The Haunting: Why The 1999 Movie Bombed With Audiences & Critics – Screen Rant

1999's The Haunting, an adaptation of Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House, bombed with critics and audiences after release here's why.

Jan de Bont's 1999 paranormal horror movieThe Hauntingwas poorly received by fans and critics upon its release. While it had the potential to live up to its source material, it largely failed in ways that would've ensured its success. Here's whyThe Hauntingbombed with fans and critics.

Adapted from Shirley Jackson's 1959 gothic horror novelThe Haunting Of Hill House,it followsEleanor "Nell" Vance (Lili Taylor), who joins a group of paranormal researchers to uncover the secrets of Hill House. Liam Neeson (Dr. David Marrow), Owen Wilson (Luke Sanderson), and Catherine Zeta-Jones (Theodora "Theo") star alongside Taylor. The Hauntingwasthe second of three official adaptations of Jackson's influential novel with the first being the 1963 movieThe Haunting.Mike Flanagan's Netflix original seriesThe Haunting Of Hill Houseis the most recent take on the story as of this writing. This series garnered such positive reviews that it was followed by season 2, titledThe Haunting Of Bly Manor,which wasinspired by the works of author Henry James.

Related:The Haunting Season 3: Gothic Horror Stories The Next Show Can Adapt

While paranormal horror movies are a timeless source of entertainment in the genre,The Hauntingwas one of the biggest releases in the sub-genre with the poorest reviews. As of this writing, it holds a 16% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, making it certifiably rotten by the website's standards. It may have received better reviews had it not released during the same year asThe Sixth Sense, The Blair Witch Project,andSleepy Hollow.Regardless,The Hauntingbombed among fans and critics for several irredeemable reasons.

The Hauntingfeatures a lot of talent, but the onscreen chemistry was sorely lacking. Jackson'sThe Haunting Of Hill Househas been praised for its ability to capture emotional ties between its characters. The 1999 movie failed to live up to these expectations as it attempted to modernize the novel with a heavy emphasis on action over emotion. This led to an overreliance on CGI to create the apparitions and an abundance of horror cliches. While paranormal horror movies were in the midst of reinvention with found footage movies likeThe Blair Witch Project, The Hauntingremained in the past as a result. It failed to move forward with the rest of the sub-genre, which attributed to its negative reviews.

The Hauntingbombed so badly that the horror comedy franchiseScary Movieused it as the foundational story for its sequel. The Scary Moviefranchiseis known for parodying stale and overused tropes in the genre. When a horror movie is used as a basis forScary Movie'sstoryline, it can indicate just how poorly it was received or how predictable a movie was. Sadly,The Hauntingfalls under this category. The spirits of the Crain family were used as Cindy Campbell's (Anna Faris) humorous horrors as she and a group of college students go on a paranormal investigation of a haunted manor.

Ultimately,The Hauntingbombed because of its characters' poor onscreen chemistry, lack of inventive qualities, over-reliance on horror tropes, and an overuse of CGI. Based on critiques, there are seemingly no redeemable qualities to this movie besides the fact that it helped contribute to immensely popularScary Moviefranchise. Had the director and screenwriter been more attentive to Shirley Jackson's original source material,The Hauntingcould have succeeded, but it failed.

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Marian Phillips works as a Horror Movie Features Writer for Valnet, Inc at ScreenRant.

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The Haunting: Why The 1999 Movie Bombed With Audiences & Critics - Screen Rant