Haunted

Rating:
Summary: A Supernatural Flick with a Super Chick
Review: Certainly not a world beater but Haunted is a somewhat haunting movie that you may enjoy. In some respects it's an older and distant cousin of the Nicole Kidman movie The Others, a little less confusing but with an equally bizarre twist.

The skeptical Parapsychology Professor David Ash (Aidan Quinn) has written a bestseller which refutes the supernatural and spirit world and teaches such a course in an unnamed British university(perhaps Oxford). He also spends some of his free time exposing charlatans, debunking their paranormal activities. (seances, fortune telling, etc.)

David is intrigued when among his daily fan mail he receives a note from an elderly lady, not too far away, imploring him to come to Edbrook and eliminate the ghosts that are haunting her.

Of course David knows there are no ghosts but he feels he may be able to help her understand and therefore overcome her delusions.

The story begins in 1905, where tragedy strikes when young David is playing with his twin sister Juliet suddenly falls in a pond and drowns.

The story continues twenty-three years later when David now a professor at Oxford University accepts an invitation to country manor for the purpose of helping a terrified old woman who is being haunted by ghosts only she can see.

Once arriving at Mariell Manor David meets and is captivated by the free spirited, child like, beauty, Christine. Next he meets the object of his travel, the somewhat catatonic, Nanny Tess (Anna Massey), who may or not be Christina's aunt.

Eventually we meet Christina's childlike brothers, Robert (Anthony Andrews) who seeming has nothing to do except paint canvases of his lovely sister in the nude and Simon (Alex Lowe) who fancies himself as a jokester.

Yes this is indeed a peculiar family and just how aberrant becomes evident to David as he watches Cristina undress and jump into a small lake, followed by Simon, also nude.

Later strange occurrences begin, some of which could be explained as pranks but others like being caught in a fire only find out he imagined it, has our cynical professor confused and bewildered, unable to reconcile these bizarre events. David is also conflicted as his feelings for coy, ever flirting, Christina escalate and apparently she for him but brother Robert is obviously envious of the attention she bestows on David.

As a romance heats up between David and Christina, however, David appears to turn a blind eye to what is going on in the household. Even the apparently unwholesome relationship Christina appears to have with her brothers, especially Robert, initially fails to distract David. Too late, he realizes the nature of the evil within this isolated, rural manor house. In the end, it takes the force of something beyond the grave to save him from an almost unimaginable horror.

CONCLUSION

No, Haunted is no world beater of a movie. It's relatively small budget and has an even smaller cast with only five primary actors, (John Gielgud has more of a cameo part) and only a few others, namely young David and Juliet and later David's secretary. However I was pleasantly surprised by the movie as one of the more intriguing, well done ghost stories I've ever viewed. As in almost all so called horror movies there are lose ends or questionable directions, which did which did occur to some extent in Haunted but not nearly as much as similar contemporary movies.

The acting is superlative. This is an extraordinary tale of ghosts and otherside but it is subtle. It doesn't hit you over the head with unbelievable concepts and cheesy special effects. (except for a little at the end) This is a well done, stealthily told, haunted house story that is sure to hold viewers interest throughout. Kate Beckinsale give a wonderful performance as the seemingly quirky, provocative and free spirited Christina. Anthony Andrews is excellent as the slightly sinister, oldest sibling, Robert. Alex Lowe is appropriately eccentric as Christina's off the wall brother, Simon. John Gielgud gives a terrific cameo performance. Aidan Quinn is effective as the erstwhile debunker who loses sight of his mission and is mislead into a false sense of reality.

As I mentioned, Quinn and Beckinsale both perform splendidly (she can ask me out anytime she wants to), but so too does the entire cast. The reason I did not rate Haunted five stars is because of the application cheesy effects near the end. Shame on the director for devising or allowing it but it did not detract from the overall effectiveness of the film.

So, though Haunted may not be a world beater in general it may be one in its genre. Haunted succeeds as an entertaining and atmospheric English ghost story, full of mystery and terror and suspense, and a powerful surprise ending. I think it is one of the best haunted house movies I've seen but I'll let you be the judge.


Rating:
Summary: Dark, Disturbing and more than a little icky...
Review: Very good ghost/mystery movie that will take you a few places in the human psyche you would rather not go. Good acting and a reasonably tight plot which will keep you guessing until the end which is why most of us watch movies like this.

This movie impressed me so much I made the mistake of reading the James Herbert books the movie is based on ("haunted" and "the ghosts of Sleath"). The movie is far superior and hardly recognizable to the original novels. And believe me, that is a GOOD thing! (I reviewed both novels so no sense in beating a dead horse here.)

The movie is exactly as my heading implies, but just the same the ending gives us a moment that any of us who has ever lost a loved one would give anything to have.

Rating:
Summary: Haunted is a Horror
Review: Aidan Quinn is usually better than this and in better films. Why he agreed to do this film is beyond me--maybe he needed the money. The movie is far-fetched and juvenile, silly when it's supposed to be scary. The only "horror" in it is the writing, acting, and directing. So take the advice of someone who loves Aidan Quinn and who likes a scary movie if it's intelligent: don't buy it. Watch Halloween instead.

Rating:
Summary: warning for female audience
Review: I really enjoyed this movie. Wonderful acting, terrific photography, and likeable characters. The centre plots climax is disappointingly weak in contrast with the rest of the picture -- I wanted to kill that silly nanny and felt no regret for her. The lead professor was in Avalon and is a very good actor. I just really liked this picture and enjoy watching with other people who do not know the twists it has. I really recommend it.