Haunted (Full Screen)
|
Our Price: $31.94 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $15.89 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of Haunted (Full Screen)
Movie Review: Movie Haunted
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie will keep you on the edge of your chair. You won't know what is going to happen next. Very good movie.Movie Review: entertaining old-fashioned English ghost story
Summary: 4 Stars
Although the dreadful Pearl Harbor put British actress Kate Beckinsale on everyone's radar, before that she did the far superior Haunted. An impressive film featuring big stars, based on a James Herbert novel, and executive produced by (among others) Francis Ford Coppola.
Haunted opens in 1905, in the picturesque English countryside, when a young David Ash (Peter England) inadvertently kills his sister, Juliet (Victoria Shalet). During a moment of horseplay, she strikes her head and falls into a stream. David jumps in to rescue her, but fails. Juliet drowns.
Flash forward to 1928, and the adult David (Aidan Quinn) is now an Oxford professor and professional skeptic. He not only discounts ghostly sightings in his well-received book, he spends off-campus hours exposing charlatan spiritualists. Although he's still haunted by guilt and grief, he's accepted his sister's death; now he wants to help others rid their emotional crutches of belief in an afterlife. It's more than a job; it's his calling.
So renowned an author is David, he is deluged by fan mail, including from the elderly but wealthy "Nanny Tess" Webb (Anna Massey), who asks David to exorcise her country manor of ghosts. Dismissive at first, David is convinced to try and help the old woman by his kindly secretary. Not to rid the manor of ghosts, but to prove to Nanny Tess that there are none, and to convince her to seek therapy.
Upon arriving in the country, David is met by Nanny Tess's niece, Christina (Kate Beckinsale). David soon meets Christina's brothers (Anthony Andrews and Alex Lowe), and the hauntings begin.
Complicating matters, whatever spirits are tormenting Nanny Tess are now joined by a rival ghost, that of David's long-dead sister, Juliet, whom only David can see. Just as, at times, only Nanny Tess can see her ghosts.
Further complicating matters is a burgeoning love between David and Christina. Complicated, because it inflames the jealousies of Christina's older brother, who paints nude portraits of Christina. The other brother prefers to spy on Christina, when he's not skinny-dipping with her. And Christina, well, she's not as innocent as David may like to believe. (If you're hankering for nude scenes of Beckinsale, this film delivers.) Those English aristocrats do have their dark wild side, and it is the Roaring Twenties, and David can be such a square...
And yet, despite its risqu? content, Haunted has the ambiance of an old-fashioned English ghost story. Languid pace, period piece decor, classy English accents, rich musical soundtrack, sumptuous cinematography of the English countryside. If Merchant Ivory were to do a horror film, it would look like Haunted.
Yes, there is enough ghostly terror to please horror fans. But there are also lyrical interludes of horseback riding along the white cliffs of Dover in glorious telephoto, lovers galloping through autumnal colored woods, then tumbling in the hay in some absent yeoman farmer's barn. And capping an afternoon so visually resplendent it could be used for a high-fashion photo shoot, along comes a rustic fortune-teller. Her red weather-beaten face and peasant teeth evoke so much local charm, we expect the romantic interlude to end with a prediction of marriage for our young lovers. But instead, the fortune-teller's ominous palm reading (reminiscent of the one in Jacob's Ladder) returns the story to unsettling terror.
Haunted has many unexpected twists, especially as events cascade in the final reel, culminating in a surprise revelation that packs a powerful punch. David's final discovery is an unexpected shock, yet it all suddenly makes sense.
Much as in The Sixth Sense.
Haunted is an obscure film, especially compared to the wildly successful Sixth Sense. Yet it's hard to believe that Haunted did not influence The Sixth Sense.
Odds are most Americans didn't know of Kate Beckinsale until she appeared in Pearl Harbor. In previous films, I found Beckinsale's onscreen persona to be both compelling and annoying (e.g., Cold Comfort Farm, The Last Days of Disco). In Haunted, Beckinsale is ... compelling and annoying. Compelling, because she is attractive, occasionally even sympathetic. Annoying, because her characters are often persnickety, and always conceited, scheming, and manipulative.
This is not to describe Beckinsale, but it's the role she often plays. (She was nobler in Pearl Harbor, but also blander.)
But David Ash is the main character in Haunted, and Aidan Quinn effectively predominates the film. His David is sympathetic, courageous, sensitive, multi-textured, buffeted by events as he struggles to understand and aid and comfort, fighting for new love while still grappling with guilt and grief over his past.
Quinn and Beckinsale both perform splendidly, but so too the entire cast. One expects slick craftsmanship from a Merchant Ivory film, and Haunted delivers that (although not a Merchant Ivory film). But Haunted also succeeds as an entertaining and atmospheric English ghost story, full of mystery and terror and suspense, and a powerful surprise ending.
