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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Review: "THE HAUNTED MANSION" 2003 is Perfect for a Family Fright Night

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 2 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Haunted Mansion (2003)

Running time:  88 minutes (1 hour, 28 minutes)

MPAA – PG for frightening images, thematic elements and language

DIRECTOR:  Rob Minkoff

WRITER:  David Berenbaum

PRODUCERS:  Don Hahn and Andrew Gunn

CINEMATOGRAHER:  Remi Adefarasin (D.o.P.)

EDITOR:  Priscilla Nedd-Friendly

COMPOSER:  Mark Mancina

COMEDY/FAMILY/FANTASY/HORROR

Starring:  Eddie Murphy, Terence Stamp, Nathaniel Parker, Marsha Thomason, Jennifer Tilly, Wallace Shawn, Dina Waters, Marc John Jefferies, and Aree Davis

The Haunted Mansion is a 2003 American supernatural horror-comedy film directed by Rob Minkoff and starring Eddie Murphy.  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 and at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida in 1971.  The Haunted Mansion the movie focuses on a realtor and his family who are summoned to a haunted mansion where they must learn lessons about the importance of family if they want to escape.

In the film, The Haunted Mansion, Jim Evers (Eddie Murphy) is a workaholic real estate agent.  He is allegedly part of a team, Evers & Evers, with his wife, Sara (Marsha Thomason, the British actress who played Martin Lawrence’s love interest in Black Knight).  However, you’d hardly know that they are a team because Jim spends so much time away from Sara and their children.  And since Sara (as many movie wives do) complains that he spends too much time away from the family, Jim decides to take the family on a trip to a lake.

Sara, however, gets an invitation to visit Gracey Manor, a foreboding manor locked behind a huge iron gate and nestled in a jungle of sinister vegetation.  If that wasn’t enough to say “haunted house,” the mansion has a rather spacious scenic graveyard on the property.  Sara alone had been invited, but Jim insists that they make the visit to Gracey as part of their vacation stop, so their children, sassy girl Megan (Aree Davis), and the seemingly perpetually terrified Michael (Marc John Jefferies) go along.

At the mansion, the imposing butler Ramsley (Terence Stamp), an emaciated and cadaverous figure with an obvious air of menace about him, greets the Evers.  They meet the mansion’s owner, Master Gracey (Nathaniel Parker), a deeply troubled man who claims to be the original owner’s heir.  Gracey is apparently obsessed with Sara, and gradually Jim, Michael and Megan start to figure out the dreadful truth, but is it in time to save the family?  Will it take a band of ghosts to teach Jim Evers a lesson about the importance of family?

This premise for the film The Haunted Mansion, based upon a Disney World theme park ride, actually works, for the most part.  Director Rob Minkoff (The Lion King, Stuart Little) displays a deft touch in keeping the film both suspenseful and funny, and he expertly juggles live action so that the special effects seamlessly fit rather than seeming to have been thrown in.  Mansion is also a lot funnier than the ads for the film imply; in fact, most of the ads come across as being out of context.  This movie is pure fluff, but it’s done quite well, so someone in Disney marketing should get a reprimand.

I loved the costumes, and especially the art direction (Beat Frutiger and Tomas Voth) and set decoration (Rosemary Brandenburg).  The house and graveyard recall Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney, Christopher Lee, and Peter Cushing, a whole host of Hammer films, as well as Abbot & Costello and four decades of Scooby-Doo cartoons.  What a delightful mix!  As usual, Rick Baker does stellar makeup effects work in bringing corpses to life; this man is a national treasure.

The acting is good, and Murphy gives one of his better performances as a star of family-friendly movies.  Usually, his acting seems out of place and kind of awkward in films like Daddy Day Care (where he was good), but here his fit is natural and he seems inspired.

There is a peculiar racial subtext to this film that the storytellers attempt to conceal, but it will be obvious to most adults.  Maybe that would have made this story richer; as it is, it gives a dark edge to the inspired fluff.  Still, The Haunted Mansion is fine the way it is.  The characters have a lot with which to deal, and the resolution makes sense even if the execution of the ending stumbles a bit.  It’s a fine family film.  It has that Disney flavor that suggests Disney films from the 1950’s and 60’s, so I think The Haunted Mansion could become a Disney Halloween stable.

