Product: The Haunting [VHS] (1999)
Rating: 1.0
Completely wasted opportunity
The wretched mangling of this remake of "The Haunting" is not only disappointing, but downright ridiculous. Jan De Bont forsakes even the most minimal character and atmosphere development for overblown (and all-too-obvious) CGI effects, resulting in a lot of unintentional laughter, (especially the ending, which was funnier than most alledged "comedies") but, unfortunately, not enough to make it a really good "bad" movie. As we all know, stories involving the supernatural, and especially "haunted house" stories, depend entirely on the establishment of MOOD and the gradual building of suspense, neither of which is ever present here. This is especially glaring because the interior sets of the house are spectacular (they alone are responsible for the one star in the rating); a wonderfully phantasmagoric mix of all sorts of architectural periods and styles that form a truly creepy and surreal space to be in. In the hands of a more talented director, the use of these sets alone, combined with creative sound design, could have produced a much scarier movie. Watch the original 1963 version to see what I mean. In the end, the most galling thing about the whole mess is the sheer amount of technical talent wasted; a lot of craftspeople clearly put in a lot of effort to create the film's look and style, only to have their work denigrated by a weak script, poor storytelling and inept, sloppy direction. Rent it if you must (just to see the inside of the house), but if you're not concerned with that, buy or rent the original instead, which is still creepy even after all these years.