Haunted (film)
Encyclopedia
Haunted is a 1995
1995 in film
-Top grossing films:-Events:* March 22 - The Dogme 95 movement is officially announced in Paris by Danish directors Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg.* March 28 - Actress Julia Roberts and singer Lyle Lovett announce their plans for separation....

 British film, by veteran director Lewis Gilbert
Lewis Gilbert
Lewis Gilbert CBE is an English film director, producer and screenwriter.-Early life:He was the son of music hall performers, and spent his early years travelling with his parents, and watching the shows from the side of the stage. He first performed on-stage at the age of 5, when asked to drive a...

 and starring Aidan Quinn
Aidan Quinn
-Early life:Quinn was born in Chicago, Illinois to Irish parents. He was brought up as a Roman Catholic and raised in Chicago and Rockford, Illinois, as well as in Dublin and Birr, County Offaly in Ireland. His mother, Teresa, was a homemaker, and his father, Michael Quinn, was a professor of...

, Kate Beckinsale
Kate Beckinsale
Kathryn Bailey "Kate" Beckinsale is an English actress. After some minor television roles, she made her film debut in Much Ado About Nothing while still a student at Oxford University...

, Anthony Andrews
Anthony Andrews
-Life and career:Andrews was born in London, the son of Geraldine Agnes , a dancer, and Stanley Thomas Andrews, a musical arranger and musical conductor. He grew up in the North Finchley district of London...

 and John Gielgud
John Gielgud
Sir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH was an English actor, director, and producer. A descendant of the renowned Terry acting family, he achieved early international acclaim for his youthful, emotionally expressive Hamlet which broke box office records on Broadway in 1937...

. It is based on a novel of the same name by James Herbert
James Herbert
James Herbert, OBE is a best-selling English horror writer who originally worked as the art director of an advertising agency. He is a full-time writer who also designs his own book covers and publicity.-Family:...

. The film was produced by Andrews and Gilbert.

Plot

David Ash (Aidan Quinn
Aidan Quinn
-Early life:Quinn was born in Chicago, Illinois to Irish parents. He was brought up as a Roman Catholic and raised in Chicago and Rockford, Illinois, as well as in Dublin and Birr, County Offaly in Ireland. His mother, Teresa, was a homemaker, and his father, Michael Quinn, was a professor of...

), an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 professor, has entered into the field of parapsychology
Parapsychology
The term parapsychology was coined in or around 1889 by philosopher Max Dessoir, and originates from para meaning "alongside", and psychology. The term was adopted by J.B. Rhine in the 1930s as a replacement for the term psychical research...

 and has spent a majority of his life disproving the existence of ghosts. He was motivated by the untimely death of his twin sister, Juliet, for which he blames himself.
In 1928 he receives an invitation from the Mariell family to investigate the alleged hauntings at their home, Edbrook House. At the train station, he is met and is immediately smitten by the beautiful Christina Mariell (Kate Beckinsale
Kate Beckinsale
Kathryn Bailey "Kate" Beckinsale is an English actress. After some minor television roles, she made her film debut in Much Ado About Nothing while still a student at Oxford University...

), who informs him that she and her brothers actually hired him to try to calm the fears of their aging nanny. Christina believes that due to her declining mental health since their mother's death, Nanny Tess (Anna Massey
Anna Massey
Anna Raymond Massey, CBE was an English actress. She won a BAFTA Award for the role of Edith Hope in the 1986 TV adaptation of Anita Brookner’s novel Hotel du Lac.-Early life:...

) has convinced herself that Mrs. Mariell's ghost returns every evening to haunt Edbrook House.

As David begins his investigations he becomes aware of a presence in the house which goes against everything he believes. This strengthens his determination to expose the paranormal activities as nothing more than a hoax perpetrated by younger brother Simon (Alex Lowe
Alex Lowe (actor)
Alex Lowe is an English actor and comedian, who is best known as the creator and voice behind the character 'Barry from Watford' on Steve Wright's BBC Radio 2 show and Absolute Radio's Iain Lee Show-Barry from Watford:...

