The Haunting
| Year: | 1999 |
| Production Co: | Dreamworks SKG |
| Director: | Jan de Bont |
| Producer: | Colin Wilson |
| Writer: | Shirley Jackson |
| Cast: | Liam Neeson, Lily Taylor, Catherine Zeta Jones, Owen Wilson, Bruce Dern, Virginia Madsen, M C Gainey |
Almost universally panned remake of 1963's The Haunting of Hill House (renamed to avoid confusion with the later-released House on Haunted Hill) where three very disparate people (Taylor, Zeta-Jones, Wilson) converge on a seemingly haunted mansion led by a scientist (Neeson).
He tells them he's doing a study on sleep patterns, but in reality he knows the history of the mansion (complete with a bloody family feud and the enslavement of large numbers of children for hard labour work) and is studying the paranormal but never expected the house to be so violently dangerous. Whether he knows or cares that the house really is is never resolved, one of the biggest misfires of the plot
Some jumps, a bit of interest, a lame final scene payoff, and another nail in de Bont's coffin since he abandoned the cinematographer's chair to be a Hollywood action thriller director, sinking rapidly until Tomb Raider 2.
Supposedly had Spielberg's involvement, but he denies it - perhaps seeing the final result.
He tells them he's doing a study on sleep patterns, but in reality he knows the history of the mansion (complete with a bloody family feud and the enslavement of large numbers of children for hard labour work) and is studying the paranormal but never expected the house to be so violently dangerous. Whether he knows or cares that the house really is is never resolved, one of the biggest misfires of the plot
Some jumps, a bit of interest, a lame final scene payoff, and another nail in de Bont's coffin since he abandoned the cinematographer's chair to be a Hollywood action thriller director, sinking rapidly until Tomb Raider 2.
Supposedly had Spielberg's involvement, but he denies it - perhaps seeing the final result.