The Haunting (1999 film)

The Haunting is a 1999 American supernatural horror film directed by Jan de Bont, and starring Liam Neeson, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Owen Wilson, and Lili Taylor, with Marian Seldes, Bruce Dern, Todd Field, and Virginia Madsen appearing in supporting roles. Its plot follows a group of people who gather at a sprawling estate in western Massachusetts for an apparent volunteer study on insomnia, only to find themselves plagued by paranormal events connected to the home's grim history. Based on the 1959 novel The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, it is the second feature film adaptation of the source material after Robert Wise's 1963 film adaptation of the same name.

Development for The Haunting originally began as a collaboration between filmmaker Steven Spielberg and writer Stephen King, who together began writing a new adaptation of Jackson's novel, largely inspired by Wise's 1963 film version. After creative differences, the project was aborted, with King retooling his screenplay to form the 2002 miniseries Rose Red. Spielberg meanwhile commissioned a new screenplay for the project, written by David Self, to be produced under Spielberg's studio, DreamWorks Pictures. Filming of The Haunting began in the fall of 1998, with some location shoots occurring in England at Harlaxton Manor and Belvoir Castle, though the majority of the film was shot in specially-crafted sets in Los Angeles by esteemed Argentine production designer Eugenio Zanetti.

The Haunting premiered theatrically in North America in July 1999. The film received mostly negative reviews from critics but was a financial success, grossing $180.2 million worldwide against a production budget of $80 million.

Plot
Eleanor "Nell" Vance, an insomniac, has cared for her disabled mother for 11 years, sharing a Boston apartment with her. After her mother dies, Nell's sister Jane and her husband Lou inherit the residence and eject Nell to prepare for a sale. As she faces homelessness, Nell accepts an invitation to participate in an insomnia study by Dr. David Marrow at Hill House, a secluded manor house in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts. At the house, she meets Mr. and Mrs. Dudley, the eccentric caretakers. Two other participants arrive: goofy Luke Sanderson and glamorous Theodora ("Theo"), along with Dr. Marrow and his two research assistants. Unknown to the participants, Dr. Marrow's true purpose is to study the psychological response to fear, intending to expose his subjects to terror.

During their first night, Dr. Marrow relates the story of Hill House: Its original owner, Hugh Crain, a 19th-century textile tycoon, constructed the rambling home for his wife Renee, hoping to populate it with a large family. Unfortunately, all of Crain's children were stillborns, and Renee, devastated by the multiple losses, killed herself, while Crain became a recluse. Marrow's assistant is wounded in a freak accident and the research assistants leave for the hospital. Supernatural events begin happening, and Nell sees ghosts of children. A large portrait of Hugh Crain is vandalized with the words "Welcome Home Eleanor" written in blood. Theo and Luke accuse Nell, claiming she is seeking attention.

Nell becomes determined to prove that the house is haunted. She finds Crain's hidden study and learns that he extensively used child labor in his cotton mills. He tortured and killed orphans in his home, then burned their bodies in the fireplace. She surmises that these children's spirits are trapped in the house, providing Crain with an "eternal family". Crain had a second wife named Carolyn, from whom Nell is descended. Dr. Marrow is skeptical and reveals the truth of his fear study to the group, but after a statue tries to drown him, he realizes Hill House is haunted. Nell reveals that she is related to Carolyn Crain and must help the children move on to the afterlife.

The group tries to leave Hill House but Hugh Crain's ghost traps them inside. Luke defaces a portrait of Crain, enraging his spirit to decapitate Luke. When Crain manifests, Nell realizes that he thrived on the fear he created in children and declares that she is not afraid of him. Her declaration weakens the ghost and he is cast into a decorative bronze door depicting the distressed children in purgatory. He drags Nell with him, but the benevolent spirits release her and she dies. Nell's soul, along with those of the freed children, rises to heaven.

The following morning, Dr. Marrow and Theo meet the Dudleys at the front gate in silence and leave Hill House behind.

