Use of hacks on .html pages

[Linus]

I did a couple of hacks like last XX posters, top XX posters and want to include them on a page outside of vB. However, I realised I could not use them on a .html page (I have SSI configured to be able to use on .html pages)

Could anyone advice what might be the problem on why I cannot get the hacks to display on a .html page ? They work perfectly fine if I use them on a .php page

I keep getting this errors
[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Is there a way out or do I have to install to http://www.mysite.com/forums/ instead of just http://www.mysite.com ???