Product: The Haunting [VHS] (1999)
Rating: 2.0
This is not "The Haunting of Hill House."
I went into this movie expecting to see an screen adaptation of Shirley Jackson's "The Haunting of Hill House." However, aside from the names of most of the characters being the same (Why the gratuitous name change from Dr. Montague to Dr. Marrow? Too many syllables?), the movie has little in common with the novel. None of the relationships between the characters are the same, and Luke is no longer the heir to Hill House, but just another guy who can't sleep well. The novel had a dreamlike quality to it; there was delicacy and subtlety. There was also a sense of closeness among the four characters, setting up base in the parlor of the huge Hill House, that was lost in the film.There is a saying that you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. In the novel, the house seduces Eleanor, and one of the more memorable scenes is her elated dance through the house, having been accepted by it, merged with it, able to hear and sense the happenings in most every room. That was far more creepy and eerie than the usual "house bullies occupants" device used here.I guess I'm rambling a bit. The point is: it is the screenwriter's job, when adapting a novel, to externalize interior action so that we can see it. I think that Mr. Self did a good job of this with the initial scene with Nell and her sister. But there is a responsibility to retain the spirit of the original story, even if scenes must be added or removed. "The Haunting" fails on that count. Framing the visit to the house as a deception on the part of the doctor eliminates the closeness that the characters have to each other in the novel. The other, more significant, deviations from the original plot serve to make the story more conventional and destroy the unanswered questions and unexplored locations (e.g., top of the library tower) that make the novel so effective.On the positive side, the set design and special effects are great, the actors do a good job of working with what was given to them, and the DVD quality is very good. The DVD contains a behind-the-scenes feature that is interesting, though it makes me feel bad that so many people put in so much hard work making a visually exciting movie based on a weak script that has no respect for the source material.As other reviewers have said, this movie would have been much better off if it had not been conceived and advertised as "The Haunting of Hill House." That creates expectations that the movie just doesn't live up to (and the faithful screen adaptation that was done in the 60's doesn't help here).In summary, worth seeing at least once for the special effects and, if you've read the book, as an example of how far a supposed adaptation can deviate from its source material.