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The Haunting - DTS

The Haunting - DTS

List Price: $12.99
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Haunting
Review: This film is not ONE BLOODY FOURTH as bad as all these reviews say so!!It had an excellant,well-thought out plot,and SUPERB visual effects,and wonderfully gothic location.To say this film includes no scares is a LIE.Especially towards the beggining,and half-way through.The film isn't exactly terrifying,but it's enough to give you the chills.The speacial effects are extremely well-imagined.Towards the beggining,it is very ominous,but towards the end,i'd say it's more of supernaturl action-movie.A superbly acted classic.p.s-The ending,in my opinion,was more satisfying than the 1963 version.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Classic yet modern Horror flick!!
Review: This is a good horror flick. It's classic because just of the essence of it. It's modern because of the acting and the actors. This is a good one to watch. No sticking knives in people, no satanic stuff. The part was freaky was at the end. I won't tell ya!! I don't wanna ruin it. You will just have to see it for yourself! buy it.. I did!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Haunting
Review: Most people think that this movie would be a dumb old one. But this was actually a very good one. It starts out with the one woman's mother dying. Then she goes to this really old house for therapy. There is only onething. This house is cursed bythe soul of a man that has a deadly secret. For it's pg13 rating, i think that it could of been a regular pg, forit wasn't really scary. I hope that this review helps you in any way. I rate this movie a 9/10.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: As Subtle as a Really Big Stone Sculpture
Review: This will be referred to as a classic horror in the years ahead....a classic horrible example of how Hollywood money can destroy a really good story-line. The plot, what there is of it, bears no resemblance to Shirley Jackson's psychological horror story. It's scraps of plots which make no sense, and dead-ends. There's lots of CGI and special effects, which no doubt were supposed to make up for the missing story. They don't. Nothing here is scary, unless you find the thought of dusting hilariously ugly wooden cherubs frightening.

The sets for the house were the best part, being completely bizarre and unreal and therefore worth seeing. Liam Neeson looks like he was blackmailed into taking the part, and Owen Wilson, with a fixed smirk rather like the afore-mentioned wooden cherubs, acts like he's in a comedy from the get-go. The women, Lili Taylor and Catherine Zeta-Jones, manage a little better considering the material they're given. Zeta-Jones certainly looks good, colorfully tarty and all that, but isn't given anything to do except wander around looking colorfully tarty. Bruce Dern and Marian Seldes look like they're having fun hamming it up in their roles as the caretakers, but they were probably just happy they had such small parts. This doesn't make it as a "good" bad movie, and it wouldn't really worth the trouble hating, except that it butchered a book that was both scary and intelligent.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Lackluster supernatural thriller
Review: The Haunting is relatively decent in its first 45 minutes. The production design of the Crain Mansion is a sight to behold and the setup looks promising. It's unfortunate, however, as the film starts to fall apart until it gets absolutely ridiculous in the finale.

Dr. David Marrow (Liam Neeson) wants to perform a study on fear. To do this, he plans on pretending he is doing a study on insomnia at the Crain estate, an isolated mansion nine miles from the closest town. The "test subjects" that arrive include Eleanor (Lili Taylor), a hard-working woman who has had little success in life; Theo (Catherine Zeta-Jones), an adventuress and proclaimed bi-sexual; and Luke (Owen Wilson), who just plain has sleeping troubles.

On the first night in the mansion, they hear thundering sounds, but pass it off as a problem in the plumbing. Then things begin to get more bizarre, as Eleanor sees a skeleton inside the fireplace, that just as soon disappears. That's when she discovers the secret the house holds and how it connects with her.

1999's other haunted house thriller was far better and scarier, as director Jan De Bont's The Haunting features only one truly creepy scene, which involves Taylor and what she sees of herself in the mirror. There aren't any even decent jump-in-your-seat shocks that make watching a horror film a more fun experience.

Of course, it gets even worse. Now, to be fair, the film was getting rather dull by the 90 minute mark so I was initially entertained by the effects-filled finale. But only initially because it gets positively ridiculous in the last ten minutes, as we find out ghosts like to play hide-and-seek and smash things up real good.

The only thing that keeps this film from being truly awful is the cast, and they do their best to keep the film respectable. Liam Neeson delivers the best performance. Catherine Zeta-Jones shows a lot of life, as does Owen Wilson. It's a pity that Lili Taylor's performance, which was decent at first, turned into borderline camp by the finale.

