The Haunting (1999)

When Eleanor, Theo, and Luke decide to take part in a sleep study at a huge mansion they get more than they bargained for when Dr. Marrow tells them of the house's ghostly past.

Director:

Jan de Bont

Writers:

David Self (screenplay), Shirley Jackson (novel)

Stars:

Liam Neeson, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Owen Wilson

3 wins & 14 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Liam Neeson	...	Dr. David Marrow
Catherine Zeta-Jones	...	Theo
Owen Wilson	...	Luke Sanderson
Lili Taylor	...	Nell
Bruce Dern	...	Mr. Dudley
Marian Seldes	...	Mrs. Dudley
Alix Koromzay	...	Mary Lambetta
Todd Field	...	Todd Hackett
Virginia Madsen	...	Jane
Michael Cavanaugh	...	Dr. Malcolm Keogh
Tom Irwin	...	Lou
Charles Gunning	...	Hugh Crain
Saul Priever	...	Ritchie
M.C. Gainey	...	Large Man
Hadley Eure	...	Carolyn Crain

Storyline

A remake of the classic 1963 movie "The Haunting" about a team of paranormal experts who look into strange occurrences in an ill-fated house. Through the course of the night some will unravel, some will question, and all will fight for their lives as the house fights back.

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Plot Keywords:

haunted house | mansion | insomniac | horror movie remake | old house | 

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Taglines:

There once was a house, a bright happy home. Then something bad happened, and now it sits all alone. These (pillars) are its bones. These (walls) are its skin. These (windows) are its eyes. WON'T YOU COME IN?

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Genres:

Fantasy | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for intense horror sequences

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 July 1999 (USA)

Also Known As:

La maldición

Filming Locations:

Belvoir Castle, Belvoir, Leicestershire, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$80,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$33,435,140, 25 July 1999, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$91,411,151

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$177,311,151

Company Credits

Production Co:

DreamWorks, Roth-Arnold Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

113 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital EX SDDS DTS-ES

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Voice-actors in this movie Courtland Mead and Travis Tedford appeared in The Little Rascals (1994).

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Goofs

(at around 45 mins) When Nell is doing the puzzles Dr. Marrow gave her, the first two we see are done with a green magic marker, yet we saw her using a pencil.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Jane: You already owe two months worth of rent.
Eleanor "Nell" Vance: It's mine, and you're not taking it away.
Jane: Read the will, Nell. It states in plain language, the executor shall have the right to dispose of any and all personal property, as he shall see fit.
Eleanor "Nell" Vance: He's not even real family.
Jane: Yeah, maybe not, but clearly Mother thought Lou would be better off dealing with these unpleasant details than you.
Eleanor "Nell" Vance: [angrily] Unpleasant details? What have I been dealing with for the past eleven years? I've cooked, I've ...

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Crazy Credits

At the beginning, the music from Dreamwork's studio is not heard. Instead we hear the strange noises from inside Hill House.

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Alternate Versions

Theatrical release: When Theo and Nell meet Luke (just those three), Theo boldly asked Luke if he was gay or straight. Luke answered straight. I saw this film in the theater in the first week of its release in the summer of 1999 and remember this. DVD and other releases do not have this scene. It was brief and might not matter much, but I was always curious why it was cut after the theatrical release.

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Connections

Referenced in The Andrew Klavan Show: Blaming Harvey's Victims (2017)

User Reviews

A lackluster supernatural thriller.

* and 1/2 stars out of ****

The Haunting is actually a relatively decent film for the first 45 or so minutes. The setup is promising, the production design of the mansion is a sight to behold, and the cast seems to be enjoying themselves. It's unfortunate, however, because after that the film begins to fall apart, leading all the way to the ridiculously bad finale.

Dr. David Marrow (Liam Neeson) is conducting a test on fear, using the bait-and-switch method. By doing so, he's pretending to do a study on insomnia at the Crain estate, a manor 9 miles from the closest town. The "test subjects" that arrive include Eleanor (Lili Taylor), a hard-working woman who has had little success in life, Theo (Catherine Zeta-Jones), an adventuress and proclaimed bi-sexual, and Luke (Owen Wilson), an all-around jokester.

On the first night in the mansion, Eleanor and Theo hear thundering sounds in the walls, but pass it off as a problem in the plumbing. But events get even more bizarre, as Eleanor sees some sort of a figure inside the fireplace, that just as soon disappears. Slowly, Eleanor begins to believe that there are ghosts in the house, ghosts of dead children and the owner of the mansion himself, the evil Hugh Crain. She also makes a discover about her connection with the mansion that could help free the children's spirits.

The Haunting never features one scary moment. Rather than going for subtle chills or all-out shocks like in House on Haunted Hill, Jan De Bont prefers to rely everything on the special effects, which really are rather unconvincing, particularly the statues that come to life and the CGI ghosts.

It even manages to get worse. Now, to be fair, the film was getting dull by the 90-minute mark so I was initially entertained by the effects-filled finale. But everything gets positively ridiculous in the last ten minutes, as we find out evil ghosts like to play hide-and-seek and smash things up real good.

The blame should fall on director Jan De Bont and writer David Self. De Bont seems to care more about what special effect to use next to "wow" the audience rather than actually trying anything innovative. Self really can't seem to write a good story or truly interesting characters. The dialogue is perhaps the worse of his writing skills.

The only thing that keeps this film from a lower rating is the cast, and they do their best to keep the film respectable. Liam Neeson probably delivers the best performance, being neither as dull or unemotional as critics thought. Catherine Zeta-Jones shows a lot of life as Theo, as does Owen Wilson. It's a pity that Lili Taylor's performance, which was decent at first, turned to borderline camp by the finale.

With nary a true scare in sight, The Haunting should best be seen by those who are scared easily or special effects fans. For everybody else, this is probably a house not to spend the night at.