Product: The Haunting [VHS] (1999)
Rating: 1.0
Not anything near Shirley Jackson
I was excited about seeing this movie. I really was. It started out like the book, kind of, but of course, like so many movies today, the special effects took over and then we went on the most boring roller coster ride that was ever created. Suddenly, the house wasn't just evil, it had to be the actual evil man who inhabited it. Yeah, that wasn't in the book. Then it tried to regain our sympathy after it tortured us with stupid special effects by implying that the evil main character was really into killing his child laborers. Sorry, no sympathy here. And then, just for fun, some guy gets his head chopped off for no real reason, a picture comes to life, a door comes to life, a statue comes to life, Elenor goes crazy -- all not scary -- and then these little kid statues say, "Help me! Help me!" Then somehow, someone becomes the great grand-daughter of the evil guy and she proceeds to not get out of the way when he slams into her, causing severe internal bleeding. Finally, the movie ends and the two people who didn't die WALK out of the main gates, seeming to forget that they had driven there. Anyone who let this movie fool them into believing that it was good has never read the book and is probably way too into special effects for their own good. Even the actors couldn't save this. Stick with the book. For being written in the "olden days" it still has more horror than this movie could ever produce.