Development
Filmmaker Steven Spielberg approached horror author Stephen King in 1996 about making a haunted house film, and the two agreed that Robert Wise's 1963 film The Haunting was a benchmark of cinematic house horror. After collaborating on a screenplay partly based on Wise's film (an adaptation of the Shirley Jackson novel The Haunting of Hill House), Spielberg and King ran into creative differences, and the project was ultimately aborted. Spielberg pushed forward with the project, commissioning first-time screenwriter David Self to write a screenplay for the film. King went on to retool his rendition of the material into the 2002 miniseries Rose Red, which shares some elements of both Wise's 1963 film, as well as Jackson's source novel.

While Jan de Bont was working on post-production for Twister, Spielberg offered to take over directing duties on Minority Report in exchange for directing The Haunting. De Bont did not want the film to be a remake of the 1963 version, as he wanted to focus more on the book that it was adapted from.

Filming
Principal photography began on November 30, 1998, and ended on April 9, 1999. Harlaxton Manor, in England, was used as the exterior of Hill House while its Great Hall served as the games room scene where Marrow comforts Nell after seeing the bloodied "Welcome Home Eleanor" writing and where Nell reveals of Hugh Crain's crimes, with the kitchen and pantry scenes done at Belvoir Castle. Spielberg stayed at Stapleford Park Hotel, the actors were at Belton Woods Hotel, north of Grantham, and the film crew were at the Swallow Hotel on the A607 junction on the bypass, and the Olde Barn Hotel in Marston, Lincolnshire.

The majority of the interior sets were built inside the dome-shaped hangar that once housed Hughes H-4 Hercules, near the permanently docked RMS Queen Mary steamship, in Long Beach, California. The handcrafted interior sets cost an estimated $8–10 million to construct, and were designed by Argentine production designer Eugenio Zanetti.

The film was burdened by reshoots, in part because cinematographer Caleb Deschanel left over creative differences one week into filming. The studio also demanded a new ending be shot, which was completed in June 1999.

Post-production
Following principal photography, the film's elaborate visual effects were completed by Phil Tippett, who had previously provided effects work on Jurassic Park (1993).

Box office
The Haunting opened theatrically in North America on July 23, 1999, screening in 2,808 theaters, and earning $33,435,140 during its opening weekend, ranking in first place ahead of Inspector Gadget, American Pie and Eyes Wide Shut. It was overtaken by Runaway Bride during its second weekend, falling into fourth place behind the latter film, The Blair Witch Project and Deep Blue Sea with a 54.4% decline and a gross of $15.2 million. The film remained in theatrical release until November 1999. It ultimately grossed $91,411,151 in North America, and $85,900,000 in international markets, making for a worldwide gross of $177,311,151.

Critical response
At the time of its release The Haunting was met with mixed-to-negative reviews from film critics, who criticized its screenplay, reliance on horror clichés, and use of CGI effects, but praised its art direction, production design, and sound. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 17% based on 102 reviews, with an average rating of 3.7/10. The website's critical consensus states, "Sophisticated visual effects fail to offset awkward performances and an uneven script". On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 42 out of 100, based on 28 critic reviews, indicating “mixed or average reviews”. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale.

Roger Ebert gave the film a positive review, awarding it three stars out of four, and praising the production design in particular: "To my surprise, I find myself recommending The Haunting based on its locations, its sets, its art direction, its sound design, and the overall splendor of its visuals. The story is a mess, but for long periods that hardly matters. It's beside the point, as we enter one of the most striking spaces I've ever seen in a film." Similar sentiments were echoed by The New York Times's Janet Maslin, who deemed the film "a lavish illustration of how to take a fairly modest black-and-white horror film from 1963 and amplify it so relentlessly that the sight of the flying cow in Twister would not be all that amiss... the film's spooky tricks are orchestrated by top-notch behind-the-scenes talent, who augment Mr. De Bont's tireless efforts to keep things moving."

Home media
The Haunting was released on VHS and DVD by DreamWorks Home Entertainment on November 23, 1999. Following Paramount Pictures' acquisition of DreamWorks, Paramount reissued the film on DVD in October 2017.

In October 2020, Paramount released the film on Blu-ray featuring a new 4K restoration under their "Paramount Presents" Blu-ray line. On February 27, 2023, Scream Factory announced a forthcoming 4K UHD Blu-ray release scheduled for May 30, 2023.