With nary a true scare in sight, this film is best to be viewed by those who scare easily, special effects fans, or somebody who is a fan of the cast. Everybody else should approach the film cautiously.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: The Haunting is just... bad.
Review: If you want a good haunted house flick, get something else... anything else. This film has a pretty set, but no character development, no suspense, no scares, and no point.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A misunderstood movie...
Review: This movie had the most potential of any movie I've ever seen, however, somewhere, someone messed up. I like this movie, however. It offers a creepy escape on a Friday night.

Final verdict: Worth a look, but only if you are willing to accept it as just a fun and creepy movie.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: I wish there was an option to give this 0 stars... *sigh*
Review: Ugh. Let me start this off by saying I'm an RABID horror fan and have been for over 20 years - I love ALL types of movies, from the classics to the painfully dull bargain bin selections. I knew when this one came out in theaters, to stay FAR AWAY and not waste my money on the price of admission. A year or so later, I finally caught it on cable and figured, "Oh, why not, I'll watch it." Bad choice - I lost just about 2 hours of precious time I could have spent picking out bellybutton lint or cleaning my cat's litterbox. I'm trying to locate a copy of the book, so I can read it again and see just how badly this Shirley Jackson story was ruined, as my memory of the original is quite fuzzy. All I know is that she must be rolling around in her grave, waiting for a chance to get her hands around the director's neck.

What a steaming pile this movie is... since when did using CGI become the only way to get "scares" out of the audience? I miss the horror of the 80s, 70s, 60s and so on... back then, people actually had relatively fresh ideas (in most cases) and could execute them in a creative way. Could you imagine if the Exorcist had been done today, by someone fond of CGI? The actors wouldn't have had to spend grueling hours in a freezing cold room, with REAL breath rising like steam from their lips - the director could have had the breath drawn in digitally, like in THIS stinker, and the effect would have been absolutely ruined.

Bah... ugly moaning cherubs (Same moans used over and over too! Tacky!), horrible cliches, huge old guys and a monstrously large mansion you just KNOW nobody's lived in - this movie blows. I'm gonna go watch the ORIGINAL movie from the 60's now, and I suggest you do the same. Avoid this movie... it's a serious waste of perfectly good time AND money if you rent it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Ghostly Apples and Oranges
Review: Okay. You have two movies here that many critics and customers want to compare. We have the original "The Haunting," impeccably filmed in 1963 in black and white by the talented director Robert Wise. The stars were Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson and Russ Tamblyn. One cannot help but admit that this version is superior to the remake on a psychological level. Also you can't do better than Ms. Harris or Ms. Bloom. It was a frightening movie and one I remember from my childhood days.

Now, on the other hand, here in the 21st Century, we have Jan DeBont's remake of "The Haunting." Would people have wanted DeBont to do what they did with the remake of "Psycho?" Filmed it exactly? We know how "Psycho" fared, don't we? Anyway, I found the special effects, scenic design, and sound effects mind-boggling and fun. Sure, we see MORE in this film, but is that wrong? If you don't compare the remake to the original, you may have a better time. I was disappointed in Liam Neeson's lifeless performance, and Lili Taylor is no Julie Harris. Owen Wilson was rather annoying in his role, but Catherine Zeta-Jones was the surprise star. Sure, they updated her and made her look like a tart. But what a tasty tart. And along with her incredible beauty, she brings a lot of life and vitality to the spooky surroundings. And weren't Bruce Dern and Marian Seldes a hoot as the creepy caretakers?

So, the plot is much different than original, and the ending lacks the psychological/emotional impact of the 1963 version. But I had a good time throughout the movie, and don't think it's fair to compare such different movies. Apples and oranges. But, if you have an open mind a good bowl of popcorn, I think you'll have fun.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: So Funny, It Seemed Scary!
Review: This is the funniest unintentional comedy I've seen since The Postman. OK, maybe The Postman was funnier, but this movie comes pretty close. What drives me to say this is the oh so spooky ending, or "Grand Finale," as I like to call it. What's up with movies these days? I mean, given the fact that the beginning wasn't so great either, I didn't expect such a great ending, but I didn't expect such a really bad one either. Lily Tyler (Is that her name?) deserves an Oscar. How many actors could say those lines without laughing, or without revealing a shred of embarassment? If that doesn't justify giving her an Oscar, then I guess I don't know what does.

And to think, I could've been eating frogs in my palace, or feeding my pet monster, but no...I had to watch this piece of crap.


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