Haunted (1995)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Lewis Gilbert

Writers:

James Herbert (novel)
Timothy Prager (writer) ...

Release Date:

18 June 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Fantasy | Mystery | Romance

Tagline:

You will believe ...

Plot:

Professor David Ash is invited to Edbrook to calm the fears of the elderly nanny of the Mariell family...

Plot Keywords:

Nanny | Ghost | Beautiful Woman | Haunted House | Skinny Dipping

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Aidan Quinn	...	Prof. David Ash
Kate Beckinsale	...	Christina Mariell
Anthony Andrews	...	Robert Mariell
John Gielgud	...	Doctor Doyle
Anna Massey	...	Nanny Tess Webb
Alex Lowe	...	Simon Mariell
Geraldine Somerville	...	Kate
Victoria Shalet	...	Juliet Ash
Linda Bassett	...	Madame Brontski
Liz Smith	...	Old Gypsy Woman
Peter England	...	Young David
Alice Douglas	...	Clare
Hilary Mason	...	Elderly Lady
Edmund Moriarty	...	Liam
Emily Hamilton	...	Mary

MPAA:

Rated R for sexuality and nudity.

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Netherlands:12 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 (video premiere) | Germany:12 | Portugal:M/16 (video premiere) | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

East Sussex, England, UK

Company:

October Films

Trivia:

Hilary Mason replaced Jean Anderson.

Quotes:

Robert Mariell: We're all mad, you know.

Movie Connections:

References The Legend of Hell House (1973)

Why there aren´t any more ghost movies like this ?...

I first saw this a couple of years ago, when it was released on video, and since then i must have watched about two or three times more. Surprisingly for a mistery movie, this doesn´t loose it´s appeal even when we are watching it for the second time. Even when we already know how it´s going to end.

The first time we see it, it´s great and we spend the whole movie trying to guess what is going to happen next, even if the ending might be a bit easy to guess from a certain point in the movie, if we pay atention to some details.

Anyway, this is an excelent movie, the atmosphere is perfect. Very intriguing and misterious, but at the same time set in very normal locations. Normaly ghost movies are associated to lots of scenes in the dark, but this movie is a very bright movie with most of its story set in very iluminated places, contrary to the classic ghost storytelling. But at the same time even during normal scenes whe can feel that there is something wrong in the air, and this is what makes this movie so atmospheric. It realy feels like the whole movie is haunted. We can watch it again, and again and keep finding new small details, that we missed the first time.

But what ghost story would be without scares and chills. Well there are a couple of scary moments in here also and some very good chilling sequences. Most of them is actualy in our minds, because ther aren´t many special effects in, but that´s the way a good ghost story should be presented. The atmosphere in this is so good, that if the few flashy special effects that are present were removed, it wouldn´t make a diference. But fear not, this is not a Spielberg effects film, the atmosphere is what counts here. And it has loads of it.

Overall this is at least a very diferent ghost story, and originaly presented. Don´t skip this movie if you like ghost stories.

Excelent.