The Haunting
for intense horror sequences.
Reviewed by: Jason Murphy
CONTRIBUTOR
| Moral Rating: | Very Offensive |
| Moviemaking Quality: |
|
| Primary Audience: | Teen to Adult |
| Genre: | Horror |
| Length: | 112 min. |
| Year of Release: | 1999 |
| USA Release: |
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| Featuring | Liam Neeson, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Owen Wilson, Lili Taylor, Bruce Dern, Marian Seldes |
| Director |
Jan de Bont |
| Producer | |
| Distributor |
“The Haunting” has several elements that are very good, but ultimately the film is a very mediocre one at best. It’s a horror film, but it’s not scary. Nor is it the type of film that’s so bad that it’s just fun to watch and poke fun at.
“The Haunting” is a remake of the 1963 adaptation of the novel of the same name. It follows the patients of a psychologist who is doing a study on fear, in the guise of sleep-disorder research. He takes his patients to a spooky house, but while they stay there over the weekend, the house develops a bond with one of the patients. While the 1963 film used sound and psychological suggestion to promote a feeling of terror, the newer version quickly abandons this in favor of an all-out CGI-effects-fest that, instead of being scary, look pretty cheesy and silly instead. They are not bad effects, they just feel horribly misused.
To be fair, there are a couple of scenes that might make one jump, and the atmospheric build-up for the first half hour of the film is somewhat effective. This is largely due to the amazing set design. The house looks terrific and creepy, with opulent rooms and eerie statues, and a fireplace that looks like the gaping mouth of some strange face.
The cinematography through most of the film is also pretty good, as is the score. The acting isn’t terrible, but is nothing great, and coupled with the pretty lousy screenplay, the characters are just not very convincing.
From a Christian perspective, the movie is hardly the bane of all good morals, but it’s got little good going for it. While the violence quotient is relatively low for a horror film, someone is briefly shown being beheaded. There is also some brief profanity, and a few sexual innuendos, including the token gratuitously bisexual character. In short, don’t bother watching “The Haunting”. It’s escapist entertainment, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The problem is that it fails to entertain.
