# Haunting, The (1999)

### reviewed by
Greg King

THE HAUNTING (M). (Dreamworks/UIP) Director: Jan De Bont Stars: Liam Neeson, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Lili Taylor, Owen Wilson, Bruce Dern, Marian Seldes, Todd Field, Virginia Madsen Running time: 115 minutes.

Robert Wise's The Haunting, his 1963 adaptation of Shirley Jackson's novel The Haunting Of Hill House, is still highly regarded as an effectively spooky film and a classic of the haunted house genre. In this unnecessary and boring remake, Jan De Bont, the former cinematographer turned director (Speed, Twister, etc) throws $100 million worth of special effects and Gothic production design at the screen, but the final result lacks any sort of shocks and thrills.

The Haunting is a rather dull, tired and clichéd horror film. It is also incredibly silly! The script features some of the most banal and clichéd dialogue uttered in a mainstream film for several years, and will induce more groans than the supposed ghost story. Liam Neeson gives his most somnambulistic performance since The Phantom Menace - it's interesting to note that the bigger the budget, the more lacklustre his performance.

Neeson plays Dr Marrow, a psychologist who is conducting studies into the dynamics of fear. Under the guise of conducting an experiment for insomnia, Marrow lures three young subjects to the creepy 130 year old Hill House for a week. Nell (indie regular Lili Taylor, recently seen in Pecker) has spent the past eleven years caring for her terminally ill mother, and is eager for a chance to earn some money. Theo (Catherine Zeta-Jones) is a brash, bisexual artist, while Luke (Owen Wilson) is a cynical, irresponsible joker.

Marrow feeds the group stories about the sprawling mansion's history - a childless industrialist who built numerous rooms for the children he would never had - to unnerve them, and settles back to monitor their reactions. Unfortunately, the house is genuinely haunted by the ghosts of hundreds of dead children lured to the mansion. The house is also possessed by the malevolent spirit of the increasingly deranged and bitter millionaire. The ghostly apparitions seem to respond to something in the sensitive Nell, who is slowly seduced by the house's invisible spirits. Meanwhile, the rest of the group react towards the mysterious noises and other inexplicable phenomena as the possessed house seems to come alive.

De Bont and his technical crew throw a barrage of computer generated effects at the screen, but there is very little here that is genuinely scary or unsettling. The film certainly looks impressive, due largely to Eugenio Zanetti's grand production design, Karl Walter Lindenlaub's cinematography, and the jarring, loud score from Jerry Goldsmith.

But De Bont and co have spent too much time on the visual style of the film and not enough on creating characters that we care about. The tired performances from the solid cast seem to reflect the overall lack of credibility.

    **
    greg king
    http://www.netau.com.au/gregking

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