HotToastyRag Catherine Zeta-Jones, Owen Wilson, and Lili Taylor all decide to take part in an insomnia study, run by Liam Neeson, in a dark, gloomy castle. As in all horror stories, the characters never see it coming. Catherine thinks the atmosphere is wild and exciting, Owen thinks it's creepy but he's too busy making jokes and hitting on Catherine to really take his worries seriously, and Lili is preoccupied with keeping her own secrets hidden. But when the house starts to come to life, the four of them have to band together.Everyone knows I'm a total lightweight when it comes to scary movies, and this one was just scary enough to make me wary of going to sleep that night, but it didn't give me nightmares. The first part of the movie is really fun, because Owen's character is written to be hilarious and his delivery makes him more so. Catherine is beautiful, but she's not really given much to do, and Lili is sufficiently intriguing to keep audiences wondering what her real problems are. Once things started getting spooky, I knew it was time to grab my pillow, lest hiding became necessary. I'll watch almost anything with Owen Wilson or Catherine Zeta-Jones, so I was glad that I didn't need to hide behind my pillow. Lightweights like me will be very happy, but hardcore horror fans will probably be left wanting.Kiddy Warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, due to some scary scenes, I wouldn't let my kids watch it.

willruddock-36172 When I saw this movie in theaters, I couldn't sleep for days. I was 12 and images like Hugh Crane lunging out of the fireplace or his angry face appearing in the window frightened me beyond belief.I watched it last night for the first time in many years a few days after revisiting the 1963 film. And it was just truly awful. I found myself resisting the temptation to quit early because I believe in seeing things true to the end unless I absolutely can't bear it. Annoying acting saved by Liam and Owen. Catherine cannot play terrified and as much as I admire Lili, she's no Julie Harris. I will admit that the face in the window seen still gave me a little bit of a chill but nowhere near what it did when I was 12.One other positive is that it has reaffirmed my enthusiasm for exploring huge houses.

cjs6547 Nobody. And then, "I won't let you hurt the children!"These two lines are perfect examples of how the movie fell apart in the second half. Mainly because there was no prompt for this iconic dialogue from the first film in the second one. No one was shown to be holding Nell's hand, or that her hand was in any position in which it would be 'held'. And secondly, she didn't hear the terrifying noises of child abuse in the dark. Being a remake of the 1963 classic, I don't think anybody expected it to be as good as the first. But still it was off to a promising start, with lonely, unwanted Eleanor against the glamorous have-it- all Zeta as Theo. Even Owen Wilson being Owen Wilson in Hill House was entertaining. Unfortunately, the second half nose-dived. They didn't keep up the motif of the desperate Eleanor with no home being hounded by society - except in that one scene in which Owen Wilson trashes her only legal possession against the iron gate (he gets his poetic justice). Instead of the house PREYING on Eleanor's weakened mind, the idea that Eleanor DID somehow legally belong with the house was pushed a bit too far (the woman wearing the necklace in the painting and Eleanor spewing a lot of ancestral details which no one can possibly verify there). That and the abundant use of CG takes away from all horror and leaves us with an adventure film with one horrible accident.Watch the original 1963 film for your dose of chills and terrors.

Leofwine_draca The latest lame Hollywood blockbuster is definitely disappointing, and not in the least bit scary. Now, the original 1963 film wasn't scary either, but at least it managed to be creepy, with the aid of subtlety and suggestion. Just the opposite of this film, in fact. Jan De Bont shows that he should stick to making slick action pictures and has no idea how to scare us.In fact, only the basic plot has been taken from the original film. Some scenes are copied, but in this film it's all basically overdrive on behalf of the special effects team. From the first moment on entering the house, ghostly faces are appearing on bed sheets and walls, and these just increase and increase throughout the film in number. The trouble is that only on two or three occasions are the characters put in danger by these effects, and the rest of the time you just know they're going to dissipate and not cause any harm to anyone.The cast is full of familiar faces, such as Bruce Dern in a wild-haired role as a rarely-seen caretaker. Liam Neeson is good but goes through the paces as the stern doctor, he's no match for Richard Johnson in the original, but at least he's something of an actor. The same with Catherine Zeta Jones. Unfortunately, her character is the least subtle of them all, constantly wearing revealing clothes and flaunting her lesbianism. She fits her role like a glove. Lili Taylor, however, I didn't like. She's one of those actresses who think expressing fright is opening their mouths and eyes as wide as possible. It doesn't look like a believable expression, it just looks ridiculous. Taylor is sadly given the most to do and the largest role, but I just didn't warm to her at all. Owen Wilson is also awful in a comic relief role.For the most part, the special effects are bad and totally unrealistic. Big faces coming out of the ground just don't look real at all, it looks like a computer game and nothing else. Therefore these kind of effects quickly become boring, as you expect what's coming, and there's just so much visual bombardment that it becomes tiring to watch. There are a handful of good scenes in the film, like a surprisingly brutal decapitation or Neeson getting attacked by a statue, but the ending is a real letdown with a sugary happy ending with angels and the like. The final apparition of the ghost is just a big guy in a cape, it might as well be Godzilla. Size isn't everything but that's something this film doesn't realise. Frankly, I think upcoming flicks like THE SIXTH SENSE, THE HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL remake and, of course, THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT all look more promising than this silly and unsurprising entry into the genre. Nauseatingly bad.