THE HAUNTING RATING: 4 / 10 --> This movie sucks
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A big house. A big director, Jan de Bont of SPEED and TWISTER fame. A big star, Catherine Zeta-Jones, hot of the heels of ENTRAPMENT (6.5/10) and ZORRO. A big remake of THE HAUNTING. And big special effects. So what do they all amount to? Unfortunately for us, a big bore!
PLOT: A hotshot doctor brings three insomniacs to an old, spooky mansion for controlled testing. Unbeknownst to the patients, the good doctor is actually conducting his own cover project that has to do with the psychology of fear.
CRITIQUE: This movie just didn't scare me one bit. Sure, it creeped and spooked me out a little here and there, but on the whole, it took waaaaay too long to get going, provided very little meat in the plot, went way past its own bedtime, and basically relied on grunts, the muttering of children's voices and over-the-top special effects, to scare us. Well, this film didn't do much for me. And they might as well have called it the "Haunting of Lily Taylor", since she's basically the only character who had any real depth, background or reason to be in the house in the first place.
Don't get me wrong, Catherine Zeta was sweet window dressing (despite my continued perception of her faint mustache-see ENTRAPMENT), and Owen Wilson was good as the standard "comic relief", but come on people, if you're going to have us sit through two hours in a theater with these folks, how 'bout giving them a little more than one-liners as dimension. Neeson was also wasted as the smart, British guy. It's all too sad, cause certainly the "idea" seemed like a good one (see THE SHINING (9/10) for a close to perfect example of a creepy gone awry), but the story was thin, the conclusion was laughable (Be gone...poof!) and the special effects? Well, they sure were nice to look at, but not for a moment did one of them scare, or even for a split-second, have me believe that they were anything more than Hollywood special gadgetry.
See it for Zeta-Jones, or if you like special effects and scary movies that take forever to get going, and provide very little payback, otherwise skip it and check out the original or the ultimate movie about spooky homes from the netherworld, THE SHINING.
Little Known Facts about this film and its stars: Goofy actor Owen Wilson co-scripted indie favorites RUSHMORE (8/10) and BOTTLE ROCKET with director Wes Anderson. His brother Luke Wilson is also an actor, who once dated Drew Barrymore for a year or so. Brother Andrew is also an actor. Singer Lisa Loeb is listed in the credits as having portrayed the character of Olivia Morice, but I personally did not notice her. She is well known for her number one single "Stay (I missed you)" and goofy glasses. The creaks and moans heard throughout the house were prerecorded and played during filming in order to get a more natural expression of fear out of the actors. Catherine Zeta-Jones is currently dating flabby ass actor Michael "Sex is my life" Douglas. She stands 5'8". In 1998, actor Michael Rapaport pleaded guilty to the aggravated harassment of Lily Taylor. He was ordered to stay away from her and undergo counseling for one year. Actor Bruce Dern, who plays the throwaway role of the gatekeeper in this film, was once nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role in COMING HOME. Director Jan de Bont was born in Holland, and began his lengthy career as a cinematographer on films as DIE HARD, HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER and BASIC INSTINCT, directed by another Dutchman, Paul Verhoeven. Actor Todd Field also played a small but pivotal role in Stanley Kubrick's last film, EYES WIDE SHUT. He was Nick Nightingale, the pianist. This film was originally titled THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE.
Review Date: July 23, 1999
Director: Jan de Bont
Writer: David Self (based on novel by Shirley Jackson)
Producers: Susan Arnold, Donna Roth and Colin Wilson
Actors: Liam Neeson as Dr. David Morrow
Lili Taylor as Eleanor Vance
Catherine Zeta-Jones as Theo
Owen Wilson as Luke Sannerson
Genre: Horror
Year of Release: 1999
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(c) 1999 Berge Garabedian
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