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It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Firstly, the house is incredible! The setting in the huge old house in itself is creepy, let alone all the wooden carvings of kids! The house's back story was actually more interesting than the plot itself, which I didn't find convincing enough. I did enjoy the eerie atmosphere and subtle, real scares without the help of overbearing music. The visual effects are simply awesome! The film does become weird towards the end, but nevertheless remains interesting and entertaining.

The latest lame Hollywood blockbuster is definitely disappointing, and not in the least bit scary. Now, the original 1963 film wasn't scary either, but at least it managed to be creepy, with the aid of subtlety and suggestion. Just the opposite of this film, in fact. Jan De Bont shows that he should stick to making slick action pictures and has no idea how to scare us.In fact, only the basic plot has been taken from the original film. Some scenes are copied, but in this film it's all basically overdrive on behalf of the special effects team. From the first moment on entering the house, ghostly faces are appearing on bed sheets and walls, and these just increase and increase throughout the film in number. The trouble is that only on two or three occasions are the characters put in danger by these effects, and the rest of the time you just know they're going to dissipate and not cause any harm to anyone.The cast is full of familiar faces, such as Bruce Dern in a wild-haired role as a rarely-seen caretaker. Liam Neeson is good but goes through the paces as the stern doctor, he's no match for Richard Johnson in the original, but at least he's something of an actor. The same with Catherine Zeta Jones. Unfortunately, her character is the least subtle of them all, constantly wearing revealing clothes and flaunting her lesbianism. She fits her role like a glove. Lili Taylor, however, I didn't like. She's one of those actresses who think expressing fright is opening their mouths and eyes as wide as possible. It doesn't look like a believable expression, it just looks ridiculous. Taylor is sadly given the most to do and the largest role, but I just didn't warm to her at all. Owen Wilson is also awful in a comic relief role.For the most part, the special effects are bad and totally unrealistic. Big faces coming out of the ground just don't look real at all, it looks like a computer game and nothing else. Therefore these kind of effects quickly become boring, as you expect what's coming, and there's just so much visual bombardment that it becomes tiring to watch. There are a handful of good scenes in the film, like a surprisingly brutal decapitation or Neeson getting attacked by a statue, but the ending is a real letdown with a sugary happy ending with angels and the like. The final apparition of the ghost is just a big guy in a cape, it might as well be Godzilla. Size isn't everything but that's something this film doesn't realise. Frankly, I think upcoming flicks like THE SIXTH SENSE, THE HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL remake and, of course, THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT all look more promising than this silly and unsurprising entry into the genre. Nauseatingly bad.

I hate brussels sprouts, I don't trust used car dealers, can't stand banks and this movie was lousy. That pretty much summarizes it. To pad the review let me add Owen Wilson should be forced to eat brussels sprouts while buying a used car with a loan from a bank. Lili Taylor should stay away from the front of the camera and maybe work as a grip or in the deli section. Zeta-Jones should have taken all of her clothes off. At least it would have been a distraction. Liam Neeson should simply go find the original negative and burn it. Jan de Bont should pal around with Owen Wilson and eat lots of brussels sprouts. Finally, if you're gonna make a movie and spend a ton of money on it, why not hire a scriptwriter instead of just asking the pizza delivery guy to come up with some 'hot' ideas.And the ending sucked.

A supposed remake to the 1963 film, The Haunting, this movie is about a group of people taking part in a sleep study at a mansion and then finding themselves getting caught in the middle of the house's sinister ghostly past.I remembered watching this movie on TV and from what I've remembered, it wasn't a very haunting movie. The plot wasn't very captivating, with nothing that really stands out that would grab your attention and in which you would find riveting; the story was filmed in a way that is a basic, ghost-on-the-loose movie. The acting was pretty bad, as there is limited character chemistry or development, and the special effects for the paranormal menaces were not sophisticated.A few frightening moments may jump out at you here and there and the chase scenes might be a tad exciting, but overall, there are much more scarier and intriguing horror flicks than this.Grade D