THE HAUNTING (1999)
Rating: 2.0 stars (out of 4.0) ******************************** Key to rating system: 2.0 stars - Debatable 2.5 stars - Some people may like it 3.0 stars - I liked it 3.5 stars - I am biased in favor of the movie 4.0 stars - I felt the movie's impact personally or it stood out ********************************* A Movie Review by David Sunga
Directed by: Jan De Bont
Written by: David Self, based on the classic Shirley Jackson novel
Starring: Lili Taylor, Liam Neeson, Zeta-Jones, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Owen Wilson
Synopsis: Three people sign up to participate in an insomnia study for 900 bucks a month: Eleanor (Lili Taylor), Theo (Catherine Zeta-Jones), and Luke (Owen Wilson). Little do they know, their kindly host Dr. Marrow (Liam Neeson) isn't doing an insomnia study; he's doing a secret study on fear. Soon enough the three subjects find themselves padlocked in a creepy old mansion once owned by a demented industrial tycoon.
Opinion: The movie takes a while to get started. Nothing really exciting happens in the first half. In the second half, the special effects take over, with the haunted mansion doing a lot of morphing. These are great effects, but they can't make up for plot holes you can drive a truck through. Like, how come everyone keeps falling asleep if they're supposed to be insomniacs, and they're in the scariest place on earth? Accompanying a suicidal friend, what normal person would leave the hysterical friend in a dark, closed, frightening, haunted room in order to get a cup of tea? Also shouldn't they give Eleanor's great grandmother a name? Great effects, but what about the story?
Reviewed by David Sunga July 26, 1999
Copyright © 1999 by David Sunga This review and others like it can be found at THE CRITIC ZOO: http://www.criticzoo.com email: zookeeper@criticzoo.com
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