Movie Review: A Supernatural Flick with a Super Chick
Summary: 4 Stars
Certainly not a world beater but Haunted is a somewhat haunting movie that you may enjoy. In some respects it's an older and distant cousin of the Nicole Kidman movie The Others, a little less confusing but with an equally bizarre twist.
The skeptical Parapsychology Professor David Ash (Aidan Quinn) has written a bestseller which refutes the supernatural and spirit world and teaches such a course in an unnamed British university(perhaps Oxford). He also spends some of his free time exposing charlatans, debunking their paranormal activities. (seances, fortune telling, etc.)
David is intrigued when among his daily fan mail he receives a note from an elderly lady, not too far away, imploring him to come to Edbrook and eliminate the ghosts that are haunting her.
Of course David knows there are no ghosts but he feels he may be able to help her understand and therefore overcome her delusions.
The story begins in 1905, where tragedy strikes when young David is playing with his twin sister Juliet suddenly falls in a pond and drowns.
The story continues twenty-three years later when David now a professor at Oxford University accepts an invitation to country manor for the purpose of helping a terrified old woman who is being haunted by ghosts only she can see.
Once arriving at Mariell Manor David meets and is captivated by the free spirited, child like, beauty, Christine. Next he meets the object of his travel, the somewhat catatonic, Nanny Tess (Anna Massey), who may or not be Christina's aunt.
Eventually we meet Christina's childlike brothers, Robert (Anthony Andrews) who seeming has nothing to do except paint canvases of his lovely sister in the nude and Simon (Alex Lowe) who fancies himself as a jokester.
Yes this is indeed a peculiar family and just how aberrant becomes evident to David as he watches Cristina undress and jump into a small lake, followed by Simon, also nude.
Later strange occurrences begin, some of which could be explained as pranks but others like being caught in a fire only find out he imagined it, has our cynical professor confused and bewildered, unable to reconcile these bizarre events. David is also conflicted as his feelings for coy, ever flirting, Christina escalate and apparently she for him but brother Robert is obviously envious of the attention she bestows on David.
As a romance heats up between David and Christina, however, David appears to turn a blind eye to what is going on in the household. Even the apparently unwholesome relationship Christina appears to have with her brothers, especially Robert, initially fails to distract David. Too late, he realizes the nature of the evil within this isolated, rural manor house. In the end, it takes the force of something beyond the grave to save him from an almost unimaginable horror.
CONCLUSION
No, Haunted is no world beater of a movie. It's relatively small budget and has an even smaller cast with only five primary actors, (John Gielgud has more of a cameo part) and only a few others, namely young David and Juliet and later David's secretary. However I was pleasantly surprised by the movie as one of the more intriguing, well done ghost stories I've ever viewed. As in almost all so called horror movies there are lose ends or questionable directions, which did which did occur to some extent in Haunted but not nearly as much as similar contemporary movies.
The acting is superlative. This is an extraordinary tale of ghosts and otherside but it is subtle. It doesn't hit you over the head with unbelievable concepts and cheesy special effects. (except for a little at the end) This is a well done, stealthily told, haunted house story that is sure to hold viewers interest throughout. Kate Beckinsale give a wonderful performance as the seemingly quirky, provocative and free spirited Christina. Anthony Andrews is excellent as the slightly sinister, oldest sibling, Robert. Alex Lowe is appropriately eccentric as Christina's off the wall brother, Simon. John Gielgud gives a terrific cameo performance. Aidan Quinn is effective as the erstwhile debunker who loses sight of his mission and is mislead into a false sense of reality.
As I mentioned, Quinn and Beckinsale both perform splendidly (she can ask me out anytime she wants to), but so too does the entire cast. The reason I did not rate Haunted five stars is because of the application cheesy effects near the end. Shame on the director for devising or allowing it but it did not detract from the overall effectiveness of the film.
So, though Haunted may not be a world beater in general it may be one in its genre. Haunted succeeds as an entertaining and atmospheric English ghost story, full of mystery and terror and suspense, and a powerful surprise ending. I think it is one of the best haunted house movies I've seen but I'll let you be the judge.
Movie Review: No ghosts please, we're British
Summary: 4 Stars
I first saw this in 1999 when it was shown on TV and I taped it, mostly on a whim. At that time I had no idea who Kate Beckinsale was, and I'd never heard of Aidan Quinn. To be honest reading the film description of a guy who investigates a haunted house made me expect some kind of silly Poltergeist/ Nightmare On Elm Street type horror schlock movie.
So it was something of a surprise to see the first moments of the film, with an Edwardian lady seated at a piano playing a melancholy yet moving piano piece. Further in it became apparent that this certainly wasn't a blood and gore shocker. For anyone thinking of renting or buying this I don't want to give the plot away too much, but if you're expecting any blood or gore, move on immediately. This film is made of many parts. It has elements of a period drama (1930s English manor- very Agatha Christie) ghost story, and psychological drama.
