The Haunted Mansion (2003)
Directed by Rob Minkoff
Workaholic Jim Evers and his wife/business partner Sara get a call one night from a mansion owner, Edward Gracey, who wants to sell his house. Once the Evers family arrive at the mansion, a torrential thunderstorm of mysterious origin strands them with the brooding, eccentric Gracey, his mysterious butler, and a variety of residents both seen and unseen.
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What critics compared The Haunted Mansion to
Once it becomes apparent that the mansion is, in fact, haunted -- it contains ghosts reminiscent of those in Peter Jackson'sThe Frighteners in both their shimmering appearance and a penchant for groan-inducing one-liners -- the film becomes little more than an excuse for decidedly subpar special effects sequences.
For instance, among many other things the secret passages are from "Clue"; the spooky inside of the house is from "The House on Haunted Hill," "The Haunting," and "The Legend of Hell House"; the rotting corpses are from "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "Poltergeist"; the "I see dead people" line is from "The Sixth Sense"; the girl in the painting, the mausoleum, the surrounding graveyard, the swamps, and the mysterious key are from Bob Hope's "Ghost Breakers" (remade as Martin and Lewis's "Scared Stiff"); the disembodied head (Jennifer Tilly) in the crystal ball is from "The Wizard of Oz"; the bugs on the door handle are from "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom"; the skeletal ghosts of the dead are from "Pirates of the Caribbean"; the vaults are from "Interview With the Vampire"; the look and appearance of the film are courtesy of "The Frighteners"; and so on, you get the idea.
But when it was originally announced, the thought of making a movie based on the popular Disney theme park attraction seemed a dubious idea at best, with previous similar attempts (including 1997's TV movie "Tower of Terror," 2000's "Mission to Mars" and 2002's "The Country Bears") not really inspiring tremendous confidence in future success -- which was proved again in late 2003 with the Eddie Murphy flick "The Haunted Mansion."
While “Pirates of the Caribbean” was a hit, other attempts like “The Country Bears” and “The Haunted Mansion” were quickly forgotten.