The Haunting (1999 film)

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The Haunting
The Haunting film poster
Directed by	Jan de Bont
Produced by	Donna Roth, Colin Wilson
Written by	Novel: Shirley Jackson Screenplay: David Self
Starring	Lili Taylor, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Owen Wilson, Liam Neeson
Distributed by	DreamWorks
Release date(s)	July 20, 1999
Running time	113 minutes
Language	English
Budget	~ US$80,000,000
IMDb profile

The Haunting is a 1999 horror film directed by Jan de Bont. It is a loose remake of the 1963 film The Haunting.

Both films are based on the novel The Haunting of Hill House, written by Shirley Jackson and published in 1959.

1 Synopsis
2 Trivia
3 Cast
4 External links

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

When her mother dies, Eleanor "Nell" Vance (Taylor) has been forced to leave her apartment by her sister, Jane, but a phone call brings her attention to an experiment in insomnia. The money she earns from the experiment ($900 a week) would be enough to pay off her rent and bill arrears so she decides to apply to participate. This experiment is directed by Dr. David Marrow (Neeson) and is supposed to take place at Hill House, a haunting but beautiful manor in the Massachusetts countryside. Unknown to Eleanor and the other participants, Theo (Zeta-Jones) and Luke (Wilson), Dr. Marrow is in fact conducting an experiment in group fear and hysteria.

On the first night in the mansion, Dr. Marrow relates the story of Hugh Crane, an Industrial Revolution tycoon who built Hill House for his wife. However, his wife died before the house could be finished (it is later revealed that the wife committed suicide).

From there, strange things begin to happen - Dr Marrow's assistant's eye is slashed by a loose harpsichord wire, there are strange noises at night and Nell begins to experience a cold atmosphere. As the days go by, the film tends to revolve around Nell. She hears the spirits and voices of children. She can see a hanged corpse that no one else can see, and the house sports some graffiti on the wall which reads "Welcome Home Eleanor". She sets out to unveil the mysteries of the house and soon learns that Crane murdered hundreds of his child workers over the years as well as discovering that Crane had a second wife.

In the end, the rest of the group thinks that Nell has gone insane but when they experience an attack on Nell, the rest of the group set out to escape in vain. Nell finds out that Crane's second wife, Caroline is in fact Nell's great-great grandmother (and Nell bears a striking resemblance to Crane's second wife). It is then she realises it is up to her to put the spirits at rest, defeat the spirit of Crane and save the rest of the group at any cost.

It has become clear after Nell's revelation that there is a malevolent entity within the house, and in an act of revenge for damaging a painting, the spirit of Hugh Crane kills Luke.

Nell succeeds in drawing Crane's massive black spirit out of the structure of the house into a full-bodied manifestation and is able to lead him toward a door with the inscription "All Ye Who Stand Before These Doors Shall Be Judged." Crane levitates in front of Eleanor while a great wind howls throughout the room, the demons from the gates of hell grabs him, and pulls him in (i.e into the furnishings of the door). Eleanor dies and goes up with the spirits of the children to Heaven. Eventually Dr. Marrow and Theo leave the house, where they are met by the Dudleys (the housekeepers of Hill House) the following morning. Mr. Dudley asks if Dr. Marrow found what he was looking for; but he doesn't give a response. This is where the film ends.

[edit] Trivia

It was spoofed in Scary Movie 2.
The Harlaxton Manor was used as the exterior of the house, while the interior was a set in Los Angeles, California.
Owen Wilson's character is named Luke, which coincidentally, is the also the name of his brother.