Psycho's Movie Reviews #356: The Haunted Mansion (2003)

The Haunted Mansion is a 2003 American supernatural comedy horror film directed by Rob Minkoff and written by David Berenbaum. Loosely based on the Disney attraction of the same name, it stars Eddie Murphy as a realtor who, along with his family, becomes trapped in a haunted mansion. Terence Stamp, Nathaniel Parker, Marsha Thomason, and Jennifer Tilly appear in supporting roles.

The film was theatrically released in the United States on November 26, 2003, to mostly negative reviews from critics and grossed $182.3 million worldwide on a $90 million budget.

Plot

Jim and Sara Evers are successful realtors with two children, Michael and Megan. A workaholic with little time for his family, Jim misses his wedding anniversary and tries to make amends by suggesting a vacation to the nearby lake. Sara is contacted by the occupants of Gracey Manor, located in the nearby bayou; Jim, eager to make a deal after learning where the mansion is, takes his family there, meeting its owner, Edward Gracey, his butler Ramsley and his other servants; maid Emma and footman Ezra.

When a rainstorm floods the nearby river, Gracey lets the family stay for the night. Ramsley takes Jim to the library to discuss the deal with Gracey, but Jim becomes trapped in a secret passage. Gracey gives Sara a tour of the mansion, discussing his past and his “grandfather's" death after the suicide of his lover, Elizabeth Henshaw. Megan and Michael follow a spectral orb to the attic, where they find a portrait of a woman that bears an almost identical resemblance to Sara. Emma and Ezra appear, and identify the woman as the late Elizabeth.

Meanwhile, Jim meets Madame Leota, the ghost of a gypsy whose head is encased in a crystal ball. He runs into Emma, Ezra and his children, and returns to Leota for answers about Elizabeth's likeness to Sara. It is then revealed that the mansion’s inhabitants are ghosts, cursed a century ago by Elizabeth's and Gracey’s untimely deaths, and can only enter the afterlife when the lovers are reunited; Sara is believed to be Elizabeth's reincarnation. Leota sends the Evers to the mansion's cemetery to find a key that will reveal the truth about Elizabeth's death. In a crypt beneath a mausoleum, Jim and Megan find the key, but inadvertently disturb its undead residents. However, they escape with help from Michael, who overcomes his arachnophobia.

Leota leads them to a trunk in the attic, which Jim unlocks to find a letter Elizabeth wrote to Gracey, revealing she truly loved him and wanted to marry him, indicating that she did not commit suicide as everyone believed. Ramsley then appears and reveals he murdered Elizabeth to prevent Gracey from abandoning his heritage, as he believed their relationship was unacceptable. To hide the truth, Ramsley traps the children in a trunk and literally throws Jim out of the mansion. As Gracey and Sara rendezvous in the ballroom, she is confused when he asks if she recognizes him, and he insists she is his beloved Elizabeth. The room fills with dancing ghosts as Gracey reveals his ghostly self, but Sara denies being Elizabeth. This gives Gracey second thoughts, but Ramsley insists that Sara is Elizabeth and, in time, she will remember. Ramsley then blackmails Sara into marrying Gracey in exchange for her children's safety.

Encouraged by Leota, Jim manages to re-enter the mansion, rescue his children, and stop Sara and Gracey's wedding. He gives Gracey Elizabeth's letter and Ramsley's crime is exposed. As Gracey angrily confronts Ramsley, the latter rages at his master's apparent selfishness for loving Elizabeth and summons wraiths to attack the group. However, with the truth revealed, a fiery entity emerges from the ballroom's fireplace and drags Ramsley down to Hell to face eternal punishment. Ramsley attempts to take Jim with him, but he is saved by Gracey. Sara collapses, having been poisoned by Ramsley during the wedding ceremony, but the spectral orb appears and possesses Sara. The orb is revealed to be Elizabeth's ghost, who could only be released from her current form once the truth was revealed, and thanks Jim for saving her. Elizabeth and Gracey reunite as Sara is subsequently revived.

With the curse finally lifted, Gracey gives the Evers the deed to the mansion and departs to Heaven with Elizabeth, Emma, Ezra, and the mansion's other inhabitants. The Evers drive across the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway for a proper vacation, accompanied by Leota and four singing busts that they encountered while searching for the mausoleum, strapped to the back of their car.

Production

The mansion scenes were filmed at Sable Ranch in Santa Clarita, California. The main building was constructed over a period of weeks while the cupola and chimneys on the top of the mansion were computer-generated. The rest of film was shot in New Orleans and surrounding areas. The mansion's architecture is Renaissance-influenced with a mix of antebellum and Dutch-colonial revival architecture. One evidence of this is the exterior design, which is a mix-up of the attraction's exteriors in both Disneyland and Walt Disney World, with the conservatory being a nod to the latter.

Five Hidden Mickeys are seen throughout the film; the most notable ones being the padlock at the mansion's gates, the second when an axe wielded by a animated suit of armour nearly hits Jim, and a third which is briefly seen when Ramsley poisons a goblet of wine during the wedding ceremony. Two other hidden mickeys are the couch in the library and the windows on the doors Jim passes when he is chased by musical instruments summoned by Madame Leota. Before leaving the mansion via a hearse to find the mausoleum, Ezra exclaims "there's always my way," a pivotal line of dialogue from the attraction.

