Product: The Haunting [VHS] (1999)
Rating: 1.0
Special Effects and Art Direction overshadow a thin story
It's hard to enjoy this 1999 The Haunting if you're familiar with the 1959 novel or 1963 film version.In this 1999 film, the characters are nasty and stupid. The scientist tricks his subjects into coming to Hill House (claiming to study sleep, when in reality he's studying fear), which is an unecessary change to the original plot.There are some gory effects and obvious ghosts. The audience figures out what's going on early in the film, long before any of the characters. Early on, a ghost child asks Lili Taylor for help. Gee, think maybe some ghost children are in trouble? She's not sure.The characters' responses are stupid and unnatural. One moment they're expressing affection, the next scene they're expressing indifference or hate. The average summer camp slasher film features smarter, more realistic characters.Aside from a beautiful set and two gory effects (including a decapitation), there's not much to recommend this film. See the original 1963 film instead, which had no gore but was through-provoking and scary, with likeable, intriguing characters.