Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘The Haunting’ (1999)

Written by Scott Edwards

Most everybody has problems sleeping at some point and everyone likes to blame it on insomnia. With so much that happens on a daily basis in our lives and trying to keep up with everything else that does not directly affect us, it is a wonder that anyone is able to sleep at all. But some people have found out the secret to a good night’s sleep and those are the lucky ones, while all of the rest of us are up, tossing and turning and making a racket to amuse ourselves. 

Nell has been away from the world ever since she can remember, taking care of her mother has been the focus of her life, but when her mother passes on, she is left with nothing. Having to find a way to make some extra money so she will be able to keep the apartment and not wanting to take up her friend for a baby sitting job, Nell turns to the paper and sees that there is a sleep study that will pay nine hundred dollars a week. Jumping at the opportunity, Nell contacts Dr. Marrow’s assistant and gets added to the study group right away.

At the university, Dr. Marrow is looking for the best candidates and even though he has some problems getting approval for a study about fear, the light sleepers will be his best shot to show how adrenaline makes people better. With the group selected and the ultimate house picked out to perform the study, everyone is sent directions to Hill House. Arriving before everyone else, Nell walks the old house and takes in all that it has to offer her, but there is something more hidden behind the walls. When the rest of the group shows up to the house, they have a great dinner, but it does not go off without a hitch when Dr. Marrow’s assistant is hit with a piano string across her eye and is forced to leave. Dr. Marrow chalks it up as an accident, but the house is starting to wake up from its slumber.

During the night Nell is woken up by the familiar knocking from her mother on the wall, but that is just a taste of things to come when her new friend Theo is woken up by something as well. The two women huddle together in Theo’s room only to see the door being pushed in by someone with great power. As their other insomniac Luke makes his way down the hallway and hears the women screaming, he tries to help, but with no one and nothing in their room, he believes that they are a little bit out of their minds. Dr. Marrow pulls the group together and has a quick talk with them as his experiment is going the way he wants it to, but he has no idea that the house's former owner really does still reside inside of the halls and is looking for someone to play with once again. Can the group escape the clutches of the former owner, or will they continue to believe that it is all a mental game and what is happening around them is just a figment of their imagination?

Just another look into the depths of Hill House and what actually happens inside of the walls when the sun goes down. Not a bad retelling of Shirley Jackson’s novel, I know you miss a lot when the book is put on the big screen, but the all of the frightening components are included. With a great cast on hand, each character had their own fears to deal with during the movie, but none so much as Nell who the house is tormenting the most. I felt bad for her when Dr. Marrow was not willing to admit that the house was haunted, and it took a huge event make him believe it himself. Everything is always more interesting when there is a violent ghost around and not knowing what he/she really wants from you could be the difference between life and death. Stay Scared.

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