David Ash, played by Aidan Quinn, is a paranormal investigator who finally agrees to visit an elderly woman (Nanny Tess , playedby Anna Massey) at a country estate after she has sent him many letters asking him. He meets Christina Marriell (played by Kate Beckinsale, then virtually unknown) and her two brothers, suave but smarmy and artistic Robert (Anthony Andrews) and the irreverant Simon (Alex Lowe). Nanny Tess is obviously in a state of fear, yet Ash is seemingly unbale to find anything to help her. In the end Ash becomes as shaken and disturbed as Nanny Tess by events in the house, and a vision of his long dead sister leads him to discovery that unwravels a surprise ending.
Overall the film manages to sustain our interest throuhgout. The early 1930s ambience is authentically done. The scenery in Sussex, England looks stunning in autumn colours. The acting is uniformly well done. And the soundtrack by Debbie Wiseman is wonderful. ( I even bought it on CD a few days ago!)
On the negative side though, the special effects are rather poor. And although I praised the acting, there is a certain conflict of styles. Aidan Quinn is an excellent actor, but his distinctly American "method" style of acting seems strange when he's having a conversation with the very English "Agatha Christie TV drama" style of the other cast. And although it's billed as "horror" I can't really think of any places where it's actually *scary*. (Although I admit I don't believe in anything supernatural) There's a sense of tension and unease, even creepiness, around, but anyone expecting to hide behind the sofa is going to disappointed.
The main fault with this film though was the awkward script. Lines like "There was a peculiar scratching at my door last night. When I went to see what it was I was prevented from opening by someone pulling from the other side. Someone as strong as I am" and "So...you're from the colonies" make you wonder who actually gave the go ahead with the script. Did anyone actually realise how bad some of this dialog actually is?
So I can't really say this is a 5 star movie because it certainly has some faults. Although not quite on the same level as Robert Wise's 1963 classic The Haunting, Haunted is an intelligent and well crafted story. The Haunting and Haunted- now there's a good double bill!
PS Drooling Kate Beckinsale fans please note- that's a body double in the film. :p
Movie Review: A GOTHIC GHOST STORY THAT WILL HAUNT THE VIEWER...
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a little heralded gem of a film and a chilling adaptation of James Herbert's spooky novel of the same name. With a star studded cast, the film does not lack for talent. Beautifully acted, this gothic ghost story is a wonderfully atmospheric, haunted house tale, sparely told. The film begins with a turn of the century scene in Sussex, England with two children playing in the idyllic English countryside. They are fraternal twins, David and Juliet Ash. While playing, Juliet ends up drowning, and David, to his life long regret, is unable to save her.
Years later, David (Aidan Quinn) is a Professor of Psychology with a penchant for debunking so-called supernatural occurrences. After receiving an intriguing and pleading letter from a Mrs. Webb about ghostly apparitions at the rural manor home in which she resides, David goes there, only to be met by the Mariell clan, consisting of Christina (Kate Beckindsale), and her brothers, Robert (Anthony Andrews) and Simon (Alex Lowe). It turns out that Mrs. Webb is their old nanny, whom they all still call Nanny Tess (Ann Massey). She is clearly terrified of something that is going on in the house, and the Mariells all seem to be humoring her.
The Mariell siblings, at first, appear to be wildly eccentric Brits, but later seem to be more than just a little twisted, as it soon becomes apparent that all is not right in that household. There are things that go bump in the night, strange music is played, and the ghostly apparition of a young girl seems to glide about the house and grounds. Moreover, Nanny Tess always appears to be in a state of acute terror and is even so when the seemingly benign Dr. Doyle (John Geilgud) appears to give her a check up.
As a romance heats up between David and Christina, however, David appears to turn a blind eye to what is going on in the household. Even the apparently unwholesome relationship Christina appears to have with her brothers, especially Robert, initially fails to nonplus David. Too late, he realizes the nature of the evil within this isolated, rural manor house. In the end, it takes the force of something beyond the grave to save him from an almost unimaginable horror.
The acting is superb in this remarkably told tale of ghosts and things that go bump in the night. This is a well done, stealthily told, haunted house story that is sure to keep viewers glued to their screens. Kate Beckinsale gives a wonderful performance as the seemingly quirky and free spirited Christina. Anthony Andrews is excellent as the slightly sinister, oldest sibling, Robert. Alex Lowe is appropriately eccentric as Christina's off the wall brother, Simon. John Gielgud gives a terrific cameo performance. Aidan Quinn is effective as the erstwhile debunker who loses sight of his mission and is gulled into a false sense of reality.
The only reason I did not rate this film five stars is because the director acquiesced to some need to resort to cheesy special effects at the very end. The superimposed faces on the last fire scene was unnecessary and only served to cheapen what had, otherwise, been a very well done and spooky film. The DVD itself provides crystal clear audio and visuals but little else,