The Haunting (1999)

Director: Jan de Bont
Format: DVD
DVD Features: behind the scenes, trailers, bios
Starring: Liam Neeson, Lili Taylor, Owen Wilson, Catherine Zeta Jones
Trailer

Frequently, as I may have mentioned in the past, I like to puruse my local video store, just to see what I can find for $5.00. Although I get most of my rentals through Netflix, it’s still fun to hop down the block and see what Hollywood Video has to offer. They usually have a sale. I can find 4 movies for $20 or similar. The great thing about DVD’s, I find, is that unlike the archaic VHS (some of us still remember that), buying them used is almost as good as buying them new. Video stores normally stock a bunch of the new releases, and thin them out as the title gets older. The only downfall is removing that obnoxious sticker. The Haunting was one of these five dollar purchases, rounding out the other three so I could get my four movie deal.

**Notice: I have not seen the 1963 movie that The Haunting of 1999 is based on. So, I will not be comparing the two films in this review.**

Dr. David Marrow (Liam Neeson), a university psychiatrist, decides that the best way to conduct his experiment on fear is to lure his volunteers in under the guise of a study on sleep disorders. He finds three test subjects; Eleanor, Theo and Luke, and invites them to stay at Hill House. Once there, he tells them of the mansion’s sordid past. It seems that the former owner of Hill House was a man named Hugh Crain, who built this house for his lovely wife, Carolyn. His wife, apparently perished inside the house after several of their children met an ill fate. Marrow’s idea is to scare his subjects and study their reaction to the tale. However, he has no inkling that there may be more than fear lurking in the mansion’s shady rooms to keep them all awake.

Eleanor (Lili Taylor), or “Nell” as she’s called, has just suffered the death of her mother, whom she cared for through a terrible illness. After her heartless sister has her ejected from the home, Nell notices Dr. Marrow’s ad in the paper. Nell doesn’t suffer insomnia, per se, but is so used to being awoken in the middle of the night by her demanding mother, that she still hears the woman calling her. Once at Hill House, she is joined by Theo (Catherine Zeta Jones), a high-fashion woman from New York with a taste for the ladies. The third guinea pig is Luke (Owen Wilson) who is a happy-go-lucky insomniac.

Although I have enjoyed Taylor in several films (especially The Addiction), I couldn’t stand her character in The Haunting. She is far too meek and the pity-me routine grated on my nerves. Wilson is an actor who does well with a good script, and not very good with a bad one. In this movie, his character may be good at heart, but a dullard nonetheless. He doesn’t pose any threat as a romantic involvement for the girls, and neither is he a strong contender against the ghosts. Jones is little more than eye candy and didn’t impress me at all in her role as Theo. So, while The Haunting is full of capable actors, their skills all go to waste.

The best character by far in the movie is the house itself. The rooms and hallways are full of lavishly carved stairways and cleverly disguised passageways. There is even a mirrored carousel behind one of its doors. The carvings play a large part in the plot of the film, as they serve to lead Nell on her hunt for the truth behind the dead children in Hill House. Other elements of the abode transform as well, from an evil-eyed window to a possessed bed. Although the CGI in the movie is not as polished as some more recent films, there are a few really neat effects.

Unfortunately, I have never felt that spookactular special effects can make up for a bad plot, a pathetic script and terrible acting. So, The Haunting falls far short of my expectations. Even a B-grade horror film at least has “camp”.

Overall Rating: 1
Hottie Rating: 1 (Jones always looks good)

Alternate Viewing: The Others
Official site
IMDB site
Rotten Tomatoes review

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