Movie Review: The Haunting (1999)

The Haunting 

DreamWorks SKG, Roth-Arnold Productions, USA, UK, 1999. 

This is a remake of he Haunting (1963). Both are based on the 1959 novel, "The Haunting of Hill House" by Shirley Jackson. 

Eleanor's a.k.a Nell's (Lili Taylor) mother dies and her sister Jane (Virginia Madsen) and Jane's boyfriend Lou (Tom Irwin) want to evict Nell. Dr. David Marrow (Liam Neeson) invites Nell to participate in an insomnia study. However the real purpose of the experiment is about studying fear reactions. Talk about ethics! 

The experiments will be conducted in eerie Hill House. Mr. Dudley (Bruce Dern) and Mrs. Dudley (Marian Seldes) are the housekeepers who prefer to leave the house before it gets dark. Two other participants are Theodora (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and Luke (Owen Wilson). Nell is a very reserved person, Theo is flirty and Luke is easygoing. 

Dr. Marrow and his assistants Todd (Todd Field) and Mary (Alix Koromzay) arrive. The house was built by millionaire Hugh Crain who loved children but never got his own. However he was not as nice guy as it first seems. At night the house starts to make weird noises. Nell begins to unravel the mystery of the house. The ghost of Hugh is waking up but no one believes Nell until it is too late. 

I would like to compare this with the 1963 version, but I don't have it. This is the other haunted house movie remake released in 1999, the other being "House on the Haunted Hill". Both of them used CGI effects heavy-handedly. Neither of them are good, but both have some good parts also. "The Haunting" has nice gothic atmosphere and good cinematography in the first half. The mansion's interiors look nice and massive. However as a horror film it is weak.The film smells of having disagreements in production, as the plot makes some weird leaps and some ideas of the first half are abandoned. For example Dr. Marrow's experiment seems to be based only on a vague ghost story he tells to Luke. Also Theo suddenly turns from  posh vamp to action heroine.

The main star of the movie is Lili Taylor who plays well a fragile but determined woman. The other actors have little to do in the movie. Owen Wilson does not wander far from his usual buddy-roles, side-plot regarding Catherine Zeta-Jones's vampiness is abandoned after the start, Liam Neeson's psychiatrist character is a bit downplayed and the other actors just quickly pop in. 

Rating: Average 

Starring:  Liam Neeson, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Owen Wilson, Lili Taylor, Bruce Dern, Marian Seldes, Alix Koromzay, Todd Field, Virginia Madsen, Michael Cavanaugh, Tom Irwin, Charles Gunning, Saul Priever, M.C. Gainey, Hadley Eure, Kadina de Elejalde, Alessandra Benjamin, Karen S. Gregan, Brandon Jarrett, Mary McNeal, Bill Minkin, Alix Koromza 

Voices of: Debi Derryberry, Jessica Evans, Sherry Lynn, Miles Marsico, Courtland Mead, Kelsey Mulrooney, Kyle McDougle, Hannah Swanson, Travis Tedford 

Director: Jan de Bont