Film: Haunted Mansion
Cast: Rosario Dawson, Chase W. Dillon, Lakeith Stanfield, Owen Wilson, Tiffany Haddish, Danny DeVito, Jamie Lee Curtis, Winona Ryder
Director: Justin Simien
Rating: 2/5
Runtime: 123 min.
The latest remake based on Disneyland’s iconic 3 minute Haunted Mansion ride, this 2 hour long horror-comedy might harken back to nostalgia driven excitement, but for those who haven’t had the good fortune of visiting the famous Children`s attraction, it won’t cut much ice. Disney’s third attempt after 2003’s Eddie Murphy starrer and 2021’s fairly enjoyable Muppets Haunted Mansion, is quite a downer. It plays out like an unflattering, long-drawn advertisement for the real deal.
The storyline is simple. A woman and her son enlist a motley crew of spiritual experts to help rid their home of ghastly supernatural squatters. Screenwriter Katie Dippold does try to add some emotion into the proceedings with the central character still grieving for his beloved wife. Ben (LaKeith Stanfield), a former astrophysicist, now depressed and drinking heavily after the death of his wife Alyssa (Charity Jordan), has invented a “spectral photography” camera that can see ghosts. Father Kent (Owen Wilson), a priest who performs exorcism, approaches him to help with a current case involving a widowed doctor, Gabbie (Rosario Dawson), and her nine-year-old son Travis (Chase W. Dillon), who have moved into a decrepit haunted mansion on the outskirts of New Orleans. Ghostbusting recruits include Harriet (Tiffany Haddish), a flamboyant medium who gives psychic readings at bar-mitzvahs, and Bruce (Danny DeVito), a Tulane University professor specializing in haunted houses.
Those who have visited Disneyland may well recognise many of the key elements, including trademark apparitions as The Hat-Box Ghost (Jared Leto) and the disembodied head of Madame Leota (Jamie Lee Curtis), that go to make the charmingly spooky ride memorable. But this new Disney film paying visual tribute to that inspiration is woefully short on the necessary laughs and scares. The aesthetic and designs stay true to the ride but that doesn’t necessarily make it visually enticing. The scares fall flat and there’s hardly any humor to make it click as an entertainer. This film may have been another blockbuster had Guillermo del Toro (originally attached to the project) taken creative charge. As envisioned by director Justin Simien, it’s a rather routine, bloodless and distinctly humourless, indistinct CGI dominated, uninspiring and niggardly attempt at horror-comedy.
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