Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

The Haunting Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman October 10, 2020

Jan de Bont is best known for his Action films like Speed and its sequel, Twister and Tomb Raider, so his stab at the haunted house genre seems a little out of character. But here he is helming 1999’s The Haunting, a tepid, but more or less effective, PG-13 “Horror” film about a middle aged woman, directionless in life after her mother’s death, who discovers that an old, and very much living and aware, castle with a dark history beckons her to it. The film settles for style over substance and it gives genre fans little for their money, but as a quasi-spooky crowd pleaser fit for mass consumption it plays well enough to warrant a watch when the mood calls for spooky, but light, Horror fare.

Nell (Lili Taylor) spent more than a decade caring for her sickly mother, rarely escaping her small apartment and becoming completely detached from the outside world. With her mother recently deceased and her sister only chasing whatever money might remain rather than caring for Nell and appreciating all she’s sacrificed, Nell decides to enroll in a sleep study conduced by Dr. David Marrow (Liam Neeson) taking place at Hill House. She is joined by Theo (Catherine Zeta-Jones), a bisexual insomniac who actually enjoys her condition, finding herself more energized and focused in the middle of the night; and Luke Sanderson (Owen Wilson), a more garden variety night owl who would prefer not to spend his nights absorbing infomercials and tossing a baseball around. Little do the participants know that they are actually taking part in a sturdy examining their response to fear, not their sleep patterns. When one of Marrow’s assistants, Mary (Alix Koromzay), is injured by a piano wire that tightened all on its own moments before she touched it, as if it was anticipating her interaction, things begin to unravel as the house’s true history, and purpose, is revealed. The house calls to Nell, as if she somehow belongs there. She feels it, too, and as she digs deeper into the truth behind everything that has happened in and because of the house, the hauntings grow more terrifying, and more personal.

The movie is more a product of its atmosphere than it is the actual scares, which are at least born of the place and the story line rather than manufactured for effect, wrenching in to fill some quota rather than organically evolving from the story. Much of it is goofy and, worse, cliché, and to make maters worse most of the scares are born of poor CGI that might have looked good two decades ago but today just struggle to impress. Fortunately, production design and good ideas mask some of the stumbles -- the house arches itself to create a sinister face from its ornate appointments in one key scene late in the film, representing one of the better computer generated visuals -- but CGI breath, flying glass, and humanoid figures under bedsheets stand out more for fakery than fearsomeness.

To its credit, the cast buys into the project and takes the material seriously, finding a good balance between the more limited opportunities inherent to a PG-13 production and selling the character beats -- the insomnia, the doubts, the festering fears, the burgeoning camaraderie -- as the story develops. they're supported by a fairly well rounded script that actually takes the time to develop them to the point that their interactions and fate don’t come across as secondary to the scares, and that connection and commitment to growth helps to heighten the terror, even if it is rather flat in isolation. The real star is Taylor as Nell, whose personal journey from imprisonment in an apartment with her mother to freedom -- and a sense of place and, ultimately, purpose -- in a haunted house to which she is more intimately connected than she could have ever known propels the film forward. Jan de Bont directs with confidence, getting the most out of his actors and his location, allowing those components to dominate and the scares to evolve from those points of origin rather than exist separate and force them together later on.

The Haunting Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Paramount's winning streak continues with The Haunting, which arrives on Blu-ray with an exceptional 1080p transfer. The image is perfectly true to its natural filmic roots, holding fast to a light, flattering, and consistent grain structure. The result is an image that looks brand new, straight out of theaters, untampered, perfect in every way. The areas around the Hill House interior are stunning. The ornate woodwork, the finely appointed furnishings, even the accumulated dust on hallway floor edges and scratches on the flooring seen here and there dazzle with intricate clarity that fully pulls the viewer into the location. Faces are finely detailed and clothes are exquisitely sharp. Colors are solid, mostly the brown woodwork and gray accents throughout the house and perfectly deep and authentic black levels, but splashes of clothing color adds some snazzy pop to the picture, too. Flesh tones are flawless. There are no obvious print shortcomings and the encode reveals no flaws. This one's just beautiful to behold: a stunner!

The Haunting Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

For its Blu-ray debut, The Haunting scares up a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack. The track features well defined ambience, critical to any haunted house movie. Whether creaking doors, gusty breezes, voices reverberating around the cavernous interiors, or other spooky elements which float and flutter, the listener always feels immersed into the location thanks to expert placement and stage traversal. But the track truly finds its legs in its low end response where heavy bangs on doors rattle the listening area and a chase scene in chapter 17, featuring an unseen entity rumbling towards a fleeing Nell, brings with it prominent, prodigious thumps and thuds. Music, too, enjoys superior low end support, not to mention excellent clarity and full stage expansion to shower the listener in the notes. Dialogue is clear, well prioritized, and remains firmly in the front center save for those moments of natural expansion. This track is every bit the 1080p video's equal for technical excellence.

The Haunting Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Haunting contains two featurettes and a trailer. This release is the tenth in the "Paramount Presents" line and includes the slipcover with fold-open poster artwork, in this case not really different from the outside print. A digital copy code is included with purchase.

• Filmmaker Focus: Director Jan de Bont on The Haunting (1080p, 9:14): This newly crafted retrospective features the director recalling the production's history, discussing the plot, praising cast and characters, exploring production details, remembering set design, breaking down visual effects, and more.
• Behind-the-Scenes Featurette (480i, 27:12): This piece, crafted around the time of the film's production, is hosted by Catherine Zeta-Jones who gives way to cast and crew covering all of the essentials: story, cast, characters, physical challenges, visual and sound effects, and more. It's essentially an expansion on the retrospective that offers additional insight and more depth.
• Theatrical Teaser Trailer (480i, 1:16).
• Theatrical Trailer (1080p, 2:23).

The Haunting Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Haunting may not be the best Haunted House movie ever made, and genre enthusiasts might well balk at the film's insistence on atmosphere over actual terror, but in the aggregate the movie works well enough thanks to solid performances, good direction, and first-rate production design, even if the supporting CGI is cut rate by today's standards. Paramount's Blu-ray is highly impressive, though. Video and audio are pretty much perfect and the disc, which is the tenth release in the "Paramount Presents" line, includes a few supplements. Recommended.