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July 22–29, 1999

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The Haunting

Those who need an explanation for why audiences are flocking to The Blair Witch Project, look no further than Jan de Bont’s new adaptation of The Haunting of Hill House, loaded with special effects and gargantuan sets and not one-tenth as scary as its ultra-low budget cousin. In the lead, Lili Taylor (pictured) does a fine job as one of a group of people who are unwittingly cast as test subjects in what Liam Neeson’s doctor calls "an experiment in mass fear." Inside a mansion that makes Xanadu look like a studio apartment, Taylor, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Owen Wilson spend a lot of time tossing off bad lines and running away from spooky noises, but the incoherent script gives them nothing to work with. De Bont shows some inventiveness in staging his shots and gets some of the details just right, like the way the roar of the spectral lion which haunts the house is echoed in the clang of a door swinging open. In fact, it often seems like The Haunting is just about to turn good, but no such luck. The Haunting is more like a slightly creepy episode of Scooby-Doo, with Wilson as the perpetually upbeat Shaggy.

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