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Post by wmcclain on Oct 26, 2021 17:09:24 GMT
The Haunting (1999), directed by Jan de Bont. Another example of the perils of remakes. On the plus side: - An attractive cast: Liam Neeson and Catherine Zeta-Jones are always worth seeing and this is a showpiece for Lili Taylor, last seen in Say Anything... (1989). I can't take Owen Wilson seriously in anything, but this is not a serious film so maybe it doesn't matter.
- The opulent set design is a marvel. "Charles Foster Kane meets the Munsters" quips one character.
- In the first part they play off The Haunting (1963) nicely, mocking the housekeeper's practiced riff: "I leave before the dark. So there won't be anyone around if you need help. We couldn't hear you. In the night. In the dark".
- Another layer of deception is added, which might have worked. In the book and original film the visitors are legitimate psychic researchers. This time "sleep research" is a cover story for the unethical prof who is actually studying "fear".
The downside dominates: - The sets are so rich they completely distract us from the story. The house is practically a castle and has impossible rooms: a mechanized mirrored ballroom and a flooded hallway. Do the housekeeper and her husband (Bruce Dern, sadly underused) maintain all that?
- The effects take over and obliterate the plot, particularly in the second half.
- Everything has to be explained. Everything has to be shown and made explicit. Nothing can be left to mystery, a place for the imagination to work.
- When curdling the blood, less really can be more. In The Haunting (1963) Robert Wise suggested more with a piece of wallpaper than provided by the entirety of this film:
![](http://watershade.net/public/haunting-1999-2.jpg)
Finally: what is more scary in a haunted house: wood (1963) or stone (1999)? Wood creaks. Jerry Goldsmith score. Available on Blu-ray. Good looking image, but grainless. ![](http://watershade.net/public/haunting-1999.jpg)
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Post by masterofallgoons on Oct 26, 2021 18:28:23 GMT
My memory was that this was absolutely horrible, but I rewatched it last year and while it still had many issues, there was a lot more to like about it than I remembered. The set design, which ends up going way overboard and becomes too much of the action, is still truly impressive and ominous, and that alone made this worth watching. And the cast isn't too shabby. Yes, Bruce Dern is crazily underused, but I suppose that has a lot to do with this being a realitively faithful adaptation of the book (despite some odd changes, and some modernizing). But other than Owen Wilson sticking out like a sore fucking thumb, you're right that everybody looks great and has some charisma, and I think Lili Taylor does a great job carrying the film.
Yes, the Robert Wise version was far superior, but this isn't terrible. Just very disappointing.
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Post by politicidal on Oct 26, 2021 21:28:05 GMT
Pretty mediocre but I love the design of the house.
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Post by Lebowskidoo 🦞 on Oct 27, 2021 13:53:58 GMT
Like you said, looks great but cannot hold a candle to the original for pure terror or acting ability, no offense meant to Lili Taylor, who is great, see her performance in The Conjuring (2013). It's just that Julie Harris is a tough act to follow.
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Post by Nalkarj on Oct 27, 2021 15:24:59 GMT
I love the design of the house so much that I can’t hate the movie—which, as masterofallgoons says, is more disappointing than terrible. The problem with this movie is that, as wmcclain says, with all this budget and all this atmosphere the filmmakers let the special effects take over. Such a disappointing movie, but oh those sets! That mirror room is forever stuck in my imagination. Also: Am I the only one who far prefers Lili Taylor’s Nell to Julie Harris’s? I’ve always found Harris unbearably whiny and irritating in the original Haunting, to the point that I almost never want to watch it despite all the great spook scenes.
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Post by Captain Spencer on Oct 27, 2021 15:29:35 GMT
I remember seeing the TV ads with some of the scenes with the obvious CGI and I thought to myself "Think I'll skip this one."
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The Pumpkin King
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Post by The Pumpkin King on Nov 9, 2021 9:59:24 GMT
@masterofgalloons "It's not terrible, just very disappointing." This couldn't describe the film any better in a sentence.I'm a little more bias on liking the movie because I watched it in the cinema. As much as I want to not like it at all, I remember my first viewing of it and still remember my favorite scenes from it. The corny actor Owen Wilson was pretty annoying, combinations of immature, child-like and obnoxious. I was honestly waiting for his character to die. I've watched cornier performances, though.The set design does help save the movie in a lot of people's minds. I think I loved the set more with my earlier watches. The earlier CGI effects do become apparent the entire second half of the film. However, what isn't CGI in the movie, is quite beautiful.Like the OP said, Neeson and Zeta-Jones are generally fun to watch in almost anything. The extended cast is also neat and familiar to anyone who appreciates the often unmentioned cast members. Actress Alix Koromzay (who played the redhead assistant Mary), was great in little horror movie roles; "Nightwatch" and "Mimic" to name a couple other roles with her. It's random to catch a little bit of actor Todd Field (who played Neeson's other assistant), future director of the Oscar nominated films "In The Bedroom" and "Little Children." You also have the random casting of voice actress Sherry Lynn (who voiced a female voice child), best remembered in the role of Mom in all of the "Toy Story" movies. Actor Bruce Dern was incredibly underused, hasn't he been though in almost every movie since 1999? You catch Dern in movies like "Monster" and "Django Unchained" and "Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood" and you want to see more of him always.
There's no doubt that this movie is Lili Taylor's film. Rightfully so. I always found her a very free spirted person on and offscreen throughout her career. The OP was being a bit unfair when saying Taylor hasn't been seen since the 1989 movie, "Say Anything." Taylor starred in the 1991 romance movie, "Dogfight," opposite of actor River Phoenix. Taylor starred in the 1995 B&W vampire film, "The Addiction," opposite of actors Christopher Walken and Annabella Sciorra. She had many other smaller fun roles, like in the forgotten 1993 movie, "American Dream," opposite of actor Johnny Depp. To me she's always been a star in the supporting cast, even more of a star in her leading performances. She's dashing.This film was a huge departure from director Jan de Bont's first two movies before "The Haunting," his other movies just before, "Speed" and "Twister" were riveting with action and amazement. I remember "Twister" being one of those first great CGI movies I watched alongside "Jurassic Park," and "Independence Day" of their time. "The Haunting" unfortunately doesn't compare to those films, but de Bont does give a respectable effort in other aspects (set design).There's no point in comparing this film to the original, as 90% of the time original films are more superior. Although you do get those tidbit visuals that the original films could've never shown you back in the day.
And yes, I was satisfied when I watched Luke Wilson die Or rather Owen Wilson, either brother in most movies. (;Thank you!![](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22012319/haunting_owen_wilson_head.gif) ![]() ![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/583c906ebe659429d1106265/1633897322164-WIQOVPGF3OIJDT1L4K25/3164d13df040b77886c223d175b9339f.gif?format=1000w)
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Post by moviebuffbrad on Nov 9, 2021 18:51:28 GMT
Are this and Speed 2 the worst one-two punch of a mainstream director in history?
The only memorable part of this movie is Owen Wilson managing to get his head bitten off by a lion statue. Even as a kid, its scares and CG ghost tots were just corny. And I was pretty fed up of Lili Taylor and her "the children!" shenanigans by the end.
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