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The Haunting Customer Reviews (25 - 27 of 37 Reviews)

REGRETFULLY, THIS MOVIE STINKS!
When I went to see this new version at the local theatre, I did so with great anticipation: I was fervently hoping to see a genuinely creepy film, tastefully done. WRONG. It's obvious a LOT of money was spent on special effects - it's a crying shame that someone didn't foresee what could have been done on a quarter of the budget with more attention to the unique Jacksonesque touches from the original story. Of all the characters, only Catherine Zeta-Jones (as Theodora) was passable. The set was a humongous waste, the script embarassingly bad. Eleanor valiantly rescues the souls of children from the wrath of Hugh Crain. Oh, boy! For Eleanor's Grandmother's sake, do yourself a favour and read the original Shirley Jackson novel. You will be surprised (and refreshed) to find very little comparison and realise there was no mention of Ms.Vance's Grandmother at all!

I don't know what Jan DeBont was thinking when he made this laughable, totally inept hodgepodge. Any ten-year old child can tell you that true creepiness is in what is unseen, i.e. the imagination. The original story was a psychological tale of loneliness and madness: the "impressive" special effects were totally unneccesary and completely out-of-context. It seems to me that the producers were trying to capitalise on bringing younger audiences in the theatre in order to bring in profits for their own personal gain. The film is completely uninspired, hokey, unintentially laughable and frankly ineptly phoney in many ways. The ushers should have rescued the patrons straight to the box office to get their money back!!!

For a glimpse of what author Shirley Jackson had in mind, watch the 1963 version of THE HAUNTING with Julie Harris and Claire Bloom. It's now available on DVD. It's infinitely creepier, more enjoyable, and artistically esteemed - both cinematography-wise and acting-wise.

Thrilling, Not Chilling
While the special effects in The Haunting offer some interesting eye-candy, they alone can not make up for the lack of horror.

Lili Taylor (The Imposters) plays Eleanor Lance, a mousy woman who has spent the past fifteen years caring for her shut-in mother. Now that her mother is dead, Eleanor finds herself without purpose, direction, or a home. Because she has had trouble sleeping, she agrees to take part in an insomnia study being conducted by the local university.

Dr. Marrow (Liam Neeson, Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace), the faculty member in charge of the project, has an ulterior motive for collecting the insomnia subjects. He is holding his experiment in Hill House, a gothic mansion in the country. There he hopes to conduct a study of fear in a highly suggestible state - namely, a creepy "haunted" house. Of course, the volunteers are not told the true reason for their participation.

Joining in the study are two others: an artist named Theodora (Catherine Zeta-Jones, Entrapment) and a happy jokester named Luke (Owen Wilson). The house's caretakers leave for the evening and return to town. Before Dr. Marrow can even begin his study, however, the house begins to exhibit a life and a will of its own.

For all the interesting characters in The Haunting, the main character is the house itself. The legend surround the mansion is as intriguing as the artistic design of its architecture. The large, high ceilinged rooms are beautiful. Various rooms, like the decayed garden, are quite chilling. Each room in Hill House is an aspect of its character.

Adapted from the novel The Haunting of Hill House, by Shirley Jackson (and a remake of the 1963 movie), The Haunting is a traditional ghost story brought forward to the 1990s. The story itself is timeless, and could certainly exist in any decade of this past century, but the special effects that bring Hill House to life are post-Jurrasic Park computer generation at its best.

But as the movie progresses, the house itself becomes overshadowed by the computer generated effects that bring the house to life. Certain effects - like moving statuary - can help the audience see what the characters see, but knowing that it is a special effect breaks the spell and the scene is no longer frightening. Special effects alone cannot carry a horror story.

Taylor gives a wonderful performance as Eleanor, a woman who needs someone to need her. Without that sense of purpose, Eleanor cannot define herself. Slowly, she seems to be losing her grip on reality and slipping into madness. While the other characters question her, the audience is shown things that Eleanor sees, so we know she's not crazy. This is one reason the story fails, because the suspense is lost.

There are one or two genuine moments of fright that will have moviegoers jumping out of their seats. Nevertheless, the majority of the movie lacks the sense of impending doom that any horror story should have. While the house is visually stunning, it does not fill the audience with dread. The movie lacks a certain creepy ambiance to properly set the mood.

As Subtle as a Really Big Stone Sculpture
This will be referred to as a classic horror in the years ahead....a classic horrible example of how Hollywood money can destroy a really good story-line. The plot, what there is of it, bears no resemblance to Shirley Jackson's psychological horror story. It's scraps of plots which make no sense, and dead-ends. There's lots of CGI and special effects, which no doubt were supposed to make up for the missing story. They don't. Nothing here is scary, unless you find the thought of dusting hilariously ugly wooden cherubs frightening.

The sets for the house were the best part, being completely bizarre and unreal and therefore worth seeing. Liam Neeson looks like he was blackmailed into taking the part, and Owen Wilson, with a fixed smirk rather like the afore-mentioned wooden cherubs, acts like he's in a comedy from the get-go. The women, Lili Taylor and Catherine Zeta-Jones, manage a little better considering the material they're given. Zeta-Jones certainly looks good, colorfully tarty and all that, but isn't given anything to do except wander around looking colorfully tarty. Bruce Dern and Marian Seldes look like they're having fun hamming it up in their roles as the caretakers, but they were probably just happy they had such small parts. This doesn't make it as a "good" bad movie, and it wouldn't really worth the trouble hating, except that it butchered a book that was both scary and intelligent.

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