The Haunting (1999 film)

The Haunting is a 1999 in which a study in fear escalates into a heart-stopping nightmare for a professor and three subjects trapped in a mysterious mansion. It is a remake of the 1963 horror film of the same name.
 * Directed by Jan de Bont. Written by David Self and Michael Tolkin, based on the 1959 novel The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson.

Some houses are born badtaglines

Dr. David Marrow

 * Okay, so why are we here? Probably to answer the most basic question: "What is wrong with you people?"

Eleanor Vance

 * Purgatory is over, you go to hell.

Luke Sanderson

 * What's the deal with the Addams Family mansion?


 * We don't have time for baby talk.

Theo

 * You feel cut off from the world, but the world has missed you. Happy tossing and turning.


 * [looking at the "Door Of Hell"] You don't get this from the Martha Stewart catalog.

Other

 * [looking at the crashed car, Theo and Marrow] City people.

Dialogue

 * Eleanor: Have you ever kept something for yourself because you were afraid?
 * Theo: All the time.


 * Mrs. Dudley: I set dinner on the dining room sideboard at 6:00. Breakfast is ready at 9:00. I don't stay after dinner. Not after it begins to get dark. We live in town, nine miles.. So there won't be anyone around if you need help...
 * Eleanor: We couldn't even hear you.
 * Mrs. Dudley: No one could. No one lives any nearer than town...
 * Eleanor: No one will come any nearer than that.
 * Mrs. Dudley: In the night...
 * Eleanor: In the dark.


 * Jane: Come live with us, Nell; you have no idea how hard it is out there.
 * Eleanor: No, Jane. You have no idea how hard it was in here.


 * Theo: Hi. Don't worry, I'm not an obsessive packer. It's just a cheap and exploitative way of making new friends. I'm Theo.
 * Eleanor: Eleanor. But everybody calls me Nell.
 * Theo: Well, "Everybody Calls Me Nell". Don't you love it here? It's like Charles Foster Kane meets the Munsters.


 * Dr. Marrow: Let me explain what's happening here. You're participating in a study on group fear and hysteria.
 * Luke: What? That's it, that's what this was all about?
 * Theo: You brought us here to scare us, is that it?
 * Dr. Marrow: Yes.
 * Luke: And you were just waiting for her to have a total nervous breakdown before you said it. I mean, what is your problem?


 * Theo: Isn't it based on the Gates of Hell, by Rodin?
 * Eleanor: Well, it's not just hell. You see the children, they're reaching up for heaven. But their souls are trapped in Purgatory. And these are the demons... who can hold onto your soul for as long as they want.
 * Theo: Did you study art?
 * Eleanor: No, I studied Purgatory. I was there once for 11 years. It's when your soul is caught between the living and the dead.


 * Eleanor: Why do you need so many chains?
 * Mr. Dudley: That's a good question. What is it about fences? Sometimes the people on either side of the fence see a lock chain, they feel a little more comforted. Why do you suppose that is?


 * Theo: Is this one of your sick jokes, Luke?
 * Luke: What? You really think I wrote that?
 * Theo: You found it; you could have.
 * Luke: How, with the 20-foot ladder I keep in my back pocket?


 * Children: Help us... help us...
 * Eleanor Vance: I'm here... I'm here... I'm coming to you, I'm coming to you...

Taglines

 * Some houses are born bad.
 * Sleep tight.
 * Ghosts with the most.
 * It will haunt you.
 * Welcome to Hill House. This is its body, this is its skin, this is its eyes. Won't you come in?
 * There once was a house, a bright happy home. Something bad happened, now it sits all alone. Its pillars are its bones, its walls are its skin, its windows are its eyes. Won't you come in?
 * [from TV spot] For a hundred years, no one has dared to spend the night at Hill House. On this night, four people will find out why.

Cast

 * Lili Taylor - Eleanor "Nell" Vance
 * Liam Neeson - Doctor David Marrow
 * Catherine Zeta-Jones - Theodora "Theo"
 * Owen Wilson - Luke Sanderson
 * Marian Seldes - Mrs. Dudley
 * Bruce Dern - Mr. Dudley
 * Alix Koromzay - Mary Lambetta
 * Todd Field - Todd Hackett
 * Virginia Madsen - Jane Vance
 * Tom Irwin - Lou
 * Charles Gunning - Hugh Crain