Review:
The Haunting A movie review by Joe Barlow (c) Copyright 1999
STARRING: Liam Neeson, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Lili Taylor,
Owen Wilson
DIRECTOR: Jan de Bont
WRITER: David Self, based on Shirley Jackson's novel 'The
Haunting of Hill House'
RATED: PG-13
RELEASED: 1999
I've noticed that critics all too often miss the point of movies these days. Increasingly, film criticism seems to revolve around the process of holding movies up to an invisible yardstick, with the film's quality determined by its literary merit, or how well its themes compare to established genre classics. Or, in English: movies are often panned because they're not sophisticed enough. Although I've probably been guilty of such cinematic elitism myself, I'm no longer sure this is the right way to judge a film. Come on, admit it: there's something to be said for a story which knows it isn't Great Art. After all, movies were intended to be diversionary entertainment from the very first days of cinema-- a way of temporarily forgetting about life's problems and immersing one's self in another world. Despite a century of evolution in the cinematic arts, audiences still haven't lost their love for the occasional bit of passive, no-thought-required entertainment. That's good news indeed for The Haunting, the new film from Jan de Bont (Twister), which purports to be an adaptation of Shirley Jackson's classic horror novel The Haunting of Hill House. It actuality, it bears only a passing resemblance to Jackson's work.
First things first: The Haunting knows its place. It's not a great movie, but it never tries to be. It only wants to generate good old-fashion chills, the kind Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff used to scare up before audiences became jaded. And because the film is unconcerned with anything other than providing visual (and visceral) delights with all the bravado it can manage, it succeeds more often than not at being entertaining. Its eagerness to please is strangely affecting in that regard.
The story: a psychologist named Dr. Marrow (Liam Nesson) is sponsoring an insomnia study at Hill House, a gothic mansion straight out of Tim Burton's wet dreams. The three volunteers who respond to Marrow's open call for test subjects are a varied lot: there's the shy Eleanor (Lili Taylor), sex goddess Theo (Catherine Zeta-Jones), and the bullish Luke (Owen Wilson), all of whom are initially apprehensive about the experiment but eventually come around. But Dr. Marrow has more tricks up his sleeve: he's not a sleep doctor at all, but a scientist studying the nature of fear. He plans to use his subjects to determine why people react in certain ways when they're afraid. But Dr. Marrow soon finds himself with much more than he bargained for after a number of supernatural occurances begin to manifest themselves.
Visually, The Haunting can not be faulted. The film contains some of the most stunning sets and locations ever to grace a movie screen, with dark, brooding shadows that tell us more about the house's untold secrets than any amount of dialogue could ever hope to convey. Everything looks great, with no shortage of atmosphere. The chills the movie desperately wants us to feel are quite present during many parts of the tale-- I nearly leapt out of my seat during a particularly tense fireplace scene.
The story is, alas, a somewhat weaker link. The biggest problem is the slightly rough script which feels rushed-- not so much bad as unfocused. While Eleanor gets some token character development throughout the course of the tale, we learn nothing whatsoever about anyone else here with the possible exception of the house itself, which becomes as much a character as any of the actors. And it's always a shame when Liam Neeson, one of the finest actors working today, is given nothing of consequence to do.
Are these flaws severe enough to prevent audiences from enjoying the movie? Probably not: most horror fans know that the plots in these sorts of movies are absolute jokes, so we cheerfully overlook the flaws as long as the movie delivers the desired level of creepiness. And while The Haunting is not a horror classic, it does have enough going on to make it consistently interesting. It's a fun, slightly-above-average shudderfest that will promptly vanish from your mind the instant you walk out of the theater. This is not a film you'll carry with you the rest of your life, but if you're just looking for some pleasant scares, you'll probably have a good time. The cacophony of lights and sound also make it worthwhile for fans of quality special effects.
RATING: *** (out of a possible ****)
(Subtract one star if you generally hate horror movies.)
E-Mail: jbarlow@earthling.net Joe Barlow on Film: http://www.ipass.net/~jbarlow/film.htm
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---- "Average Joe" Barlow (jbarlow@earthling.net) MiSTie #73097 Joe Barlow on Film: http://www.ipass.net/~jbarlow/film.htm
"The one good thing about the [life-size sticker of Jar Jar Binks on the door of Taco Bell] is you can pretty convincingly throw the SOB a roundhouse punch. I found it satisfying." --Renard A. Dellafave
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