The costume and special effects designers wanted the ghost characters to become "more dead" the farther they were from the mansion. While Ezra and Emma look human in the house, their leaving it causes them to become blue and transparent. The zombies in the mausoleum were described as the "deadest as they are farthest away". Rick Baker, the chief costume designer, did the prosthetic makeup for the zombies in the mausoleum, using skull heads for the zombie design. He also designed one of the zombies as an elderly man holding a cane in order for the mausoleum scene not to be too frightening to viewers.

This was the first film to air on Disney Channel to contain any profanity besides "hell" or "damn", the "Big ass termites!" line uttered by Jim when he sees the breathing door.

In the opening scene of the film, Nathaniel Parker had great difficulty trying to carry Marsha Thomason up the staircase, which is shown on the expressions of his face. This was due to her slippery silk dress.

Release/Reception/Box Office

The teaser trailer debuted in October 2002 with Tuck Everlasting and on VHS in February 2003.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 14% based on 140 reviews and an average rating of 4.2/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Neither scary nor funny, The Haunted Mansion is as lifeless as the ghosts in the movie." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 34 out of 100 based on 34 critics, indicating "generally unfavourable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.

Jeremy Wheeler of AllMovie gave the film his below average star rating and described it as a terribly flawed fantastical comedy that neither entertains nor creeps.

According to Box Office Mojo, The Haunted Mansion grossed $24,278,410 on its opening weekend with an average of $7,776 per theatre in the United States. With the domestic gross at $75,847,266, the film gained more than a quarter of the earnings of its theme-ride predecessor Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. The film achieved better in other markets, with an international total of $106,443,000.

Budget $90 million

Box office $182.3 million

My Review

As weird and as unexpected as it might sound, I really liked this movie for what it was and it's no way as bad as everything tries to make you believe it is.

I thought that this was just a great children movie. Or well, maybe it's just because this would be the type of movie that I would had liked to have seen when I was young(er). People just often seem to forget or ignore their inner child. While watching this movie you just have to think and feel like a child again, since this is also the target group the movie got aimed towards. When you do so, you'll see that this movie is simply good at what it tries to achieve. It brings some good clean and safe horror entertainment for children. Young ones often seem to like reading horror stories (at least in my days this was the case) so they are likely to get a blast out of watching this movie. Some sequences however might be a bit too disturbing for really young children though, so be aware of that.

Of course when you start watching this movie as an adult you'll notice the movie its weak and quite formulaic story. Nothing is ever really surprising about it. The movie nevertheless has a great sense of adventure though in which a group of people gets trapped in an haunted house, with a new adventure in every room.

The movie is great looking, with also especially its special effects. Normally horror and special effects are never a good or effective combination but in this case of an horror movie for children, it isn't really a complainant. The special effects mostly serve to give the movie its feeling of adventure and it provides the movie with some of its entertaining moments as well. The movie also features some or the recently deceased Rick Baker make-up effects, which is always something great to look at.

Not sure if the movie is really as effective as a comedy than as an adventure movie though. Oh well, perhaps children will still find the movie funny in parts, though some of the jokes are obviously aimed toward adults. Something Disney movies often do so, especially lately.

I also can't say if I'm too sure about Eddie Murphy casting as the main lead. Now I have nothing against Eddie Murphy really but he just isn't suitable for all types of comedies. I think this is one of those movies that would had been better off without him. Besides the well known Eddie Murphy, the movie also features well known and respected actors such as Terence Stamp, Nathaniel Parker and Jennifer Tilly. Especially Stamp and Parker were great. On top of that the movie also features the wonderful Deep Roy, in a really small role though.

The movie its musical score by Mark Mancina also really deserves recognition. It was surprisingly great and effective. It can be described as a great and effective horror score as well as an entertaining one.

The Haunted Mansion is based on a ride at Disneyland, and is one of three movies the other two being the Country Bears and Pirates of the Caribbean based on a Disneyland ride. As for the movie, it is very flawed, but you know what, it isn't that bad. It's not as good as Pirates of the Caribbean but it's better than Country Bears.

The film does look amazing, with splendid sets and costumes and the special effects were actually above average my favourite being the singing statues. The music is great, and the performances in general are very good. Eddie Murphy has been better, but he gave a good account of himself and the children were appealing. The best of the lot has to be Jennifer Tilly as the crystal ball, but she should have got more screen time than she did. The film does have a fairly creepy atmosphere to it, especially that truly scary scene in the tomb.

However, The Haunted Mansion isn't without its flaws. The script is very cliché-ridden and doesn't give the actors very much to work with. The plot does have its dull and predictable spots, and never really recovers, and is further disadvantaged by a rather anti-climatic and obvious ending. The only real disappointing performance came from Terence Stamp as Ramsley, he is a fine actor, but he is given little to do.

All in all, it is very flawed, but it is watchable. 6/10