Rating: 
Summary: WRONGLY CLASSIFIED
Review: The genre should have been comedy. This movie was neither scary, nor mysterious or thrilling. The scariest part to me was probably when Liam Neeson got the class stuck in his hand and had to pull it out. I found myself wondering why good actors such as this would actually agree to take part in this sorry excuse for a horror film. The movie has next to no plot, none of the stuff that happened was explained, and the stuff that was supposed to be scary wasn't. Oh My God it's a statue...let me scream in fear and trip over myself while I'm trying to run away! Skip this tripe.
Rating: 
Summary: WHY ?
Review: Do computer generated things scare you? They don't scare me.
Do sets scare you? They don't scare me either. I understand that studios can't make money re-releasing old classics in theatres because of home video but why spend all that money trying to remake or even surpass something that is obviously the sum of its human parts, all of whom you won't or can't reuse? Isn't that like trying to be the first man on the moon - - - -again? Some scriptwriters and directors could make a biscuit and a glass of milk frightening.
They used a super computer called talent. Please reboot.
Rating: 
Summary: Not frightening, not anything
Review: There are 2 good things in this movie- (1) Bruce Dern, who plays the groundskeeper and who, in about 3 lines and 20 seconds, out-acts everyone else in the film, even though they get hours. Bruce Dern should have been the star of this film. He's got more talent in his left nostril than the rest of the cast have in their whole bodies. He's of the old school like Donald Sutherland, and he is squandered in this film. The director is like a prospector who puts the mud in his pocket and leaves the gold behind. (2) The mansion itself, which is extraordinarily beautiful, but probably only a bunch of sets. Still, it's lovely. Nothing else in this movie is remotely interesting or frightening. The screenplay reads as if it were written by a junior high student.
Rating: 
Summary: Thrilling, Not Chilling
Review: While the special effects in The Haunting offer some interesting eye-candy, they alone can not make up for the lack of horror. Lili Taylor (The Imposters) plays Eleanor Lance, a mousy woman who has spent the past fifteen years caring for her shut-in mother. Now that her mother is dead, Eleanor finds herself without purpose, direction, or a home. Because she has had trouble sleeping, she agrees to take part in an insomnia study being conducted by the local university. Dr. Marrow (Liam Neeson, Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace), the faculty member in charge of the project, has an ulterior motive for collecting the insomnia subjects. He is holding his experiment in Hill House, a gothic mansion in the country. There he hopes to conduct a study of fear in a highly suggestible state - namely, a creepy "haunted" house. Of course, the volunteers are not told the true reason for their participation. Joining in the study are two others: an artist named Theodora (Catherine Zeta-Jones, Entrapment) and a happy jokester named Luke (Owen Wilson). The house's caretakers leave for the evening and return to town. Before Dr. Marrow can even begin his study, however, the house begins to exhibit a life and a will of its own. For all the interesting characters in The Haunting, the main character is the house itself. The legend surround the mansion is as intriguing as the artistic design of its architecture. The large, high ceilinged rooms are beautiful. Various rooms, like the decayed garden, are quite chilling. Each room in Hill House is an aspect of its character. Adapted from the novel The Haunting of Hill House, by Shirley Jackson (and a remake of the 1963 movie), The Haunting is a traditional ghost story brought forward to the 1990s. The story itself is timeless, and could certainly exist in any decade of this past century, but the special effects that bring Hill House to life are post-Jurrasic Park computer generation at its best. But as the movie progresses, the house itself becomes overshadowed by the computer generated effects that bring the house to life. Certain effects - like moving statuary - can help the audience see what the characters see, but knowing that it is a special effect breaks the spell and the scene is no longer frightening. Special effects alone cannot carry a horror story. Taylor gives a wonderful performance as Eleanor, a woman who needs someone to need her. Without that sense of purpose, Eleanor cannot define herself. Slowly, she seems to be losing her grip on reality and slipping into madness. While the other characters question her, the audience is shown things that Eleanor sees, so we know she's not crazy. This is one reason the story fails, because the suspense is lost. There are one or two genuine moments of fright that will have moviegoers jumping out of their seats. Nevertheless, the majority of the movie lacks the sense of impending doom that any horror story should have. While the house is visually stunning, it does not fill the audience with dread. The movie lacks a certain creepy ambiance to properly set the mood.
