Haunting - Presenze

This remake of the sixties classic of the same name has unfortunately been somewhat slated by critics, although I feel it's better than most people seem to think it is.

The location work is stunning and the set design has clearly had a lot of work put into it.

Liam Neeson, Owen Wilson and Catherine Zeta Jones all perform their parts quite well, but Lili Taylor is not as good as she should be. On paper she should be perfect for the role of Nell and for much of the film she provokes the necessary sympathy. She seems unable, however, to scream properly, instead letting what sounds like an animal cry. Also, she seems to say "Oh No" in exactly the same tone of voice every time she sees something frightening, although to be fair this is as much the fault of the script as it is hers.

Towards the end the atmosphere is slightly diluted by such things as having the beds and statues spring to life which makes these scenes much less frightening than they could be.

In spite of all this, this movie has a certain something that regardless of it's faults, makes me want to watch it again and again, and ultimately you can't ask much more from a film than that.

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.

This movie is a remake of a truly horrifying and nightmare inducing 1963 film of the same name. Why Hollywood thinks that digital effects and campy acting is better than the imagination is beyond me. This film is so full of digital effects (none of which look real) and overacting that it cannot compare to the original film which starred Julie Harris and Claire Bloom. This film is just plain stupid. The original (in black and white) is still the scariest film I've ever seen (and I've seen them all). The original makes you use your imagination to fear the unseen - this remake doesn't allow you to do that and that is its biggest mistake.

I hadn't heard anything particularly good about this film, but I thought I would see it for myself. I was disappointed to a certain extent- because it just was not at all scary. it looked like it might be, and the haunting of Hill House certainly is a very creepy novel- but this film is just special effects wizardry and thats about all. It has a great cast, particularly Taylor, Neeson and Zeta-Jones, but they really do play second fiddle to the special effects. The set design really is magnificent, but the story is fairly average and the characters are unfortunately a little underdeveloped. By the end I was bit bored with the 'creepy house', because it just was not 'creepy' enough. Some of the lines were so laughable it could have been mistaken for a comedy. Visually stunning for a while, but when you run out of things to look at- there is nothing else of interest.

I didn't have too much of a hope I would like this new Jan De Bont film, but after giving it a go today, I was impressed. De Bont is a terrific creator of suspense and camera setups. All his hard work as a cinematographer paid off in movies such as these. He really knows how to build up an atmosphere accompanied by subtle visual effects and sound design. The way that big house groans and 'breathes' just makes my heart beat faster. Equally great is Jerry Goldsmith's score. In some scenes when combined with the atmospheric sound effects it made my neckhair stand up. I was genuinely terrified. A special mention must go to the art direction and set decoration. The house has such wonderful and at the same time disturbing architecture, the thought of having to spend a night there gives me the chills. About the acting, I thought it was nothing special. The Haunting is a solely audiovisual experience, where acting is only of secondary importance. In short, I enjoyed this movie and didn't think the ending was bad. I see about 200-300 movies each year, and I see a lot of bad ones, but this is not one of them. Go see it and decide for yourself.