). His initial ideas regarding the afterlife are shaken by the increasingly vivid visions of his dead sister Juliet, freely prowling the halls or grounds of Edbrook. Unable to sleep from the strange nightly disturbance, David begins to hallucinate, causing him to start questioning the state of his own sanity and to seek the aid of Dr. Doyle (John Gielgud
John Gielgud
Sir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH was an English actor, director, and producer. A descendant of the renowned Terry acting family, he achieved early international acclaim for his youthful, emotionally expressive Hamlet which broke box office records on Broadway in 1937...

), the local psychiatrist.

Further complicating the investigation is Christina's continuous flirtation with David, a distraction he gladly welcomes. However, older brother Robert (Anthony Andrews
Anthony Andrews
-Life and career:Andrews was born in London, the son of Geraldine Agnes , a dancer, and Stanley Thomas Andrews, a musical arranger and musical conductor. He grew up in the North Finchley district of London...

) is adamantly against their friendship, and is revealed as having an incestuous relationship with Christina. When David decides to finally leave Edbrook, he asks Christina to come away with him. Although she refuses, they engage in a passionate kiss and end up in bed together. In the morning when David wakes, the wind is gusting through the house, which is now cloaked in black drapes and littered with fallen leaves. He searches for Christina but instead sees his twin sister's ghost, who leads David to a cemetery. Juliet calls his attention to a specific tombstone which states that Robert, Christina and Simon Mariell all died in a fire at Edbrook in 1923.

A very confused David seeks out Dr. Doyle only to be told by his sister's ghost that he had died many years ago. He leaves with Christina, who crashes her car into a tree, causing it to explode. David escapes, returns to the house, and confronts Nanny Tess. She confirms that the Mariell siblings are indeed dead and that their ghosts will do anything to keep Nanny Tess and David from leaving. Nanny Tess also reveals that the siblings' mother, Mrs. Mariell, drowned herself after discovering drunken Simon and Robert in their parent's bed with Christina. The siblings appear and force Nanny Tess to confess to their murder (she had locked the siblings in a bedroom and then set fire to the house).

Robert reveals that, with David as the new victim of their torments, they no longer need Nanny Tess. They kill Nanny Tess, and Christina asks David to die for them. He tries to escape, but is blocked by the three siblings and Dr. Doyle. They set the mansion ablaze, but he escapes to the upstairs bedroom. While Robert, Simon and Christina cackle mockingly within the flames at his imminent death, Juliet suddenly appears and walks through the flames, takes David by the hand and rescues him from the inferno. As they walk away from the mansion's ruins, Juliet absolves him of his guilt over her death and departs to the afterlife.

After the harrowing experience, David returns home and is greeted by his assistant, Kate, as he steps off the train. A few steps behind the unsuspecting couple, Christina steps out of the shadows and follows them through the fog as they leave the platform.

Differences between the novel and the film

  • In the novel, there was no incestuous relationship. Instead, it was revealed that Catherine was a schizophrenic and pyromaniac who set fire to the cellar, before Robert attempted to rescue her (only to burn to death as a result). Catherine then jumped into the pond to extinguish herself, only to die by drowning. The parents actually did die abroad, as a result of a car crash, and are buried in the family mausoleum (along with their offspring). Nanny Tess did not commit any crime, although the tragedy and subsequent haunting is alleged to have driven her insane.
  • In the film, the source of the haunting is not specified when Nanny Tess contacts David. In the book, however, he at first believes the ghost to be that of Christina's schizophrenic twin sister, who was really invented by the family as a cover for Christina's insanity.
  • In the book, David Ash is actually a troubled character, heavily addicted to alcohol
    Alcoholism
    Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...

