Oh boy, another Spooky Month! Have I got some good ones in stock for the next few weeks, keh keh keh...
The Work[]
The Haunting is a 1999 supernatural horror film based on the 1959 novel The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. Liam Nelson plays Dr. Marrow, who studies the state of insomnia by secluding a group of people within a rumored haunted manor house with a grim history. The study is later revealed to be a study for fear, as such Marrow deceives his clients with terror. However, things turn south when actual supernatural events occur within the house, and now both the doctor and his subjects have to escape before they end up joining the ghosts. Literally.
The Nostalgia Critic reviews it here.
Who is Hugh Crain[]
Long ago in the late 19th century, there lived a wealthy textile tycoon by the name of Hugh Crain who built a large estate called Hill House for him and his wife to populate with their children. Alas, all of their children came out as stillborns. In her grief, his wife Renee killed herself.
As the group begin their experimentation, Eleanor "Neil" Vance, who happens to be a descendant to Crain's second wife Carolyn, finds herself haunted by both curious ghosts and one intimidating ghost, with it carving "Welcome home Eleanor" on Crain's portrait with blood. She believes the ghosts are trying to tell her something, but the big ghost prevents her from learning anything or leaving the manor. When she tries to explain her situation to the others, none of them believe her.
Seeking answers, Neil comes across Crain's study where we learn the truth about his intentions. Unable to have children of his own, he would capture child workers from his mills and torture them to death, before burning them in his fireplace. Their spirits haunt the mansion as they were never put to rest, which Neil theorizes provide Crain with an "eternal family". He covered their deaths claiming that they simply died of illness or factory accidents. During this time, Carolyn disappeared, heavily implying that Crain killed her for knowing too much.
As such, all of the small harmless ghosts are that of the children, while the big ghost after them is that of Crain himself. Neil believes that she can help the ghosts ascend to the afterlife. The undead Crain, however, prevents them from leaving by locking every door in the house. Luke demands their release by defacing Crain's portrait, prompting a rug to drag him to the fireplace where a statue lion head swoops down and bites his head off.
Neil stands up to her great-grandfather with... ugh... the power of love itself and orders the ghost children to stand beside her. As such, the spirits drag Crain's spirit through an iron door, representing his damnation to hell. Alas, Neil is fatally wounded when Crain tries to take her with him, but the spirits rescue her and they all ascend to heaven, now free from their tormenter's cold dead hands.
Mitigating Factors[]
In the original novel and the 1963 film, Crain is sympathetic as he only haunts the manor out of despair from the deaths of his wives and his lack of offspring. Plus he is never seen at all, making it more suspenseful if the "hauntings" are caused by him or just the living characters slowly losing their sanity.
The 1999 film, however, portrays him far in a far more malicious manner without a single positive trait. He drove his first wife to suicide and killed the second, and is behind the murders of countless innocent children in his plan to occupy his manor with their undead spirits, which possibly goes up to a hundred based on Neil's records. He also prevents the living characters from leaving, either wanting to drive them to pure insanity or kill them to add them to his "collection", with him managing to kill Owen Wilson. Wow.
Work's Standards[]
Movie's sole villain.
Verdict[]
Sure that.