Review: "HAUNTED MANSION" is Surprisingly Charming and Delightfully Scary

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 35 of 2024 (No. 1979) by Leroy Douresseaux

Haunted Mansion (2023)

Running time:  123 minutes (2 hours, 3 minutes

MPA – PG-13 for some thematic action and scary action

DIRECTOR:  Justin Simien

WRITER:  Katie Dippold

PRODUCERS:  Jonathan Eirich and Dan Lin

CINEMATOGRAHER:  Jeffrey Waldron (D.o.P.)

EDITOR:  Phillip J. Bartell

COMPOSER:  Kris Bowers

COMEDY/FAMILY/FANTASY/HORROR

Starring:  LaKeith Stanfield, Rosario Dawson, Owen Wilson, Tiffany Haddish, Danny DeVito, Chase Dillon, J.R. Adduci, Charity Jordan, Hasan Minhaj, Daniel Levy, and Jared Leto (voice) with Winona Ryder

Haunted Mansion is a 2023 American supernatural horror-comedy and family film from director Justin Simien.  Released by Walt Disney Pictures, the film is loosely based on the Disney theme park attraction, “The Haunted Mansion,” which first opened at Disneyland in 1969.  Haunted Mansion the movie focuses on a single mom and a group of peculiar locals who attempt to exorcise her new home, an old mansion, of its troublesome ghosts.

Haunted Mansion opens in New Orleans, Louisiana.  Ben Matthias (LaKeith Stanfield) is an astrophysicist developing a camera to detect dark matter.  He marries Alyssa (Charity Jordan), a tour guide for the city's famously haunted places.  Tragedy strikes, and Ben gives up his career and continues to operate Alyssa's tour despite the face that he does not believe in ghosts and the supernatural.

Meanwhile, Gabbie (Rosario Dawson), a doctor from New York, and her young son, Travis (Chase Dillon), move to the formerly lavish, but now rundown mansion, Gracey Manor.  Her plan is to transform the abandoned place into a bed and breakfast, but she and Travis soon discover that the place is infested by so many ghosts that they can't count them all.

Father Kent (Owen Wilson), a local Catholic priest who claims to be an exorcist, is helping Gabbie with the hauntings.  He hires Ben to photograph Gracey Manor's ghosts because Ben has a “dark matter” camera that may be able to photograph ghosts.  Kent also calls in Harriet (Tiffany Haddish), a psychic with genuine abilities, and Bruce (Danny DeVito), a college historian and professor who has written a book on Gracey Manor, as additional help.

However, the ghosts of Gracey Manor immediately attach themselves to anyone who enters the mansion.  Those same ghosts are apparently afraid of an alpha ghost who is seeking one more ghost to add to his menagerie, an act that would give him ultimate power.  Can a singe mother, her son, a grieving tour guide with a ghost camera, an eccentric psychic, an odd priest, a cantankerous historian, and Madame Leota (Jamie Lee Curtis), the ghostly psychic trapped in a huge crystal ball, exercise the horrible evil that haunts Gracey Mansion?  Or will one of them have to make the ultimate sacrifice?

I have to admit that last summer, as I watched the advertisements for Haunted Mansion, I could never convince myself that it was a must-see film.  I did plan to see it... eventually because I had seen the previous take on the Disney ride, the Eddie Murphy-vehicle, The Haunted Mansion (2003).  Also, I have had my eye on Justin Simien, the director of Haunted Mansion, since I saw his 2014 film, Dear White People.  But I thought I could wait, and so I did.

Recently, I finally did see Haunted Mansion, and I am surprised by how much I like it.  It is sweet and charming, and it is one of those perfect scary family movies.  I love it.  July 28, 2024 was the one-year anniversary of Haunted Mansion original theatrical release, and the film was a huge box office disappointment.  The mistake was Disney releasing the film against 2023's box office behemoths, Barbie and Oppenheimer, which were still at the height of their box office powers in the last weekend of July 2023.

Haunted Mansion should have been a late September to early October 2023 theatrical release.  This film is perfect Halloween, from its kooky cast of characters to the literal 1001 ghosts with stories.  I think Tiffany Haddish gets the most eccentric mileage out of her character, the psychic Harriet.  Although, LaKeith Stanfield can be a bit stiff at times, the way he plays Ben Matthias brings some center and balance to the wackiness and supernatural craziness.

Jamie Lee Curtis shines in her small role as the ghostly psychic, Madame Leota, and Owen Wilson as Father Kent and Danny DeVito as Bruce are pitch perfect.  Rosario Dawson and Chase Dillon are perfectly “Disney normal” as the mother and son combo of Gabbie and Travis.

Writer Katie Dippold's screenplay, Justin Simien's direction, and the rest of the film's creative crew deliver a haunted house film that is as lavish in its production values as it is rich in chills and thrills.  The cast fills that haunted house with the consummate scary movie characters.  The Haunted Mansion 2003 was a bit of a box office disappointment, but it has gone on to become a Disney television Halloween favorite.  Given time, Haunted Mansion 2023 will also become a beloved Disney Halloween trick-or-treat. 

8 of 10

A

★★★★ out of 4 stars

Tuesday, August 13, 2024

The text is copyright © 2024 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved.  Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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