Product: The Haunting [VHS] (1999)
Rating: 2.0
Gorgeous production, awful movie
Get this one just to look at the sets and the stunning effects. I would say watch it with the sound off, but some of the sound design is impressive as well. They obviously spent a lot of money making this movie as beautiful as possible ... too bad they couldn't make it GOOD.Shirley Jackson's novel _The Haunting of Hill House_ is one of my all-time favorites. I re-read it when I heard this movie was coming out, and I was eager to see it. It started well enough. Even though the premise behind the characters being there was changed, and "that's not what Hill House is supposed to look like!" I was willing to forgive these slight details, especially since Mrs. Dudley speaks a whole paragraph straight out of the book in her scene. I thought "they're actually going to do it! They're actually going to do a faithful rendition of the book!"Nope.When Mrs. Dudley exited screen right, so did any resemblance to the original novel. Hugh Crain's past, and the reason for the haunting (left so maddeningly unexplained in the original) are painfully and meticulously spelled out in an ever-more-stupid story arc that would have made even Barney the Dinosaur snort in derision at its utter childishness. This movie is not smart, it's not scary .. it doesn't even manage to be funny. It comes across as more of an insult, a slap in the face to fans of the original book. The 1963 movie version captured the novel's atmosphere much better. This version doesn't so much trample Shirley Jackson's grave as dump syrup all over it. Utterly horrible.But it has great production values. You needn't feel ashamed of watching it for that. It's a great LOOKING movie, and that's why I was generous enough to give it 2 stars. Definitely worth a rental if you have a few hours to kill and don't feel like thinking.