Rating:
Summary: Artistic Masterpiece
Review: Whether this movie was true enough to the book or not, I don't know. What I do know is that it's awesome and very well-made. The actors did a great job, the special effects were wonderful, and the creepy-yet gothicly beautiful house-simply couldn't have been better. I'm not sorry I watched it. It's worth every minute and every penny.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT ATMOSPHERE & SET; LEFT MUCH TO BE DESIRED ELSEWHERE
Review: " The Haunting " is not as bad as critics and other reviewers here lead one to believe. The film was panned by critics due largely to the fact that it was released at the same time as the god-awful hideously overblown piece of... known as " The Blair Witch Project ". While miscast and weak in the script, " The Haunting " does have worthy points. While " Blair Witch " showed what hype can do for a bad movie, " The Haunting " shows what a good set & and eerie atmosphere can do for a weak script. The Hill House set is stunning. The gothic architecture will blow you away. The place is beautiful and creepy the same. The CGI effects add to the creepiness of the film. Peolple who complain about computer-generated effects need to get over it. It's 2001, not 1963. The horrified faces of the wooden cherubs and the supernatural terror wreaked by Hugh Crane's spirit can send chills down your spine. Watch the film late at night for maximum shivers. If you sit back, relax, and let your imagination draw you into the story, you'll enjoy it. If you're looking to pick apart the storyline and performances, go watch some vanilla foreign film. The actors aren't so bad that it ruins the movie. Liam Neeson gives a mailed-it-in collecting a paycheck performance. Lily Taylor was ok, but isn't an interesting leading-character candidate. Owen Wilson is flat-out awful ( how'd this geek get into movies? ). Catherine Zeta-Jones, while not a great actress, looks stunning throughout. The script is wafer-thin, and you can usually predict the next line. But then again, what films aren't painfully predictable these days? But the plot is well-thoughtout and well-suited to the horror genre. My advice would be to buy the DTS DVD, turn the lights out, watch it as late as possible, and allow yourslef to savor the atmosphere. If you're looking for Oscar-caliber acting, you're in the wrong place. If you're looking for an eerie horror flick that relies on scenery and atmosphere as opposed to grisly slasher-flick multiple murders, " The Haunting " is worth a buy.
Rating:
Summary: IF IT AIN'T BROKEN, DON'T FIX IT
Review: "The Haunting" with Julie Harris was so good--even better for its black and white medium, which enhances the sense of the macabre and general off-kilterness of the set. Why don't they remake "The Wizard Of Oz?" Now, there's a picture that could be made MUCH pertier with modern cinematography. The cheap set and old theatre-style acting throw a damper on what's still is a great universal story.
Rating:
Summary: Beware of Evil Capitalists (and ghost movies about them)
Review: Some day Lili Taylor will land that role in a film which will show the world what a high-calibre actress she really is. THE HAUNTING is not that film. What a thankless part for Ms. Lili. What a thankless film. The scariest thing about this movie must have been the bill for the c.g.i. effects that the studio received. I mean, the movie had a moment or two of tension, but on the whole, I was bored. There was nothing new here: the fury of an evil, dead capitalist and the pain inflicted on his mostly children workers--and his family--just can't seem to get out of the house. So! The evil men do does live on! How original! I'm reaching for sarcasm which is never pretty, so I will end here. This movie was the pits.
Rating: 
Summary: Not for people who love bieng scared to death
Review: Personally i loved this movie, it was good because it really made you think about it to understand it and it didn't scare me stiff. I don't like really scary movies like scream, and this movie is more thrilling then chilling, i love that about it! also, it has very good special effects, they almost look real!
Any way, I very highly recomend this movie!!!
Rating:
Summary: Ho-Hum
Review: On paper, 'The Haunting' promises to deliver all sorts of traditional horror-flick chills and thrills, and with such a stellar cast, the movie certainly looks like it's going to deliver. Sadly, in reality, this is not the case, and 'The Haunting' rapidly descends into a hodgepodge of stilted momentum and out-of-place histrionics. Dr. David Marrow (Liam Neeson, selling his considerable talent out for a dollar) has assembled a group of sleep-deprived people in a supposedly haunted house to conduct an experiment in the power of suggestion. Of this group, Nell Vance (Lili Taylor) is plagued by sinister forces throughout her stay, and it's up to Dr. Marrow and his other patients, boho-chic Theo (Catherine Z-J) and n'er-do-well playboy Luke (Owen Wilson), to save Nell and themselves from the malevolent spectres haunting the house. None of the cast could be blamed for not doing their level best with a lousy, awkward script. Neeson and Taylor are two of the finest actors working today, and even their portrayals of their own characters come off as insincere and mawkish. Zeta-Jones, an actress of considerable talent, does slightly better in the role of the promiscuous and mysterious Theo, but that's due mainly to the fact that she physically looks the part. The talents of Owen Wilson, too, are lost in a two-dimensional character, lacking both development and sympathy. The locations, you can tell, were intended to be sweeping and absorbing, and a lot of design and research has clearly gone into making the House the real star of the show. Shame, then, that it looks like some sort of anodyne Disney-Fun thrill house, instead of a brooding mansion harbouring dark secrets. The carved faces of the children look like something out of the Addams Family Household, and the legion rooms and chambers are as unbelievable in number as they are overstated in design. Coupled with some laughable special effects (doors and porticoes coming together to make faces, the particularly risible end sequence) the House is merely the lewd, bawdy, amateurish backdrop against which this sad little tale is played out. Direction? Not really. Jan De Bont is responsible for some of the most directorially-accomplished thrillers of our time (Speed, Twister, What Lies Beneath) but has apparently left his thinking cap at home for this one. And to finish, for those of you who may have read the book first, this film lacks any of the subtle psychology or endearing character traits of Shirley Jackson's classic novel noir. It even goes so far as to change the ending from a melancholy and desolate event to a cheap, tawdry Hollywood-Esque 'Big Bang', and by the movie's end, we're left wondering exactly what has happened and why we wasted so much time watching 'The Haunting' at all. A no-brainer of extreme proportions, there are far better examples of this sort of thing available.
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