    . The film presents a far more clean-cut image of David.
  • In the novel, the ghostly siblings do not kill Nanny Tess, just as she did not burn them to death in their parents' bedroom.
  • In the film, the ghosts burn down Edbrook Hall. However, in the novel Nanny Tess sets fire to Edbrook after David has departed.
  • The novel version of Juliet was far more malevolent in nature, spiteful towards David as a child, eventually causing him to impulsively push her into the river, and causing her to drown (although he quickly realised what he had done, and attempted to rescue her). In death, she conspired with the Mariell ghosts to play a cruel game with David, which they admittedly managed to achieve.

Cast

  • Aidan Quinn
    Aidan Quinn
    -Early life:Quinn was born in Chicago, Illinois to Irish parents. He was brought up as a Roman Catholic and raised in Chicago and Rockford, Illinois, as well as in Dublin and Birr, County Offaly in Ireland. His mother, Teresa, was a homemaker, and his father, Michael Quinn, was a professor of...

     - Professor David Ash
  • Kate Beckinsale
    Kate Beckinsale
    Kathryn Bailey "Kate" Beckinsale is an English actress. After some minor television roles, she made her film debut in Much Ado About Nothing while still a student at Oxford University...

     - Christina Mariell
  • Anthony Andrews
    Anthony Andrews
    -Life and career:Andrews was born in London, the son of Geraldine Agnes , a dancer, and Stanley Thomas Andrews, a musical arranger and musical conductor. He grew up in the North Finchley district of London...

     - Robert Mariell
  • John Gielgud
    John Gielgud
    Sir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH was an English actor, director, and producer. A descendant of the renowned Terry acting family, he achieved early international acclaim for his youthful, emotionally expressive Hamlet which broke box office records on Broadway in 1937...

     - Dr. Doyle
  • Anna Massey
    Anna Massey
    Anna Raymond Massey, CBE was an English actress. She won a BAFTA Award for the role of Edith Hope in the 1986 TV adaptation of Anita Brookner’s novel Hotel du Lac.-Early life:...

     - Nanny Tess Webb
  • Alex Lowe
    Alex Lowe (actor)
    Alex Lowe is an English actor and comedian, who is best known as the creator and voice behind the character 'Barry from Watford' on Steve Wright's BBC Radio 2 show and Absolute Radio's Iain Lee Show-Barry from Watford:...

     - Simon Mariell
  • Victoria Shalet
    Victoria Shalet
    Victoria Shalet is an English actress most famous for her role as Harmony in the award-winning CBBC adaptation of the Dick King-Smith book The Queen's Nose.- Career :...

     - Juliet Ash
  • Peter England
    Peter England
    Peter England is an English actor, best known for his roles as Arnie in Teachers, David Ash in Haunted, Matt in Matt's Million, Ben Galloway in Family Affairs and as regular TC in Casualty....

     - Young David Ash

Reception

The film received mixed reviews from critics receiving an 80% fresh rating of five critics on Rotten Tomatoes and 6.2 out of 10 on IMDB. The films main praise is towards the performances of Quinn and Beckinsale (in the roles of David Ash and Christina Mariell respectively). Its back-to-basics setting of a period haunted house where "things go bump in the night" was subjected to some of the films main failing points. As it hearkened back to the traditional haunted house films such as The Haunting
The Haunting (1963 film)
The Haunting is a 1963 British psychological horror film by American director Robert Wise and adapted by Nelson Gidding from the novel The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. It stars Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson, and Russ Tamblyn. The film centers around the conflict between...

 or House on Haunted Hill
House on Haunted Hill
House on Haunted Hill is a 1959 American B movie horror film from Allied Artists. It was directed by William Castle, written by Robb White, and starring Vincent Price as eccentric millionaire Fredrick Loren. He and his fourth wife, Annabelle, have invited five people to the house for a "Haunted...

, it lacked any style or suspense as the films preceding it had and was also criticised for being too basic on elements such as rattling door knobs and wispy, weeping shadows.
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