The Haunting (1999)

Suffering from the extreme bad luck of being released at the same time as the low-budget The Blair Witch Project, this adaptation of The Haunting of Hill House attempts to update Shirley Jackson's psychologically terrifying ghost story to the era of big-budget, computerized special effects. Does it work? Well, let's just say that showing isn't exactly the same as telling. A prime example of bloated studio filmmaking, The Haunting telegraphs all its frights so blatantly that it forsakes any of Jackson's subtle horrors for the remedial scares of a clunky carnival ride. The story remains basically the same, with four people called to an old mansion for experiments in the supernatural, but instead of getting inside the heads of its main characters (as the 1963 adaptation by Robert Wise did so well), Jan DeBont's film deserts character development for the huge, glorious set design provided by Eugenio Zanetti (Restoration). Thus, instead of a well-drawn story you get... a well-drawn house, one that four very talented and underutilized actors--Lili Taylor, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Liam Neeson, and Owen Wilson--wander around in endlessly (as Zeta-Jones puts it, the house is "sort of Charles Foster Kane meets the Munsters"). Taylor, as the hypersensitive Nell, is the unknowing lynchpin in the battle between good and bad ghosts and gets saddled with most of the expository dialogue of the mansion's gothic backstory. Zeta-Jones (showing some spark) and Neeson (showing none) are sadly reduced to providing reactionary shots of the film's disastrous climax, which mixes hapless new-age affirmations with computer-generated effects of ghosts and exploding windows, walls, doors, etc. For this haunted-house story, take a quick tour of the breathtaking rooms, but definitely don't stay the night. --Mark Englehart Amazon.com

I've seen scarier episodes of Scooby Doo.

"I'm not afraid of you Grandpa!!!"
That's nice.
Easily in the top twenty of worst horror movies EVER!!!
I never saw the original nor do I want to.
YET another movie I paid to see in the theater. I figured, if Liam Neeson is in it, it might be pretty good. WRONG!!!
A Hollyturd if there ever was one, The Haunting succeeds only at scaring me with it's utter worthlessness.
Dreadful acting, a story line that couldn't scare a toddler, lame direction......
Bad....JUST BAD!!!
From start to finish, a craptastic classic.
Coming close to being, "so bad it's good" but not quite.
Don't even bother with this disaster,
NOT RECOMMENDED!!! July 15, 2008

Not bad

I bought this to replace the VHS version I had that had seen better days. This movie won't win any awards but as horror movies go it wasn't bad. It has a talented cast and I enjoy watching it from time to time. April 29, 2008

A super fun spooky thriller!

The Film: The Haunting
Year Made: 1999

Overview: A group of strangers are brought to a spooky house with a promise of money if they are willing to take part in a innocent experiment. All seems innocent enough, until they arrive at Hill House. What they soon realize is there is a reason that nobody stays after dark!

The Package: 4 Stars. The holder is nice, with cool eerie shot of Hill House on the cover. When you open the holder, the CD is held nicely inside the case. I found it easy to pop out, but also stays put. There is a nice inlay included inside that has some information about the film and it's great to read about just how large the massive set was in the film. As far as extras, there is a behind the scenes feature as well as 2 trailers included! You get a short teaser trailer as well as the main longer trailer. Cast and filmmakers bios as well as production notes. Overall, a very nice package.

Spook Meter: 4 Stars. I have to say that this is without a doubt, in my top list of all-time! favorite films. As I watched this, I found I had so much FUN watching that I never wanted it to end. The size of the house made my jaw drop. My favorite was the carvings of the children's faces near the bed! Super spooky and oh so cool!!! This film has everything that a FUN horror, haunted house film should have. A massive huge house, creepy ghosts, eerie sounds, a plot that is built up at a great pace, super actors and actresses!! What more could I want? Nothing!

Gore/Violence Meter: 2 Stars. There is really zero gore in this what so ever. As far as violence, there is only a few parts where anything violent happen and the two parts are pretty tame really. What replaces the large amounts of violence and gore is tons of great sounds and creepy details that pull you right into the what your seeing on the screen.

Profanity Meter: 2 Strikes. Very little profanity used, however Gods name is used a few times which was unnecessary, so I bumped up the profanity meter one more star. If not for that, there is no bad language in this at all and it's very enjoyable to watch.

Sexual Meter: 1 Strikes. There are no sexual/make out scenes what so ever. There is a hint from a comment in a few parts that lead the viewer to believe that Theo may have a bit of a extra interest in Nell. Theo asks Nell if she is married, or has a boyfriend or.... girlfriend? Overall though, their is nothing offensive that should offend any viewers.

Final Thoughts. So, is this film the type that will leave you awake for endless nights afraid? Probably not, yet I found that it has a extra special charm to it, that is not matched by other haunted house films. I have watched this film 3 times so far as of this writing and it just keeps getting more and more fun! I'm actually surprised that more viewers didn't love this as much as me, but I guess we all have our taste in what we like and that's cool. If I had to sum up this whole film in just three words, it would be.. Spooky,spooky FUN!
April 7, 2008

Not Scary and Very Slow, But Worth Seeing

I was expecting a fast paced movie, what I got was a slow movie with a lot of plot holes. Some of it just didn't make sense. There is a scene when Theo is helping Nell get to bed. She says, "Goodnight. I'll be right back to bring you some tea." What? And then she never brings her tea... And what about when they decide that Nell shouldn't be alone, so Luke says he'll take the first shift to stay with her. In the next scene trouble happens in the room and Luke isn't even in there, he's out walking around. What? Anyway, little things like this took away from this movie. It wasn't scary at all. The acting was terrible. The only thing I can say is that this film looks fantastic! The house is awesome, the special effects were pretty cool and this is a movie you can watch with your girlfriend or wife because it's not very bloody or gory. I give it 3 stars for those things. They had all these great things and then they ruined it with a bad script and terrible acting. Worth checking out, but don't expect anything great. April 2, 2008

Terrible!

This movie is just terrible. Every awful minute. Which is what I like about it! November 29, 2007

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