Catherine Zeta Jones Movie:

				Salesrank: 191757
		Our Price: $64.94
		Used Price: $25.75
		MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) Media: DVD

Editorial Review:
Suffering from the extreme bad luck of being released at the same time as the low-budget The Blair Witch Project, this adaptation of The Haunting of Hill House attempts to update Shirley Jackson's psychologically terrifying ghost story to the era of big-budget, computerized special effects. Does it work? Well, let's just say that showing isn't exactly the same as telling. A prime example of bloated studio filmmaking, The Haunting telegraphs all its frights so blatantly that it forsakes any of Jackson's subtle horrors for the remedial scares of a clunky carnival ride. The story remains basically the same, with four people called to an old mansion for experiments in the supernatural, but instead of getting inside the heads of its main characters (as the 1963 adaptation by Robert Wise did so well), Jan DeBont's film deserts character development for the huge, glorious set design provided by Eugenio Zanetti (Restoration). Thus, instead of a well-drawn story you get... a well-drawn house, one that four very talented and underutilized actors--Lili Taylor, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Liam Neeson, and Owen Wilson--wander around in endlessly (as Zeta-Jones puts it, the house is "sort of Charles Foster Kane meets the Munsters"). Taylor, as the hypersensitive Nell, is the unknowing lynchpin in the battle between good and bad ghosts and gets saddled with most of the expository dialogue of the mansion's gothic backstory. Zeta-Jones (showing some spark) and Neeson (showing none) are sadly reduced to providing reactionary shots of the film's disastrous climax, which mixes hapless new-age affirmations with computer-generated effects of ghosts and exploding windows, walls, doors, etc. For this haunted-house story, take a quick tour of the breathtaking rooms, but definitely don't stay the night. --Mark Englehart

The Haunting [Region 2] Reviews:
Gorgeous production, awful movie
2008-09-25 - Get this one just to look at the sets and the stunning effects. I would say watch it with the sound off, but some of the sound design is impressive as well. They obviously spent a lot of money making this movie as beautiful as possible ... too bad they couldn't make it GOOD.

Shirley Jackson's novel _The Haunting of Hill House_ is one of my all-time favorites. I re-read it when I heard this movie was coming out, and I was eager to see it. It started well enough. Even though the premise behind the characters being there was changed, and "that's not what Hill House is supposed to look like!" I was willing to forgive these slight details, especially since Mrs. Dudley speaks a whole paragraph straight out of the book in her scene. I thought "they're actually going to do it! They're actually going to do a faithful rendition of the book!"

Nope.

When Mrs. Dudley exited screen right, so did any resemblance to the original novel. Hugh Crain's past, and the reason for the haunting (left so maddeningly unexplained in the original) are painfully and meticulously spelled out in an ever-more-stupid story arc that would have made even Barney the Dinosaur snort in derision at its utter childishness. This movie is not smart, it's not scary .. it doesn't even manage to be funny. It comes across as more of an insult, a slap in the face to fans of the original book. The 1963 movie version captured the novel's atmosphere much better. This version doesn't so much trample Shirley Jackson's grave as dump syrup all over it. Utterly horrible.

But it has great production values. You needn't feel ashamed of watching it for that. It's a great LOOKING movie, and that's why I was generous enough to give it 2 stars. Definitely worth a rental if you have a few hours to kill and don't feel like thinking.

Microwaved horror
2008-08-04 - Hollywood reheats a classic, but this cheap serving is hardly very appetizing. This remake throws some heavy morsels of CGI down your throat and will give you indigestion.
Same basic story, some people volunteer to stay in an extravagant mansion. This time they aren't told about the house's dark past. They believe they are part of a study on insomnia. The truth is they are part of a controlled experiment on group fear.
Now I thought this was a nice alteration to the story. But unfortunately it starts to get extremely ridiculous. Nothing subtle here, there are plenty of cheap scares--like ghostly images or moving statues. As it turns out this house is basically a holding cell for dead children's souls. The evil landlord's spirit keeps watch over them in this purgatory. Great, a perverted pedaphile ghost.
This turns into more of a goofy adventure flick. No spooky atmosphere or mystery. No suspense. No reason to bother.

I've seen scarier episodes of Scooby Doo.
2008-07-15 - "I'm not afraid of you Grandpa!!!"
That's nice.
Easily in the top twenty of worst horror movies EVER!!!
I never saw the original nor do I want to.
YET another movie I paid to see in the theater. I figured, if Liam Neeson is in it, it might be pretty good. WRONG!!!
A Hollyturd if there ever was one, The Haunting succeeds only at scaring me with it's utter worthlessness.
Dreadful acting, a story line that couldn't scare a toddler, lame direction......
Bad....JUST BAD!!!
From start to finish, a craptastic classic.
Coming close to being, "so bad it's good" but not quite.
Don't even bother with this disaster,
NOT RECOMMENDED!!!

Not bad
2008-04-29 - I bought this to replace the VHS version I had that had seen better days. This movie won't win any awards but as horror movies go it wasn't bad. It has a talented cast and I enjoy watching it from time to time.

A super fun spooky thriller!
2008-04-07 - The Film: The Haunting
Year Made: 1999

Overview: A group of strangers are brought to a spooky house with a promise of money if they are willing to take part in a innocent experiment. All seems innocent enough, until they arrive at Hill House. What they soon realize is there is a reason that nobody stays after dark!

The Package: 4 Stars. The holder is nice, with cool eerie shot of Hill House on the cover. When you open the holder, the CD is held nicely inside the case. I found it easy to pop out, but also stays put. There is a nice inlay included inside that has some information about the film and it's great to read about just how large the massive set was in the film. As far as extras, there is a behind the scenes feature as well as 2 trailers included! You get a short teaser trailer as well as the main longer trailer. Cast and filmmakers bios as well as production notes. Overall, a very nice package.

Spook Meter: 4 Stars. I have to say that this is without a doubt, in my top list of all-time! favorite films. As I watched this, I found I had so much FUN watching that I never wanted it to end. The size of the house made my jaw drop. My favorite was the carvings of the children's faces near the bed! Super spooky and oh so cool!!! This film has everything that a FUN horror, haunted house film should have. A massive huge house, creepy ghosts, eerie sounds, a plot that is built up at a great pace, super actors and actresses!! What more could I want? Nothing!

Gore/Violence Meter: 2 Stars. There is really zero gore in this what so ever. As far as violence, there is only a few parts where anything violent happen and the two parts are pretty tame really. What replaces the large amounts of violence and gore is tons of great sounds and creepy details that pull you right into the what your seeing on the screen.

Profanity Meter: 2 Strikes. Very little profanity used, however Gods name is used a few times which was unnecessary, so I bumped up the profanity meter one more star. If not for that, there is no bad language in this at all and it's very enjoyable to watch.

Sexual Meter: 1 Strikes. There are no sexual/make out scenes what so ever. There is a hint from a comment in a few parts that lead the viewer to believe that Theo may have a bit of a extra interest in Nell. Theo asks Nell if she is married, or has a boyfriend or.... girlfriend? Overall though, their is nothing offensive that should offend any viewers.

Final Thoughts. So, is this film the type that will leave you awake for endless nights afraid? Probably not, yet I found that it has a extra special charm to it, that is not matched by other haunted house films. I have watched this film 3 times so far as of this writing and it just keeps getting more and more fun! I'm actually surprised that more viewers didn't love this as much as me, but I guess we all have our taste in what we like and that's cool. If I had to sum up this whole film in just three words, it would be.. Spooky,spooky FUN!