Scary My Ass (The Haunting (DVD))

Member Name: belucky88

Product:	The Haunting (DVD)
Date:	22/02/01 (51 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: good FX

Disadvantages: No frights here

Jan de Bont has something of an up and down career in film making.The cinematographer turned Director hit the big time with speed,then found He was contractually tied to its uninspired sequal.Then came Twister a rollercoaster ride of awesome effects but the film lacked character development.

The Haunting is both a step forward and backward in the Directors struggling filmography.
This is a movie that promises so much,a traditional ghost story that also makes much use of the ground breaking computer generated effects,of Phil Tippet and Craig Hayes-but the combination hits and misses in equal proportion.

Based more on Shirley Jacksons Book"The Haunting Of Hill House",than on the brilliant 1963 film.The story tells how three people are hired to take part in an experiment on deprived sleep.
Dr.Marrow (Liam Neeson) and His three "Mice",Theo,(Catherine Zeta Jones),Luke
(Owen Wilson) and Eleanor(Lili Taylor) arrive at Hill House,a huge forbiding mansion,an ideal setting to produce the best effects for the experiment.
But lack of sleep is not on the good Doctors mind,no its something else,that moaning in the dark,that sudden drop of temperature.The paranormal is where Dr.Marrow is and Hill House is the best place to go........

The film centres on Eleanor one of lifes victims,having looked after Her unwell mother for eleven years,Nell is left nothing in the family will,now homeless the prospect of nine hundred dollars a week is enough for Her to accept the job at Hill House.
But there is a deeper meaning for Her being there,one that even She doesnt understand.

Played with all Her heart by Lili Taylor,Nell is intense and sympathetic and painfully at odds with Catherine Zeta Jones whose bi-sexual character over acts to such a degree that She becomes nothing more than cardboard.
Zeta Jones detracts from the central character for all the wrong reasons,its a major misjudgement and one that seriously d
amages the film.

Liam Neeson also suffers,His character never develops enough to win the audience
over.A man of science,dedicated and one prepared to take risks to further His career.
Yet as soon as the seriousness of the Haunting reveals itself,Neeson is prepared to cut short the experiment revealing His human side.
He becomes a man way out of His depth,but the script fails miserably here,We never sense the anguish of the character as He realises that His experiment has in fact placed three innocent people in mortal danger.
Neeson struggles to express His anguish by facial expression but thats all He can do because the script writers have given Him nothing to say.

The last remaining character is Luke played by Owen Wilson,whose function to the whole proceedings remains a mystery,He cracks a few jokes and suffers a nice death.
Aside from that He generates nothing.

Nell is the only character of any depth and even this is limited,because She has no other believeable character to play off.
In consequence the film hinges on Her relationship with the House,She feels at Home there.In fact She is the only one of the team who isnt afraid of all the paranormal behaviour going on around Her.
But the others dont even pick up on it,no one evens questions why She is so at Home here.
When the message "Welcome Home Eleanor" is found written in blood(whose blood we never know.Do ghosts really bleed?)they all blame each other but never stop to think what the message may really mean.

The characters dont think and that in a nut shell is the problem with the film.

It does however contain one or two effective sequences,the death of Luke comes swift and sudden,ironically its one of the films few non computer effects.
Here De Bont's timing is perfect in making the audience jump.
Another scene showing Nell and Theo struck with awe as the temperature suddenly drops producing visible signs of
breath,is suitable creepy.

These scenes reveal what could have been rather than what is.
De Bont treats ghosts in exactly the same way that He did tornados, He opts for a rollercoaster ride of effects,each more elaborate than the last and ,yes these are highly effective computer graphics,but this is a double edged sword .The film displays its effects in well lit rooms and not in the shadows.

By doing so De Bont loses so much atmosphere.Things are so much more creepy in the half light,here everything is bright in centre frame in all its glory,but wheres the tension and sudden shocks that come out of the dark.
They are not here because the Director has played His ace card too soon.

On the plus side,the film makers used Harlaxton Manor near Grantham Lincolnshire England for its exterior locations.Its a wonderful choice for a haunted house,huge and very very gothic.

The interior set design by Eugenio Zanetti is simply wonderful,huge creations,a multitude of colours and styles that make the mansion almost surreal in its appearance.
The human characters are physically lost within its scale.Take for example the great hall,fifteen thousand feet of floor space and over forty foot high.The film really needs to be viewed in widescreen to appreciate the work involved here.

So whats left?

As a horror film "The Haunting"is a bit of a failure,but as a display for ground breaking special effects its a hit.

Its just a shame that the Director didnt choose to combine both worlds into His ghost story,then we might have had a truely memorable film.

DVD FEATURES

Technical Stuff.....
Anamorphic widescreen 2.35.1 enhanced for 16.9 tv.
5.1 dolby surround sound.
One hour fifty three minutes running time.
Colour.
Subtitles English only.
The print is very clear without blocking,colours sharp,audio track is also very good.

Special Features...
The disc cont
ains an entertaining Documentary,not only on the making of the film but also on some true life hauntings and some older movies.
This is rather short at less than half an hour but covers a lot of ground.
This also includes on screen introductions by Zeta Jones whose performance here must rate as one of the worst ever.So over the top is She,that send up would be a better description.
Before anyone hits on me saying I must dislike Her as an actress,let Me just state that She was utterly convincing in the "Mask Of Zorro".She is highly attractive and can do much better than this.

Also included are two trailers one an interesting pre-release teaser,the other a release trailer show casing scenes from the film.

Other features include cast and film makers Biographies and the usual production notes,which trace the history of the film in brief detail.
All in all its not a bad Dvd although its not a great one either.

Summary: