The Haunting (1999)

User Rating:

4.6/10   

Director:

Jan de Bont

Writers (WGA):

Shirley Jackson (novel)
David Self (screenplay)

Release Date:

23 July 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller | Mystery

Tagline:

Some houses are born bad

Plot:

When Eleanor, Theo, and Luke decide to take part in a sleep study at a huge mansion they get more than they bargained for when Dr. Marrow tells them of the house's ghostly past.

Plot Keywords:

Fear | Experiment | Mansion | Insomnia | Haunting

Awards:

2 wins & 9 nominations

Cast

Lili Taylor	...	Eleanor 'Nell' Vance
Liam Neeson	...	Dr. David Marrow
Catherine Zeta-Jones	...	Theo
Owen Wilson	...	Luke Sanderson
Bruce Dern	...	Mr. Dudley
Marian Seldes	...	Mrs. Dudley
Alix Koromzay	...	Mary Lambetta
Todd Field	...	Todd Hackett
Virginia Madsen	...	Jane
Michael Cavanaugh	...	Dr. Malcolm Keogh
Tom Irwin	...	Lou
Charles Gunning	...	Hugh Crain
Saul Priever	...	Ritchie
M.C. Gainey	...	Large Man
Hadley Eure	...	Carolyn Crain

Also Known As:

La maldición (USA: Spanish title)
The Haunting of Hill House (USA) (trailer title)
The Legend of Hill House (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for intense horror sequences.

Runtime:

113 min | Switzerland:112 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital EX | SDDS | DTS-ES

Certification:

Iceland:14 | Iceland:16 (video rating) | USA:PG-13 (certificate #36806) | South Korea:12 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Belgium:KT | Denmark:15 | Finland:K-14 | France:U | Germany:12 (w) | Hong Kong:IIB | Ireland:15 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:M | Norway:15 | Portugal:M/16 | Singapore:PG | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | UK:12 | Philippines:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Belvoir Castle, Belvoir, Leicestershire, England, UK

Company:

DreamWorks SKG

Trivia:

In this movie Owen Wilson plays a character named Luke - his brother's name in real life (Luke Wilson).

Goofs:

Continuity: When Nell is in the greenhouse she can briefly be seen to be wearing shoes

Quotes:

[looking at the crashed car, Theo and Marrow]
Mrs. Dudley: City People.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Directors: The Films of Wes Craven (#1.4)" (1999)

Soundtrack:

Terror In Bed

Not Alot of Plot, Nice Sets

Well, I just watched this movie on PPV. Was it worth it? Yes and no. Personally, I loved the house. The set design is a masterpiece. I would love to live in a house like that! I loved all the antiques and creepy statues. But that's really all I loved about the movie. I did like the main character, Elenor, at first. But as the movie draaaaggggsss on, I found Elenor intolerable as well as all the other characters. In fact, I kept wishing the house would kill them all off. This movie could have been done so much scarier and better. It needed a better cast and alot more horror. It also needed a bigger cast. There weren't enough people in that house to kill off. The whole movie is really a big shame. All that money to build those impressive sets and all we get is a bad Poltergeist rip-off. If you like scary old houses with creepy antiques, watch the movie just for that, but don't expect much in the way of a good story.