Haunting - Presenze

I have seen the 1999 movie "The Haunting" a couple of times now over the years since it was initially released. Well, this remake, I mean, not the original movie.

Personally, then I do enjoy it, as it is a rather good supernatural haunting genre movie. Sure, there are flaws to it, but in overall, then this movie makes for good entertainment and I will say that director Jan de Bont was good at setting up the scenes and building up suspense and thrills.

First of all, the movie boasts a pretty impressive cast list, which includes the likes of Liam Neeson, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Owen Wilson, Lily Taylor, Bruce Dern and Virginia Madsen. So there is an abundance of good acting performers in the movie in various roles.

And the movie also have some pretty nice special effects, which were definitely super spectacular in 1999 as the movie was released. But I will say that the special effects actually still hold their own even in 2019, passing as something you could just as easily see in movies made today.

And looking at the incredible details they put into the house, that is enough to boggle your mind. Actually the movie is worth sitting down to watch a second time, just to pay attention to the level of incredible detail they put into Hill House. It is spectacular, and there is just so much to see. I keep finding more details every time I sit down to watch it. So thumbs up, way, way, way up for the commitment put into the sets and props.

The storyline told in "The Haunting" is pretty straight forward, actually to the point where it becomes generic in terms of a haunted house story. But hey, we know what we are in for when we sit down to watch a movie such as this. Regardless, I was - and still am - more than entertained by this movie when I have sat down to watch it over the years. So the movie does have enough contents to it to sustain more than a single viewing.

While this is a supernatural haunted house movie in the horror genre, then the movie wasn't really scary to a seasoned horror veteran such as myself. But luckily it is the storyline and the suspense and building up the scenes that keeps the movie fresh and interesting.

If you enjoy haunting movies, then you definitely should take the time to sit down and watch the 1999 "The Haunting" if you haven't already seen it.

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.

One would like movies like these to be scary, or at least chilling, but de Bont's Haunting is just plain stupid. The house and settings are great to look at but most of the effort on making the film has gone into over-the-top computer generated effects and zombie looking actors, while the script makes no sense at all. How much fun is it to watch Lili Taylor walking around talking to herself in order to help the audience understand what is happening on screen? Unintentionally funny moments include Mr Crain's incredibly bad make up and Owen Wilson not being able to climb over a closed gate. In short, stay away from Hill House.

I like this one - of course the real star of The Haunting is the house and the interior - awesome, marvelous, top of the pop, whatever. The story itself of course is a well known one but the cast (Neeson, Zeta-Jones, Wilson, Lili Taylor ) works just solid to good with the story provided. All in all a nice haunted house movie that really lacks only here and there some (serious) gore and maybe one or two unique ideas to make it a more mature horror movie. My rate 6 + 1 bonus for the outstanding settings.

Maybe some billionaire with some spare money reads this --> email me: we will build and plan that mansio together and I will do the housekeeping ;)

Well, my goodness, am I disappointed. When I first heard news of a remake of Robert Wise's 1963 film, "The Haunting", I had a fear that it would be ruined by an abundance of summer-movie sized visual effects. But, deep down, I had faith. Surely, with such a talented cast intact...De Bont and company will not ruin a film, who's original was a fantastic and frightening movie that understood the delicate art of subtlety. Well, subtlety, where are you now!!?? My fears have manifested...a promising movie has gone wrong. Yes, Eugenio Zannetti's production design is jaw-dropping; the movie is wonderfully photographed; and composer Jerry Goldsmith can never EVER do wrong. But, the script puts it's fine actors to the test..asking them to deliver the kind of stilted dialogue that is only spoken in movies. In the end, the always wonderful Lili Taylor is the only performer to escape with some dignity...and that's just barely. But, the crime of all crimes is that the horror is shown to us. We can no longer use our imaginations, feel that horrible dread of fear of the unknown. No, we get some visual effects to SHOW US what we're supposed to be afraid of...and you know what? As wonderfully realized as they are...the visual effects come off as sort of silly. And the climax is a phantasmogoric mess...but things had gone terribly wrong long before that.

Everything in The Haunting is overdone and overblown. I'm afraid there are no real thrills or creaks in this old haunted house monstrosity...only groans. Check out the original instead.