THE HAUNTING
A film review by Christopher Null
Copyright 1999 Christopher Null
filmcritic.com
Some houses should never be visited. And some movies should never be remade. THE HAUNTING represents both of those tenets.
A loose remake of the 1963 HAUNTING, this version gives us a creepy haunted house and four hapless people to populate it. Chief among them is Eleanor (Taylor), a real wacko who believes there are children's spirits in the house that speak to her. And she's right! Wow, original! And hey kids, the sexy Zeta-Jones plays a *bisexual* in the movie! Oooooh, scandalous! (Sarcasm, people.)
So how does Jan de Bont, made famous as director of SPEED but best-known as the director of SPEED 2: CRUISE CONTROL, get to make a horror film? He was probably the only sucker in Hollywood desperate enough to take a dog of a film like this. The fact that he's never done a horror flick just compounds the problems.
As a result, THE HAUNTING is not scary -- at all. Instead it's just a conglomeration of cheap fright tactics and a booming bass track meant to get you to jump out of your seat. Which doesn't work.
THE HAUNTING also features such a dumb story line and such bad dialogue it's almost pathetic. For a horror film to be frequently *boring* is unforgivable. And I wager that anyone who bothers to spend money on this lemon won't be able to forgive themselves either.
A really cool set (that ultimately serves no purpose) is the only shining spot in the film. Otherwise, feel free to skip this one.
Sorry Jan: Strike two.
RATING: *1/2
|------------------------------|
\ ***** Perfection \
\ **** Good, memorable film \
\ *** Average, hits and misses \
\ ** Sub-par on many levels \
\ * Unquestionably awful \
|------------------------------|
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Jan de Bont Producer: Susan Arnold, Donna Arkoff Roth, Colin Wilson Writer: David Self Starring: Liam Neeson, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Owen Wilson, Lili Taylor, Bruce Dern
http://www.asylum.com/movies/h/haunting/
Christopher Null - null@filmcritic.com - http://www.filmcritic.com Author - Network Administrator's Reference, 1999, ISBN 0-07-882588-1 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0078825881/filmcriticcom
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