6 of 10

B

★★★ out of 4 stars

Edited:  Saturday, July 27, 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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Review: Original "HOCUS POCUS" Still Casts a Friendly Spell

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 56 of 2022 (No. 1868) by Leroy Douresseaux

Hocus Pocus (1993)
Running time: 96 minutes (1 hour, 36 minutes)
MPAA – PG for some scary sequences, and for language
DIRECTOR:  Kenny Ortega
WRITERS: Mick Garris and Neil Cuthbert (from a story by Mick Garris and David Kirschner)
PRODUCERS:  Steve Haft and David Kirschner
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Hiro Narita (D.o.P.)
EDITOR:  Peter E. Berger
COMPOSER:  John Debney

FANTASY/COMEDY/FAMILY

Starring:  Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kathy Najimy, Omri Katz, Thora Birch, Vinessa Shaw, Stephanie Faracy, Charles Rocket, Sean Murray, Amanda Shepherd, Larry Bagby III, Tobias Jelinek, Doug Jones, and Jason Marsden (voice) with Garry Marshall and Penny Marshall

Hocus Pocus is a 1993 fantasy, supernatural comedy, and Halloween film directed by Kenny Ortega.  The film focuses on the new boy in town who ignores local Halloween legend and lore and unwittingly awakens a trio of scheming witches who were executed 300 years earlier.

Hocus Pocus opens on October 31, 1693 (All Hallow's Eve), in Salem, Massachusetts.  A boy named Thackery Binx (Sean Murray) tries to save his little sister, Emily (Amanda Shepherd), from the schemes of Winifred “Winnie” Sanderson (Bette Midler) and her two sisters, Sarah (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Mary (Kathy Najimy), who are all witches.  Thackery fails to save Emily, whose life force is drained in order to make the witch sisters young again.  The witches curse Thackery with eternal life and transform him into a black cat.  However, the vengeful townsfolk capture the Sanderson sisters and hang them, but not before Winifred casts a curse.  According to this curse, the Sanderson sisters will be resurrected during a full moon on All Hallows' Eve if a virgin lights the “Black Flame Candle” in their cottage.  Thackery, now a black cat, decides to guard the cottage in order to keep anyone from bringing the witches back to life.

Three hundred years later, it is October 31, 1993 – Halloween.  Teenager Max Dennison (Omri Katz) is the new kid in Salem, where he has moved from Los Angeles with his sister, Dani (Thora Birch), and their mother (Stephanie Faracy) and father (Charles Rocket).  Max's parents force him to take Dani out trick-or-treating.  One of the houses they visit is the home of Allison (Vinessa Shaw), Max's classmate at Jacob Bailey High School and a beautiful teen girl upon whom he has a crush.

Looking to do something different on Halloween, Max, Allison and Dani visit the former Sanderson cottage, which became a museum before it was shut down.  There, Max, a virgin, lights the Black Flame Candle which, in turn, resurrects, Winnifred, Sarah, and Mary.  Now, the three children join the still alive Thackery the black cat (voice of James Marsden), and William “Billy” Butcherson (Doug Jones) the zombie in a bid to stop the Sanderson sisters from sucking the souls out of all the children of Salem, which would give them eternal youth and immortality.

I remember that Walt Disney did mount a somewhat strong marketing campaign for Hocus Pocus upon it original release in 1993, but the film under-performed at the theatrical box office.  [I won't describe it as a box office bomb, as some do.]  In the 1990s, I worked at a video store and our VHS copy of Hocus Pocus was frequently rented, especially during Halloween.  During the last decade and a half, Hocus Pocus has exploded in a popularity due to repeated shows on “The Disney Channel” and what is now known as “Freeform.”  That popularity resulted in the production of a recently released sequel, Hocus Pocus 2 (via the “Disney+” streaming service).  The arrival of the sequel was the impetus I needed to finally watch the original Hocus Pocus from beginning to end, which I had never done, although I had been putting it off literally for decades.

Having finally seen it, I really like it.  Honestly, despite my best attempts, I can't find anything to dislike about it.  Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy are a riot as the Sanderson sisters, even if Midler is a little too over the top … here and there.  The sisters' costumes and the Halloween costumes worn by the townsfolk are impressive and imaginative, especially the sisters garb.  The sets and art direction are visually perfect, creating a pop Gothic mood and playful macabre sensibility that are pitch-perfect for a family-oriented Halloween film.

