The Haunting (1999) review.
25 years ago, the director of Speed tried his hands at a horror movie. 25 years later…it’s still bad.
Classic movie reviews will contain spoilers.
The Haunting
Directed by Jan de Bont
Screenplay by David Self
Starring Liam Neeson, Lili Taylor, Catherine Zeta Jones, Owen Wilson, Virginia Madsen, Bruce Dern and Marian Seldes
The Haunting (1999) Review
I used to go to every horror movie on opening night. In 1999, The Haunting was no different. I can remember being excited about seeing a big budget, star-studded mainstream horror film on the big screen. I also remember being bored out of my mind within thirty minutes of the picture starting. The 25th anniversary of Jan de Bont’s adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s famous novel seemed like a good time for a re-evaluation. Sitting down to watch the movie for the first time since opening night…I found myself excited once again. Perhaps I had misjudged the movie in my youth. Maybe there was a hidden classic just waiting to be rediscovered. … I was bored within thirty minutes. Again.
It isn’t difficult to spot what went wrong with The Haunting. A great cast and an elaborate setting can’t make up for a movie completely lacking suspense. There is an almost impressive failure to build tension in this movie. Jan de Bont had shown the ability to manufacture action-oriented suspense in both Speed and Twister. With The Haunting he confuses patience with anticipation. So little happens in The Haunting that it should be studied. What few attempts at horror even exist couldn’t scare anyone.
The movie was a financial success for DreamWorks. It was a critical flop for reasons that are not dulled with time. In fact, the use of dodgy at best CGI only dates the movie and turns the boorishness into silliness. While the film’s effects were surely better received at the time of release…25 years has not been kind to them. Simply put, almost nothing works here. Hill House is a massive structure. Despite the amount of time de Bont spends following his characters around it…you never get any sense of the building’s layout. The setting can only do so much heavy lifting when it just feels like disconnected large scale sets.
The cast can only do so much as well. Lili Taylor does everything possible to make a ridiculous script work. She is the only reason the film is even watchable. The script comes for her in the end too. A growing unease turns into repeated phrases like “I’m not scared anymore” and “I have to save the children”. No actor could make the climax of The Haunting work. A CGI mess with some of the worst dialogue ever written. The only horror in this movie is how thoroughly it wastes Taylor’s considerable talent.
It wastes the charms of the rest of its well-known cast too. Catherine Zeta-Jones had just broken out in The Mask of Zorro. She was one of the hottest actresses in Tinseltown. Owen Wilson was on the rise following roles in Armageddon and Anaconda. Liam Neeson had starred in the number one movie of that same year (Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace). He had found previous critical acclaim in Best Picture winner Schindler’s List. None of them can save The Haunting.
What makes 1999’s The Haunting so perplexing is that variations on Jackson’s story have found great success both before and after. Robert Wise’s 1963 adaptation received critical acclaim. It stands as a classic of 60s horror cinema. Jackson herself disliked it, of course…but she was a tough critic. More recently Mike Flanagan’s Netflix mini-series reimagined the story into one of the finest horror series in television history. Clearly, the source material is not at fault for The Haunting’s failures.
In truth, it’s not just one thing that derails this movie. The script is awful. There is zero energy in the direction. You’ve seen more suspense in a credit card commercial. The cast is game…but are gifted dialogue no one can elevate. Effects look like 1999 CGI looks in 2024.
The plot centers around Nell (Taylor) a woman who is left with nothing following the death of her mother. She takes part in a well-paying sleep study at the infamous Hill House. Dr. Marrow (Neeson) is lying about the nature of his experiment…a choice that comes with a strange lack of consequences for his character. Luke (Wilson) and Theo (Zeta-Jones) are the other test-subjects. Luke is decapitated by a lion’s head statue long after you’ve checked out of the story. Theo and Marrow survive for some reason. Two more deaths would have helped liven up the plot.
Nell dies too…as she always does at Hill House. She’s afforded a heroic death for a change…saving the souls of lost children from the evil Hugh Crain. At least it solves her financial problems…the closest thing to a character arc that The Haunting gives to any of its characters. The story teases out Nell’s connection to the house and the deep backstory of Crain and his mansion. It’s never as exciting as de Bont seems to think it is. Which is as good a way to sum up 1999’s The Haunting as any.
Scare Value
There isn’t much that the talented cast could do here. The Haunting is as boring as it gets. It takes its sweet time getting to a point…failing to make its setting or characters stand out along the way. There is nothing remotely spooky about this haunted house. Lili Taylor’s performance keeps it from the absolute pits…but even that is inevitably betrayed by a comically bad script in the end. There are far better adventures to be had at Hill House. Literally any of them.
1.5/5
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