Product: The Haunting [VHS] (1999)
Rating: 3.0
Why cast Lili Taylor as the leading lady?
I have nothing against the girl, but to me anyway, she's a relative unknown, and they succeeded in casting a Plain Jane, certainly against Catherine Zeta Jones' beauty. She was a terrific actress, and the only reason I can think of that she was cast in the main role, is because of her striking likeness to Jamie Lee Curtis in the first Halloween movie. The hair and the slight similarity in the faces.This film scared the bejeezus out of me when I was young, and after getting it on DVD, having not seen it for years, I wondered if it would have the same effect. It sure as hell did! I nearly hit the roof when various skeletons decided to jump out their tombs or whatever, or screams I wasn't expecting. The finale scared me a lot more when I was younger; now I just find it really sad.With a cast including Owen Wilson (with a very bad haircut), Catherine Zeta Jones and Liam Neeson, this is a film that has to be seen, although the female characters are loads stronger than the male characters. I've seen quite a few bad reviews about it, about character development severely lacking. And apparently there's a book too? I know about the original movie, although never seen it. There's virtually no sexual content in this movie, which makes it stand out from the rest of the other movies along similar lines. There's a lot of criticism towards Catherine's (Theo) bi-sexual character too, and what seemed to be a possibility for a storyline between her & Nell. I found their "relationship" to be very subtle: nothing ever happens, but given half a chance, I think Theo would have more than introduced her back into the world.If you've seen House On Haunted Hill, with Famke Janssen, then you'll notice similarities between the two movies. The title of this also had to be changed from The Haunting of Hill House to simply, The Haunting, as House On Haunted Hill was released a few months later.The creaks and moans heard throughout the house were pre-recorded and played during filming in order to get a more natural expression of fear out of the actors. Liam Neeson is afraid of heights so his fear when he was dangling off the flight of steps whilst trying to save Nell (Lili Taylor), required no acting.The sets are amazing in this movie, as are the sound effects, although the special effects can be slightly dodgy at times. There's two trailers (why two?), and a making of featurette, which I won't be rushing to watch.If you like scary movies, and haven't seen the original, or read the book, then you'll probably like this. If you have seen or read, then you'll be sorely disappointed. If you like this too, look out for Thirteen Ghosts (even scarier) and House On Haunted Hill.