House II: The Second Story

"It's getting weirder!"

1987 1h 28m EN

😐

5.6

MID

★5.6TMDB · 287

FantasyHorrorComedy

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Jesse moves into an old family property where his parents were mysteriously murdered years before. He soon finds himself with unexpected guests in the form of his mummified great-great grandfather, a mystical crystal skull, and a zombie cowboy.

“It's getting weirder!”

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Cast

Arye Gross
Jesse
Jonathan Stark
Charlie
Royal Dano
Gramps
Bill Maher
John
John Ratzenberger
Bill
Jayne Modean
Rochelle
Lar Park Lincoln
Kate
Amy Yasbeck
Jana

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Ethan Wiley
Writers: Ethan Wiley
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

88 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $3.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 3.3× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

ERA

Did you know

39 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "House Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Ethan Wiley, shot by Mac Ahlberg. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Arye Gross and Jonathan Stark and Royal Dano carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "It's getting weirder!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Ethan Wiley directs. Mac Ahlberg behind the camera. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

188 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
2Shot for just $3.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
3Made its money back 3.3× over at the box office.
439 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
5Part of the "House Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
6Directed by Ethan Wiley, shot by Mac Ahlberg. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Arye Gross and Jonathan Stark and Royal Dano carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "It's getting weirder!".
9IMDB entry: tt0093220 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 10 themes, including "house", "time travel", "stone age", "sequel".

The technical file

Cinematography: Mac Ahlberg
Production design: Gregg Fonseca
Stunt coordinator: Kane Hodder
Runtime: 88 min · 1h 28m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $3,000,000
Box office: $10,000,000
Return: 333% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: House II: The Second Story (1987)

Part of

House Collection

An American comedy horror film series.

Also by

Ethan Wiley

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Wuchak2026-04-15
★ 7/10
“Looks like you've got some kind of alternate universe in there or something” This is a self-contained sequel to the 1985 film featuring a different house and backstory, as well as a slightly lighter tone. It’s a fun horror comedy with horror tropes but not frightening at all, plus it includes a spirit of adventure in the manner of Indiana Jones or “Firewalker” from the previous year. Indeed, the fourth Indiana Jones installment borrowed the concept of the crystal skull found here. Redhead Amy Yasbeck was 24 during shooting, the youngest I’ve ever seen her. Meanwhile raven-haired Devin DeVasquez and blonde Jayne Modean are on hand, not to mention Lar Park-Lincoln. More shoulda been done with them, but the director/writer didn’t know how to shoot women (no pun intended). I had my doubts due to the goofiness, such as the character of Gramps, yet the movie won me over by the mid-point. It’s basically a combination of two future movies: The soon-to-come “Waxwork” and “Monster Island” from 2004, except that the latter knew how to photograph the feminine gender. Like the first movie, a regular from the TV show Cheers makes a guest appearance, in this case John Ratzenberger, aka Cliff Clavin, similar to John Goodman’s character in “Arachnophobia.” Two more sequels would manifest in 1989 and 1992, with another installment announced in 2023 to relaunch the franchise. It runs 1h 27m and was shot in Jul-Oct 1986 in the Los Angeles area at Doheny Mansion in Mount St. Mary's College, the Stimson House, Paramount Ranch in Agoura (the Old West Town & countryside) and Culver City. GRADE: B+

Production companies