Product: The Haunting [VHS] (1999)
Rating: 1.0
My Dog Leaves Bombs Like This One in Our Backyard.
I love the original 1963 release of The Haunting, so I ask as other people do about lesser remakes of films, why try to fix what works? God knows this mess certainly doesn't. The 1963 film may have been in black and white, but it was downright bone chilling because of the power of persuasion. This remake reminded me of a tourist attraction in Spring Green, Wisconsin called House on the Rock, except it's a hell of a lot more entertaining. Bad computerized effects plague this production from start to finish, not to mention marring the characterization and plotline of Shirley Jackson's wonderful Hill House novel.What Liam Neeson could have been thinking to sign on for this role is beyond me, but they can have goofy old Lily Taylor and Catherine "Conceita" Jones. Why do we have to hear her talk about her alternative swinging lifestyle as if we're too dumb to get it? When Claire Bloom played the REAL Theo, the roadsigns were more discreet, but we got it. I guess Hollywood thinks we're too retarded to figure things out on our own without big neon signs flashing the overly obvious.This movie is so bad it's almost funny, except that it's amusing only in a bad way. It is too deluged with special effects, lousy dialogue, and an even worse distorted plot to even pass as campy. The only redeeming part of this film was when the annoying Owen Wilson got his goofy looking head decapitated by a swinging stone lion's head. In the words of 80s metal heads, AWESOME DUDE!!! In other words, don't watch this movie alone...at night...in the dark. In fact, don't watch it at any other time alone or with anyone else. They'll think you've gone barky.