Product: The Haunting [VHS] (1999)
Rating: 2.0
Ultimately, this one's a failure (though not without merit).
Four people are placed in a gigantic mansion as part of a study in fear, but they don't realize the house is actually haunted. Effects-heavy thriller features a decent beginning and a so-so cast (Liam Neeson and Catherine Zeta-Jones are fine, Owen Wilson and Lili Taylor are spectacularly awful), but eventually falls apart in the last half-hour, with a barrage of cheesy special effects taking over. Add to that the predictability and the sappy conclusion and you have a movie that went from promising to big dud. It might, however, hold appeal to non-horror fans looking for a quick, undisturbing thrills (and it seems that that was the crowd this movie was aimed at). For everyone else, either stick with the original or see House on Haunted Hill for a real coaster ride of a haunted house thriller (Which also actually features better CGI effects, a surprise considering it only had 1/4 the budget of The Haunting).