Good Will Haunting
New Film Thrills But Doesn't Scare

In the next few months there will be a number of movie releases from the horror genre, all trying to give you more scare for your buck. Upcoming films like The Blair Witch Project and The Sixth Sense are already generating a certain amount of buzz. The first early-Halloween offering to hit Topeka is The Haunting, a remake of a film from 1963. While the special effects offer some interesting eye-candy, they alone can not make up for the lack of horror.

Lili Taylor (The Imposters) plays Eleanor Lance, a mousy woman who has spent the past fifteen years caring for her shut-in mother. Now that her mother is dead, Eleanor finds herself without purpose, direction, or a home. Because she has had trouble sleeping, she agrees to take part in an insomnia study being conducted by the local university.

Dr. Marrow (Liam Neeson), the faculty member in charge of the project, has an ulterior motive for collecting the insomnia subjects. He is holding his experiment in Hill House, a gothic mansion in the country. There he hopes to conduct a study of fear in a highly suggestible state - namely, a creepy "haunted" house. Of course, the volunteers are not told the true reason for their participation.

Joining in the study are two others: an artist named Theodora (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and a happy jokester named Luke (Owen Wilson). The house's caretakers leave for the evening and return to town. Before Dr. Marrow can even begin his study, however, the house begins to exhibit a life and a will of its own.

For all the interesting characters in The Haunting, the main character is the house itself. The legend surround the mansion is as intriguing as the artistic design of its architecture. The large, high ceilinged rooms are beautiful. Various rooms, like the decayed garden, are quite chilling. Each room in Hill House is an aspect of its character.

Adapted from the novel The Haunting of Hill House, by Shirley Jackson, The Haunting is a traditional ghost story brought forward to the 1990s. The story itself is timeless, and could certainly exist in any decade of this past century, but the special effects that bring Hill House to life are post-Jurrasic Park computer generation at its best.

But as the movie progresses, the house itself becomes overshadowed by the computer generated effects that bring the house to life. Certain effects - like moving statuary - can help the audience see what the characters see, but knowing that it is a special effect breaks the spell and the scene is no longer frightening. Special effects alone cannot carry a horror story.

Taylor gives a wonderful performance as Eleanor, a woman who needs someone to need her. Without that sense of purpose, Eleanor cannot define herself. Slowly, she seems to be losing her grip on reality and slipping into madness. While the other characters question her, the audience is shown things that Eleanor sees, so we know she's not crazy. This is one reason the story fails, because the suspense is lost.

There are one or two genuine moments of fright that will have moviegoers jumping out of their seats. Nevertheless, the majority of the movie lacks the sense of impending doom that any horror story should have. While the house is visually stunning, it does not fill the audience with dread. The movie lacks a certain creepy ambiance to properly set the mood.

Perhaps it is the skeptical, jaded time we live in that makes us refuse to believe in ghost stories. With some of the other horror movies slated to be released this year, Hollywood will certainly have a chance to test that theory.

MY RATING: 6 out of 10.

RATED:
RUN TIME: 112 min.

Good Will Haunting New Film Thrills But Doesn't Scare

Good Will Haunting
New Film Thrills But Doesn't Scare