that he is throwing his wife Annabelle a party.

House on haunted hill 1999 trailer