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.Written by
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This is the third movie composed by the late Oscar Winner Jerry Goldsmith which was plagued by production problems during the making or in post production in 1999. The others include The Mummy, which was a box office hit but had problems on set including the near death of Brendan Fraser during the hanging scene with Goldsmith himself not too happy with what writing the music for and The 13th Warrior starring Antonio Banderas in which the film was delayed from its' original May 1998 scheduled release date under the films' original title, Eaters of the Dead, which was based on the book by Michael Crichton in which after the film was screened and studio executives were not happy with Director John McTiernan's cut of the film, Crichton himself took over the project and reshot alot of material and hired Goldsmith who was Crichton's most trusted musical collaborator to replace the score originally written by Graeme Revell and retitled the movie. This film also suffered the same problem as The 13th Warrior, in which Steven Spielberg was not happy with the cut assembled by Director Jan DeBont and ordered reshoots to be done against DeBont's wishes which put more emphasis on the house itself and more visual effects than the psychological story that DeBont was trying to tell. Spielberg prevailed at the end and would be the one involved in the post production of the film and hiring Goldsmith for the music, which he coincidentally did for Poltergeist 17 years earlier. See more »
Goofs
From the outside, rooms have square window frames, from the inside they are arched. The ceilings, when filmed from the inside of the house, are at least 30 ft high; seen from the outside they can't be more than 15 feet. See more »
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 cleaned, ...
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Crazy Credits
Hill House briefly appears in the blackness of the screen just before the title appears. See more »
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. See more »
It's a remake to long deemed one of the masterly crafted stories of horror ever brought to the screen ¨Haunting¨(1963) by Robert Wise , a gripping film which still packs a punch . Hill House is a hundred-year-old haunted mansion , it is the setting for chosen group . The haunted house has an evil history with tragic accidents, suicide, and human misjudgement. It seems which the scary mansion has been the place of several killing deaths . A psychologist scientist (Liam Neeson) is a Pyschic researcher who assembles a group with histories linked to the paranormal. As three people are lured to an eerie mansion deceived for fake pretenses realized by a psychological researcher . Nell (Lili Taylor) was the subject of unexplained poltergeist activities as a child. She also is riddled with pain over her mother's death. Theo (Catherine Zeta Jones) is a clairvoyant who befriends Nell at Hill House. Owen Wilson plays a cynical and Bon Vivant sent to make sure that the property is not affected by the researchers. Together the group explore Hill House and their own insecurities and finally face off the evil that inhabits with hair-raising results .
Mindless and average film is packed with thrills, intrigue, suspense, horror and lots of interminable screams with no sense. However , this is an inferior version that relies heavily on the impressive special effects courtesy of ILM - Industrial Light Magic- , George Lucas owner . High budget makes for big scary scream-feast and frights . Splendid Lili Taylor as a fragile , lovely youth who results to have unexpected ties to the creepy ghost , she's the only redeeming feature of this uneven movie. Supposedly based on Shirley Jackson's creepy tale titled ¨The haunting of Hill House¨, it has little in common with the novel . Stirring and exciting musical score fitting to terror by the veteran maestro Jerry Goldsmith . Very good and colorful cinematography by Karl Walter Lindellaub . Director Jan De Bont created a taut drama where the real question is who is haunted and who may be unstable.The picture is middling realized in his third-time as director by Jan De Bont, a successful cameraman (Basic Instict, Die Hard) and Paul Verhoveen's ordinary photographer and occasionally director (Speed , Twister). The film will appeal to Liam Neeson and Catherine Zeta Jones fans. This is a chilling adaptation from Shirley Jackson's novel based on an assortment of ghouls and ghosts and gets a mediocre rating . It turns out to be a chiller with all the FX budget can be created , being lavishly produced ,but also contains several scenes in little sense and no logic.
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It's a remake to long deemed one of the masterly crafted stories of horror ever brought to the screen ¨Haunting¨(1963) by Robert Wise , a gripping film which still packs a punch . Hill House is a hundred-year-old haunted mansion , it is the setting for chosen group . The haunted house has an evil history with tragic accidents, suicide, and human misjudgement. It seems which the scary mansion has been the place of several killing deaths . A psychologist scientist (Liam Neeson) is a Pyschic researcher who assembles a group with histories linked to the paranormal. As three people are lured to an eerie mansion deceived for fake pretenses realized by a psychological researcher . Nell (Lili Taylor) was the subject of unexplained poltergeist activities as a child. She also is riddled with pain over her mother's death. Theo (Catherine Zeta Jones) is a clairvoyant who befriends Nell at Hill House. Owen Wilson plays a cynical and Bon Vivant sent to make sure that the property is not affected by the researchers. Together the group explore Hill House and their own insecurities and finally face off the evil that inhabits with hair-raising results .
Mindless and average film is packed with thrills, intrigue, suspense, horror and lots of interminable screams with no sense. However , this is an inferior version that relies heavily on the impressive special effects courtesy of ILM - Industrial Light Magic- , George Lucas owner . High budget makes for big scary scream-feast and frights . Splendid Lili Taylor as a fragile , lovely youth who results to have unexpected ties to the creepy ghost , she's the only redeeming feature of this uneven movie. Supposedly based on Shirley Jackson's creepy tale titled ¨The haunting of Hill House¨, it has little in common with the novel . Stirring and exciting musical score fitting to terror by the veteran maestro Jerry Goldsmith . Very good and colorful cinematography by Karl Walter Lindellaub . Director Jan De Bont created a taut drama where the real question is who is haunted and who may be unstable.The picture is middling realized in his third-time as director by Jan De Bont, a successful cameraman (Basic Instict, Die Hard) and Paul Verhoveen's ordinary photographer and occasionally director (Speed , Twister). The film will appeal to Liam Neeson and Catherine Zeta Jones fans. This is a chilling adaptation from Shirley Jackson's novel based on an assortment of ghouls and ghosts and gets a mediocre rating . It turns out to be a chiller with all the FX budget can be created , being lavishly produced ,but also contains several scenes in little sense and no logic.