In a movie like 1999's The Haunting , the filmmakers dictate to the audience what is supposed to be scary with lavish special effects, and that's absolutely the wrong approach. I say, let the audiences' imaginations go wild. What we conceive in our own minds is always more chilling than what a CGI expert can design. Presented on DVD in anamorphic widescreen, the video on this disc easily beats the hell out of the full-frame version I taped off of Cinemax about 15 years ago. That said, it still falls well short of the best looking discs available today.
Colors are fairly accurate, but the overall level of sharpness varies greatly from scene to scene.
The print used for the DVD transfer is very clean and free of anomalies, however compression artifacting is a constant problem. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround audio is very problematic. The sound is harsh and is anchored in the center speaker. Dialogue sounds veiled and boxy, and the lovely piano sonatas featured in the story lack smooth fidelity. The usual cast and crew bios haunt this disc as the lone extra, but I can hardly consider this a serious supplement.