The child actors: Omri Katz as Max, Thora Birch as Dani, and Vinessa Shaw as Allison are quite good, and Max ably carries the film.  I do find the emphasis on Max's virginity to be a bit odd.  Billy the zombie and Thackery the black cat are pitch perfect supporting characters for this film.  Hocus Pocus is an impressive bit of directing on the part of Kenny Ortega and also smooth editing on the part of Peter E. Berger.  Hocus Pocus never stops moving; it has a brisk and appealing pace that can make the viewer lose track of time.  I certainly did.

I highly recommend Hocus Pocus for a family viewing night.  It is not a masterpiece of American cinema, but it is simply as perfect and as effective as it can be.  The critics who initially panned Hocus Pocus were sourpusses, and may still be sourpusses … dead or alive.

8 of 10
A
★★★★ out of 4 stars

Sunday, October 2, 2022


The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved.  Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Review: Ichabod Rocks Disney's "The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 6 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949) – animated
Running time: 68 minutes
DIRECTORS: Jack Kinney, Clyde Geronimi, and James Algar
WRITERS: Homer Brightman, Winston Hibler, Erdman Penner, Harry Reeves, and Joe Rinaldi (based on The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by Washington Irving)
PRODUCER: Walt Disney
EDITOR: John O. Young
Golden Globe winner

ANIMATION/FANTASY/ACTION/COMEDY/FAMILY

Starring: (voices) Bing Crosby, Basil Rathbone, Eric Blore, J. Pat O’Malley, Colin Campbell, Campbell Grant, Claud Allister, and The Rhythmaires

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad was the last of Walt Disney’s “package films,” which were films comprised of two or more animated short subjects instead of a single feature-length story (such as Bambi).

The first short feature, “The Adventures of Mr. Toad” is based on Kenneth Grahame’s 1908 novel, The Wind in the Willows, an acknowledged classic of children’s literature. J. Thaddeus Toad (Eric Blore), the proprietor of Toad Hall, is in deep financial straights because of his spendthrift ways regarding whatever fad he’s chasing, and he also starts spending much of his time with a wastrel horse named Cyril Proudbottom (J. Pat O’Malley). His latest obsession is “motor mania,” the desire to have a car. When his fixation lands him in prison, it’s up to Mr. Toad’s friends, Mole (Colin Campbell), Water Rat (Claud Allister), and Angus MacBadger (Campbell Grant) to save him.

The second story, “Ichabod Crane,” is based upon Washington Irving’s classic American short story, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” first published in 1820 and later contained in his story collection, The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. Bing Crosby narrates and sings the story of itinerate schoolteacher Ichabod Crane, who arrives in the Dutch settlement of Tarry Town, New York to be the new schoolmaster in a secluded glen called Sleepy Hollow. Ichabod falls in love with Katrina Van Tassel, the daughter of the wealthiest of the local farmers, much to the chagrin of her other suitor, Brom Bones. Brom decides that he needs to scare Ichabod off, so near the end of the Van Tassel’s annual Halloween ball, he tells the tale of The Headless Horseman that haunts Sleepy Hollow. After leaving the party, Crane, who is deeply superstitious, has a wild encounter with the Horseman… or does he.

Although not considered to be one of the very best Walt Disney animated features, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad has some of the most beautiful color seen in animated films. It’s all practically applied and not just for the sake of being pretty; in fact, the film won a 1950 Golden Globe for “Best Cinematography, Color.” While the Mr. Toad segment is very nice (and features beautiful character and set designs), the treat here is, of course, Ichabod Crane. What makes it better is Bing Crosby, whose narration and singing give Ichabod Crane color and warmth.

As strange as it may sound, this short segment (which runs less than 35 minutes) features some of the best animation Disney ever did. Talk about the art of animation: the characters move flawlessly in a symphony of movement that is an exercise in mathematical precision. The sequence that begins when Ichabod enters Sleepy Hollow until the end of his race with the Headless Horseman should make any shortlist of all time great action sequences in animated films. It’s scary (as scary as I remember it as child), and a great example of something Disney did well in their classic animated movies – create an atmosphere of fear.

The color, the sound, and the motion: even this work considered a minor affair shows that when Disney animators were at the height of their powers, they were really up there. Actually, there’s an action sequence at the end of Mr. Toad that would be considered the best work by any other animation studio. Still, it pales next to the chase in Ichabod, and that’s what makes The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad essential Disney.

8 of 10
A

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

NOTES:
1950 Golden Globes: 1 win: Best Cinematography – Color

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